ORUTerry Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Forward's free throws sinking foes By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer 3/3/2006 Records shattering as Eagles' Caleb Green hits from the foul line. In case you haven't noticed, Caleb Green has made a lot of free throws this season. How many? Choose an answer below: A) More than any player in Oral Roberts University history. More than any player in Mid-Continent Conference history. C) More than any Division I player this season. D) All of the above. The answer is 'D.' The ORU junior forward re-broke the school and Mid-Con records he set last year by making his 214th free throw of the season against Valparaiso last Saturday. His 283 attempts tie the school and conference records. Green also leads all Division I players in 2006. Only Gonzaga's Adam Morrison is close, with 205 makes in 262 attempts. The single-season record is 355, set by Furman's Frank Selvy in 1954. Getting to the line often isn't new for the two-time Mid-Con Player of the Year. Green has made 553-of-743 foul shots in three seasons, well on pace to break the conference all-time records for makes (597) and attempts (802) early next season -- if he doesn't do it this year. Nearly one-third of his 1,734 points have come at the foul line. So how does he get there so often? "I know people are going to try to play me aggressively, and I try to take the ball right at them," Green said. Green shoots 74.4 percent from the line, a skill he started working to improve as a freshman in the fall of 2003. "That's about the same time everybody was starting to figure out that Caleb needed to touch the ball every time down the floor," said assistant coach Conley Phipps. Green was about a 62 percent foul shooter at the time. But head coach Scott Sutton explained to him how many chances he was likely to get -- and how costly it would be if Green didn't make them consistently, and that was enough. "Caleb just started working on it. It just took a few minor tweaks," Phipps said. "He's made himself into a very good free throw shooter, and he's in here working on it every day." Green has had double-digit attempts 33 times in his career, making 10 or more 14 times and eight or more 28 times. Said Sutton, "We probably would have lost a lot of those games if Caleb hadn't been making his free throws." Other Mid-Con coaches say Green receives preferential treatment from officials. ORU coaches say no one in the league endures more punishment. "I don't think he gets special treatment," Phipps said. "Watch a 40-minute game film and tell me whether you think he should have had more or (fewer) foul shots. I guarantee you, you'll say he should have had more." "He's a physical guy," said Missouri-Kansas City coach Rich Zvosec. "He doesn't avoid contact, and those are the guys who go to the line more often. Someone taught him at an early age to take the ball to the basket, and that's what he does. He's certainly not shooting fadeaways." Oakland coach Greg Kampe said, "People foul him because they don't want to give him easy baskets. He gets such good position and he gets a lot of offensive rebounds (a league-leading 3.9 per game). You foul him because you don't want him to dunk it. He's always right at the rim." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob Marshall Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 Green was 1-1 tonight at the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted March 7, 2006 Author Share Posted March 7, 2006 He made up for it.... the players knew how the referees were calling the game and adapted to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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