If shooting free throws is a lost art, as some folks claim, the art has been rediscovered on the campus of the University of Chicago, the same place where scientists unlocked the secrets of the atom.
Coached by Mike McGrath, the Maroons are a very good basketball team. They have a 10-2 record and are ranked No. 4 in the nation in Division III. They have won 18 straight games in their conference, the University Athletic Association. They have a 35-game UAA winning streak on their home floor at Henry Crown Field House.
Furthermore, the Maroons boast two stars from the Chicago area. Going into Saturday’s game against No. 8-ranked UAA archrival Washington in St. Louis, sophomore Derek Reich from Niles West is averaging 19.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Senior Jim Waichulis from Leyden has a 12.2-point scoring average.
But the best thing the Maroons do is make free throws. The team has a .767 percentage from the foul line, and the five starters collectively have knocked down better than four of every five foul shots they have attempted, 168-for-204 for an outstanding percentage of .824.
Image being in this worst-case basketball scenario. It’s late in a game, and your team is trailing the Maroons, who have a four-year record of 53-1 when they have led at halftime.
Whom do you foul? Certainly not Brad Henderson. He ranks No. 1 the team, having hit 17-for-18 for a .944 mark. Henderson, a 6-foot-8-inch senior tri-captain from Loveland, Ohio, is used to ranking at the top of his class. He’s a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has earned a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, where he will study economics and social history.
Other Maroon starters’ free-throw marks: Waichulis 29-for-32, .906; Jon Poyer of Collierville, Tenn., 33-for-38, .868; Reich 64-for-83, .771; and Tyler Smithson of Kirkland, Wash., 25-for-33, .758.
“There’s no secret to this,” McGrath said. “We work on free-throw shooting maybe two minutes a day. I have noticed, though, that when one shooter gets hot, it spreads throughout the team.”
Good free throw shooting and the type of player he recruits go hand in hand, McGrath said.
“We get a player who hasn’t always had everything in basketball come easy to him,” he said. “He’s had to work on techniques, such as shooting free throws. An academic type works on techniques in class and in sports. He can concentrate. That’s important in shooting free throws. Also it helps to recruit kids who can shoot.”
X men . . . and women: St. Xavier University women’s coach Bob Hallberg will be after the 500th victory of his college career Saturday when his Cougars face Purdue-Calumet in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference game at 1 p.m. at St. Xavier. The Cougars’ first-year women’s team is 13-6 overall and 0-1 in the CCAC. Hallberg collected 486 victories as the men’s coach at Chicago State and UIC.
The St. Xavier men’s team, meanwhile, is 17-3 and ranked 15th nationally among NAIA schools after winning a four-team holiday tournament in Florida. Coach Tom O’Malley’s squad faces Barat College in the second game of Saturday’s double-header.
In the swim: North Central junior All-America Maureen Szweda from Glenbard East did not swim because of a sprained wrist, but two freshmen won two events apiece to help the Cardinal beat Carthage 110-86 in a dual meet. Molly Foote from Waubonsie Valley won the 50-meter freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Laurel Liberty from Libertyville High won the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle.
On the mat: Harper’s wrestling team, ranked No. 2 nationally among Division III junior colleges, opened its season by beating six other schools in its own invitational meet. Three Hawks won titles: Bobby Howard from Lowell, Ind., at 125 pounds, Jared Karlan from Johnsburg at 133 and Emerson Rushing from Bradley at 145. Coach Dan Loprieno also was pleased with second-place finishes by two former Schaumburg wrestlers, Brad Keil at 197 pounds and Adam Sesso at 284.