DeMario Mayfield has changed up his free-throw routine and that's making all the difference in the world for the 49ers' small forward.
Mayfield was having a woeful season from the line through Charlotte's game against Xavier on Jan. 28, banging in just 44.0 percent of his free throws. Some of those misses were costly too: With Charlotte holding a two-point lead against East Tennessee State, Mayfield missed two free throws and the Bucs came down the floor and won the game 70-69 on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
But in Charlotte's last three games, Mayfield has made 20-of-25 free throws (80.0 percent). Included in that was a 9-of-11 performance Saturday in a victory against Fordham.
One reason for Mayfield's improvement seems to be a change in his free-throw routine. He no longer dribbles before he takes his shot. He just receives the ball from the referee and shoots.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Mayfield's new routine
"I don't think he's done anything particularly special," said coach Alan Major. "He's just simplifying it up there. Some guys need to take a lot of dribbles. But now the ref just hands him the ball, he takes it and shoots it. It's more of a mental thing for him. Credit to the kid."
Mayfield's new-found success at the line might not be the stuff of legend, but don't tell Xavier coach Chris Mack that, not after Mayfield helped keep the 49ers in a game against his team by making 6-of-8 free throws.
"He turned into Mark Price," said Mack, referring to the NBA's career free-throw percentage leader.
-- With a week off between the Fordham game and Saturday's home game against Rhode Island, Major said practice would focus more on what the 49ers need to do early in the week, then the attention will turn to the Rams later.
"We've been going so long with play, prep, play, prep," said Manor. "This allows you to back to us being the only team we talk about for a few days. It'll be back to almost an Oct. 15 mentality."
-- Here's what Major said about his decision not to play senior guard Derrio Green against Fordham:
"I wouldn't say anything except that it was a game-flow decision. We played a lot of zone and it proved to be effective (Fordham shot 30.9 percent). We wanted to be as big as we could, especially up top."
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17 comments:
Fundamentals are a crutch for the talentless.
^WTF are you talking about? Every D-1 coach teaches fundamentals! So every team lacks talent? Mayfield is pretty talented but had a brain fart everytime he went to the line. His new way greatly increased his FT% and you want to bang on about his lack of talent!
Isn't there a bridge you need to go back under troll?
That talentless player has now made stops at an SEC (Georgia) school and an A10 school.
Amazing how the BCS and the top non-BCS basketball conference year in and year out pick up "talentless" players.
Mayfield tends to shoot too flat.
If only the coach at UNCC had talent himself.
scariest thing about Alan Major is hardly a single player has shown marked improvement in 2 yrs besides 5th yr JB. I can name 5-6 that got worse or no better.
Thankfully we dont have a game tonight! I hate it when we have to compete against the Duke/Carolina game. I am a niner but LOVE MY HEELS!
If you love dem heels, you are NOT a niner. If you love dem heels, please post on their blog. That is all.
It is pretty typical when a new system is brought in that some players regress because they were recruited for a different system. The one player you mention JB, was not doing as well maybe because once he grew taller he no longer fit in the old coach's system. Better players have emerged which may also make the existing players look as though they have not improved. Braswell is one that has improved since Major arrived. Phil Jones improved last year when he was playing. I'm assuming you are referring to Briscoe (too short for Major's Defense), Green (never has played Defense), and KJ (injuries have caused KJ to regress). Who else is in your 5? Spears? Maybe you are including freshmen. Freshmen typically don't show much improvement during the 1st year.
Dowless makes Corky look like Stephen Hawking....frosh dont get better? U need to step away from the keyboard. Are you Alan Major?
@7:52
Best not make fun of people while simultaneously showing stupidity. Are ypu the same one who called fundamentals a crutch for the talentless? Why not just post that Mayfield"s free throw percentage doesn't matter anyway since free throws only count 1 point! That would be just as bright.
I agree that the attack on Dowless was uncalled for. But I'm not sure I agree with Dowless, either.
JB fell out of favor with the old coach because he grew taller? Perhaps he just worked hard and got better? Like Mullins said, you could say JB improved under Major.
Who else? Like Dowless said, Briscoe, Green, KJ are either lost or are regressing and you could probably add in the newbies like Ilija, Luka, and (maybe) E. Vic as being completely lost under Major, too. We also don't know yet if Mike Thorne lost a redshirt opportunity b/c he played against Lamar.
On the positive side, Dowless has Phil Jones and Chris Braswell. Phil played well under Major. Braswell is putting up good numbers. I'd still be reluctant to say that Major is coaxing the maximum out of his guys which is what every coach in America is paid to do! Braswell for one seems undisciplined both underneath the basket and along the perimeter. He attempted only two 3-pointers two seasons ago, but attempted a whopping 55 under Major!
I'm in agreement with Mullins. Not a lot of marked improvement under Major at all.
^^You clearly do not follow Niner B-Ball. Luka has not improved under Major b/c he left to go play pro ball in east Europe. KJ is coming off of knee injuries now to both knees and will never reach his potential due to it. Green has always been a streaky shooter and is a senior now so there is no fixing it at this point. Ivan is a practice body and thats all he ever will be.
The only person in that entire thread that remotely validates your point is E-Vic. He was recruited by Major and should do well in Major's system. The fact that as of this post he has done nothing to make me think he deserved his ESPN top 100 status is very surprising and upsetting.
My point about the freshmen is that how do you expect to see marked growth from guys who have just started college, just left home for the 1st time, and are getting use to being average on a team when they were the leader of their old teams. You have to remember that none of these guys were high major prospects. What about Henry and T Will? These guys have maybe not gotten better, but their consistency has improved. I think E-VIC has just lost some confidence. He appears to have talent, but he doesn't look like he is strong enough to make a steady impact on the game. Thorne will receive a medical redshirt this year, so no worries there. And if anyone thought that Ilija was going to come in and make an impact then you were wrong from the start. Can you say safety net for an often injured reserve in KJ? How many games did Luka play in last year or this year? Hardly enough to even see if there is improvement. If the freshmen don't show improvement by the start of next season then I'll be more concerned. BTW, Eddie Basden wasn't the dominating Eddie Basden his freshman year either.
As far as Major is concerned I don't know if he'll pan out, but he didn't have a whole lot when he started. Changing a culture, getting in recruits, and learning how to be a head coach would be overwhelming for anyone. Time will tell on him, but it hasn't even been two full seasons.
^^ Again you don't follow Niner basketball. If you did you would have known that Luka was not allowed to play last year due to the NCAA.
This Dowless guy is funny. The Thorne stuation is a fubar of epic proportion. You dont ink guys like that. Luka is another ball dropped. I wager Dowless never saw Basden play.
I've been following Niner basketball heavily since 98' when I started attending UNCC. I live in Iowa and I try to attend one home game per season (ETSU this season). I will challenge you that I have seen Basden play as a niner every season, and I have seen him play for the Bulls and as a member of the Tulsa 66ers. I watch every niner game online home and away. I think I have seen enough of Charlotte Basketball to know what I am talking about. Thorne will have a redshirt, and it is not a fubar move. These coaches didn't just fall off the wagon. They know how to manage things like redshirts. Thorne is a raw talent out of high school. Charlotte can't land a 6'10" ready to play center. A lot of major BCS schools have a hard time doing it. There just isn't as many to go around. By the time Thorne is a SR, he may surprise you.
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