Hi,
My name is Barry Wolfson, also known as the Foul Shot Doc.
It’s New Year’s Day 2008 and I’ve decided that’s it is a good day to start a blog to share my thoughts re: foul shooting. I figured if NBA star Gilbert Arenas, Agent Zero, can do it, why not me.
It’s my hope to share my thoughts and adventures regarding the world of basketball with you. I hope you will enjoy it. Feel free to email me at barry@foulshotdoc.com with comments or feedback.
Just want to give a shout out to Coach Herb Magee at U. of Philadelphia for tying Bob Knight’s record for most victories in men’s basketball. Although unknown by most of the public, well known in coaching circles as speaker and shooting instructor as well.
After opening season loss to Division 1 power Rutgers University, the Kean University women are undefeated in Div.3 w/ 20 straight victories. The players I worked w/ a couple of seasons back are shooting for another strong NCAA performance. Senior Melissa Beyruti recently set Div 3 rrecord for all time 3 pointers made, including a knocking down 10 in game earlier this season. Last week she was in Sports Illustrated.
With Yankees winning World Series, it was the 3rd team I root for to make it to the top. First, Univ. of No. Carolina in college hoops, then the Lakers and now the Yankees. Although my football Giants aren’t going anywhere, how can I complain. Quite a few nice free lunches and dinners as well from friends. Especially those Phillies fans.Thanks, really tasty along w/ trash talking fulfilled.
I feel like a proud Papa as the NBA Finals begin tomorrow. Having worked with All-Star Jameer Nelson of the Magic and Trevor Ariza, starting forward for the Lakers several times each, it’s truly exciting sitting on the sidelines.
Both are terrific young men in addition to being among the world’s elite basketball players. Both have made unbelievable strides during their careers and brings me great pride to watch them perform now at such high levels. Although, there can be only one winning team, they are both World Champs in my mind.
That being said, I am a life long Lakers fan dating back to when Elgin played in Minneapolis.
Everyday, I read nba.com online for the boxscores.
Today, 9 games were played with 8 decided by less than 6 pts. including 2 overtimes. Here are some: the Magic lost by 4 to the Raptors as Dwight Howard shot 10-21 from the foul line. It’s easy too see them losing again this year in the playoffs because of it. The Wizards lost to the Grizzlies who made 6 more foul shots. The Bucks lost to the Lakers who shot 31-36 compared to 7-9 from the line. 24 more made foul shots. The Rockets lost to the Suns who made 9 more from the line.
In the weirdest game, the Kings lost 143-141 to the Warriors. In this game, there were 94 foul shot attempts. The Kings made 43-52, with Kevin Martin going for 50 pts while shooting 23-26 from the line. The Warriors shot shot 32-42 with Monta Ellis scoring 42 including 10-12 from the charity stripe.
The following was in the boxscore for Golden State: Grant Hill, DNP(did not play - coaches decision) old age/lack of talent. Obviously, an April Fool’s joke as Hill plays for the Suns to begin with. Someone probably doesn’t like Duke.
There were 2 interesting games in terms of foul shooting on the regional finals. There was the fantastic game between Villanova and Pitt, won by Villanova 78-76. Eventhough Pitt, not a great free throw shooting team, shot 21-29 for 72%, Nova was nearly perfect going 22-23 in the win.
UConn beat Missouri 82-75 shooting 26-32 from the line while Missouri shot 6-12. UConn made 20 more foul shots in a 7 pt. victory.
In Sports Illustrated’s March Madness issue, they finally wrote an in-depth article on foul shooting and its’ impact on college basketball. This article is a must for all players, coaches, agents and GMs. It highlights the need and necessity to put the time and effort to address this pivotal deciding aspect of hoops. Thus the need for The Foul Shot Doc.
The tournament now is down to the Sweet Sixteen. It is interesting to note how many close games have already been played. In the first round, 9 games were decided by 4 or less points, including 2 overtimes. In the second round 7 or the 16 games were decided by 7 or less points. How many of these games do you think were decide by foul shooting? Most
Trevor Ariza, LA Laker forward had a career best 26 pts today in a win over Dallas Mavericks. Ariza shot 9-13 from field, 3-5 from 3 pt land and 5-5 from the line. Having worked with him several times, it is really fun and satisfying watching him grow as a player. His best basketball is still ahead of him.
Today is an interesting day for many college teams and coaches as they find out whether they are in the tournamant or not and who and where they will be playing. I recall watching NYC power Christ The King play while recruiting on Selection Sunday years ago at Hunter College. The weird thing was that the gym was in the sub-basemant w/ no windows. It may even have been below the subway. Anyway, I knew my Quinnipiac team would be in the tourney since we were nationally ranked in the Top Ten. However, I didn’t know if we were going to be playing in New Haven, CT or in North Dakota. Although I love to travel, North Dakota in March wasn’t what I wanted. Fortunately, we stayed in CT.
