Thursday February 14, 2008

The Burden

The Burden
I received a phone call yesterday from a good friend, Furman’s men’s golf coach, Todd Satterfield. Usually Coach Satterfield and I discuss golf, his team and PGA Tour issues. I usually learn some rules or rule changes from Coach because he is a USGA official as well. But yesterday I learned someone totally different.

Coach Satterfield listens to our morning show when he can and he called to give me his two cents on Clemson basketball. That’s right, Clemson basketball.

Coach watched the Clemson-North Carolina basketball game and noticed what a lot of others did when he says the Tigers did get tight coming down the stretch. He says the streak of losing 52 consecutive games in Chapel Hill became a burden to the players and they played differently in the closing minutes of the game.

He says that these current players have not lost 52 straight to North Carolina so why should they carry the burden of that streak? Cliff Hammonds has lost three times there now and that is all he could be responsible for and he is not responsible for any of the losses.

Coach Satterfield also says the same thing goes for the Tigers woes at the free throw line. He says it is human nature to consider the streak or free throw woes when it becomes a burden. Satterfield says the players have to hear about it from the fellow students, their professors, the lady serving them food in the dining hall, the convenient store employee, the radio talk show host and newspaper writer. He says that if everyone in the community is talking about it then the players hear it and it becomes a distraction.

Sports psychologists usually try to get their athletes to focus on the process rather the results. If an athlete can detach himself/herself from the outcome and only concentrate on the process then they can free themselves up to be more successful. Deepak Chopra writes about the law of least effort and the detachment of the outcome as well. He says birds don’t try to fly, they just fly. Grass does not try to grow, it just grows. In sports terms, you should not focus on beating North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Instead, you should concentrate on making the next pass, shot or block shot. If you put together enough good passes, shots and defense then the outcome will take care of itself.

On the free throw line you should not carry the burden of past missed free throws because any free throw you have shot in the past has nothing to do with the one you are about to shoot. Also, you don’t try to make the free throw. You free your mind to focus on the balance or vision of the shot and if it goes in fine and if it does not fine. If you focus only on the process and not the outcome then you will free your mind up and most likely you will make a higher percentage of free throws.

That is not what has happened in some of Clemson’s trips to Chapel Hill or to the free throw line. Current Clemson players are carrying around the burden of what has happened to former Clemson teams. KC Rivers had nothing to do with 51 of the losses to North Carolina so why should he have to concern himself with the streak?

Also we noted a couple of weeks ago in the blog that many Clemson players have higher free throw shooting percentages as freshman and sophomores than they do as juniors and seniors. Hammonds and Rivers are examples of that. I said then that I firmly believe that is a result of the negative attention to the free throw shooting of the past. The players hear it so often that it wears on them and it becomes a factor.

I think as talk show hosts and fans we have added to the problem. Also we add to the misconception. For example, I think most Clemson fans would think that if the Tigers would have shot 70% from the free throw line this year than they would have won many more games. That is not the fact. Clemson has lost six games this season but would have only won two more if they shot 70% from the free throw line in every game.

The Tigers would have defeated North Carolina in both contests this season if they would have shot 70% from the line. However, the Tigers shot 68% from the line against Ole Miss and lost by three so that would have still been a loss. Clemson shot 69% from the line against Charlotte and lost by ten so that would not have changed the outcome. Clemson was awful from the line at Cameron but they lost by more than 70% would have made up for. The Tigers shot 75% from the line in the loss at Miami. Keep in mind that this stat does not take into consideration the missing of the front end of one and ones.

So here is my challenge:

I will stop writing and talking about the streak and free throw shooting. But the fans need to pitch in. In Littlejohn tonight if Clemson makes a free throw then we need to not partake in the sarcastic applause. If they miss a free throw, we do not need to have the typical “aaawwww” reaction. When we see players on campus we do not need to remind them of the free throw line struggles. Basically we need to just stop talking about it.

Instead, here is a list of things to talk about instead:
1. Chicken Curse
2. Chicago Cubs Curse of the Goat
3. Curse of the Bambino

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