Fixing the Freshman: Robinson Focuses on Flawed Shooting Mechanics
Friday, December 5, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- As part of picking up the pieces from the Thanksgiving week turkey shoot in the Bahamas, Billy Donovan sat down individually with each of his Florida players, one on one, and dissected their offensive flaws.
Play by play. Shot by shot.
If you watched any of UF's three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis, where the Gators' hit a collective 34.2 percent from the floor and a clangy 26 percent from the 3-point line, obviously, there was a lot of material for Donovan to cover.
Eventually, he got to Devin Robinson, whose reaction to the viewing went something like this.
“Wow.”
Not so coincidentally, that's probably what a lot of UF fans have been saying when the 6-foot-9 freshman wing has let it fly during these early stages of his rookie season. Too often, they've come nowhere close.
So alongside Donovan, Robinson watched tangible, slow-motion proof of his flaws.
“I was taking crazy-looking shots,” the 6-foot-9 freshman forward said. “My body wasn't squared up. I wasn't holding my follow-through. I was falling backwards sometimes. I couldn't believe it.”
A prodigious scorer and one of the top 20 prep prospects in the country last year at Chesterfield (Va.) Christchurch School -- he averaged 24 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two assists per game -- Robinson not only has struggled to put the ball in the basket, he's had a tough time simply hitting iron.
Nightmare stat: Robinson has eight field goals through his first six collegiate games ... and nine airballs.
“I know it's haunting him,” sophomore guard Kasey Hill said.
So think about that Friday when Robinson and the Gators (3-3) take on No. 11 Kansas (5-1) at famous Phog Allen Fieldhouse. Yes, Robinson acknowledges being in the worst shooting slump of his young basketball life. But, no, he has no intention of giving in to it.
“I'm starting to realize what I'm up against, what this is all about,” Robinson said. “I'm going to improve.”
His indoctrination has been quite the shock, compared to how Robinson envisioned his college experience playing. During his time being wooed by the likes of Indiana, Oklahoma State, Connecticut and Notre Dame, he used to watch college basketball games on television and think to himself, “That doesn't look so tough.”
He admits as much.
“I was going to play this many minutes and score that many points,” Robinson said. “Those were my expectations.”
Now those expectations have confronted reality and here's what they look like: 8-for-32 from the floor (25 percent), 3-for-18 from the 3-point range (16.7 percent) and 4.2 points per game.
And all those airballs.
To be fair, Robinson is probably playing too much than the Gators would have expected, given the season-ending injury to Devon Walker and with guard Eli Carter hobbled with a foot sprain. But in many ways, Robinson's reality is the same one his UF teammates are dealing with after being dubbed the nation's No. 7 team in preseason polls. Those projections were based largely on returning some key role players (though just one starter) from last season's squad that rampaged the Southeastern Conference on the way to the Final Four. Three weeks into this season, UF already has equaled its number of losses from last year.
It's time to reboot those expectations to such rudimentary targets as competing each possession, executing offense and -- this one is important -- making shots.
“I've talked to them about it over and over, shown them video, given them references from going from the two national championship teams to the two NIT teams,” Donovan said. “But this may be one of those lessons where, as much I try to head it off, they've just got to live it.”
So in Robinson's case, Donovan broke down video of all 16 shots the kid took in the Bahamas. Forget about whether it went in, the coach said, just focus on what what the shot looked like.
What Robinson saw was eye-opening. His body was in a different position on literally every attempt; leaning back one time, tilting sideways the next, legs not underneath him for another. He was a mechanical mess.
“No wonder I was shooting so many airballs," he said. "I've never shot this many in my life."
Beyond proper technique, Donovan talked to Robinson about have the discipline to be ready and in proper position when the ball finds him and to launch an in-rhythm, formed repetition every time.
“At this level, you're just not going to get away with doing it any other way,” Donovan said. “It's about getting a good rep and not being so consumed with whether the ball goes in the basket. That's one of the biggest problems with our team right now; we're a result-oriented team. We focus too much on the result. 'Did the ball go in? Did I turn it over? Did I guard my man?' They have play through all those things.”
In individual instruction drills this week, the UF staff worked with Robinson to emphasize squaring his shoulders in anticipation of the pass, giving the passer a good window, getting the ball in the shooting pocket and stepping cleanly -- one-two -- into the release.
If correcting this on the fly sounds simple, it's not. It takes focus.
And it'll take laser-type lock-in to see results Friday night in the deafening din known as “The Phog.”
“I think he's going to get through it,” said Hill, who knows a little bit about struggling early as a freshman, having gone to Wisconsin in the second game a year ago and shooting just 2-for-11, missing all four 3-point shots and fouling out. “We're going to need Devin, so he's got to keep shooting and have the mindset to keep shooting. The expectations he placed on himself, it's like coach tells us, they're not real. You just have to control that by fighting the negative thoughts and just go play.”
In Robinson's case, there's other stuff he can do. He had three rebounds in the Bahamas loss to Carolina and after missing his first three field-goal attempts (with a couple airballs), took the ball hard down the lane and tried a tomahawk dunk over 6-9 Kennedy Meeks. He didn't make it, but Robinson got to the free-throw line.
The aggression was encouraging.
“I want to play the game like I know I can,” Robinson said. “It's hard going through the slump I'm going through right now. Really hard. But I also know I have a lot of time. It's just a matter of fighting through it and getting better.”
Just so happens the next opportunity comes at one of the toughest venues in the country.
“That's not intimidating to me, that's exciting,” he said. “I'm looking forward to it.”
