For Tigers, Free Throws Are a Matter Of Attitude

Memphis Has Been Making Them When They Count

SAN ANTONIO, April 6 -- Chris Douglas-Roberts has a tattoo of Psalms 37:1-3 on his upper right arm, verses that in sum preach "trust in the Lord and everything will be all right," he said. Douglas-Roberts taps the tattoo with his left hand three times before shooting a free throw, a fitting gesture since divine intervention might be the best explanation of Memphis's recent success from the foul line.

Using strictly probability and ignoring factors such as who is shooting the free throws and under what game circumstances they're shooting them, the chances of a team with Memphis's season-long history of inaccuracy making 76 of 94 free throws or better is .00065 percent, or one in 1,538.

But that is exactly what the Tigers have done during their march to Monday night's championship game against Kansas, their latest feat of smashing conventional wisdom. Free throw shooting was supposed to doom Memphis this NCAA tournament, but instead it has only helped the Tigers augment blowouts.

After making 59.2 percent of its free throws during its first 36 games, 339th out of 341 teams nationally, Memphis has made 76 of 94 free throws in its past three games, an 80.9 percent clip. Somehow, though, the Tigers consider their turnaround, forged by improved concentration and mental toughness, and shrug.

"People have been doubting our free throws all year," reserve guard Doneal Mack said. "We knew. We're really concentrating on it right now. It was more mental. It's nothing new to us. We're just making them now."

Led by Coach John Calipari, the Tigers' official position on free throws all season was they would "make them when they count." After Memphis shot 15 for 32 in the second round against Mississippi State -- a game it won 77-74 in which the foul shots most definitely "counted" -- the phalanx of critics who believed the Tigers' flip-the-switch mentality would cost them a game in the tournament expanded.

The Mississippi State game was "an eye-opener," Douglas-Roberts said, but Memphis's players never wavered, in part because of experience. Last season in the region semifinals at the Alamodome, Antonio Anderson, who had made 64 percent of his free throws during the season, made a pair with 3.1 seconds remaining to give Memphis a one-point victory over Texas A&M. That performance lent credence to Calipari's ethos that foul shooting hinges more on attitude than ability.

"If they're relaxed, they're going to make free throws," Calipari said. "A kid that's not mentally tough that shoots 90 percent, knees knocking, he's missing it. Percentage doesn't matter. And we've got tough kids."

It also matters who shoots the free throws. Asked for an explanation for his team's free throw surge, senior forward Joey Dorsey said: "We're not shooting them all. It's just been Chris and Derrick!"

Douglas-Roberts and point guard Derrick Rose are Memphis's best from the line, both 71 percent shooters. Douglas-Roberts and Rose attempted 67 of Memphis's 94 foul shots during the three-game stretch, and they made 58. Against UCLA, Douglas-Roberts and Rose shot all 23 of Memphis's free throws and made 20.

While the Tigers sent the right players to the line, those players also underwent a sudden drastic improvement. Rose and Douglas-Roberts have shot 86.6 percent the past three games, a 15 percent increase from their season average. Their teammates followed; other Memphis players made 67 percent, up from 53.8 during the season.

"Guys just concentrated more," forward Robert Dozier said. "That's all it ever was, anyway. Guys have great form. It's not like they're shooting curveballs."

Roughly a month prior to the tournament, Calipari instituted a drill called the Pyramid Game to inject focus into free throw practice while also keeping his players relaxed. Calipari borrowed the Pyramid Game from his cousin, a high school coach outside Pittsburgh.

Before practice, Calipari showed the players a list of every name on the team, in order from top to bottom by free throw percentage. For 10 minutes, players could challenge any shooter higher than them on the pyramid to a five-attempt foul shooting contest. If they won, they switched places. At the end of the week, the player at the top received a whole pizza.

There was a catch: While one player shot, his opponent could distract him in any manner he pleased -- standing in the lane, screaming, waving arms. Dorsey would make his partner burst out laughing by walking by teammates swinging his hips.

But Dorsey paled next to Willie Kemp. "I hate going against Willie," Mack said. Kemp could double over the entire team. He did the "Q Dog" dance, made popular by a campus fraternity. He crawled in the lane and wailed like a baby. His antics served a purpose: The Tigers had so much fun, they didn't even notice their free throw strokes improving.

"That helped us out a lot," Kemp said. "With free throws it's all about focus, and that's what we were doing. Free throws are just a mind thing."

On Monday night, the Tigers know the jokes will stop, that every free throw could determine the national title. After a year of scrutiny, it is a fact they welcome. As Kemp said, with a straight face: "We're a great free throw shooting team."