Sport Psychology Institute Northwest

It’s tourney season again!

The traditional stakes are on the line in this year’s 2007 NCAA basketball tournaments – status, money, and, biggest of all, bragging rights in the world of college hoops. Big players are making headlines, with names like Durant, Oden, and Hansbrough making noise in post-game analysis and NBA Draft discussions alike. Apart from the traditional powerhouses and star players, what stories are seeing press this year? Given that this years competition is just as brutal as ever, teams are taking extra steps to stay ahead. An example is No. 2 seed Memphis’ work with visualization strategies to improve free-throws (Memphis is the worst team from the charity stripe in the tourney).

Coach John Calipari has completely abandoned free-throw exercises in practice, favoring visualization exercises instead focusing on a good follow through and a swish of the net. Says forward Robert Dozier, “If you visualize yourself making it, you'll make it, rather than just thinking, ‘Oh my God, I don't know if I'm going to make it or not.’”

Apparently the strategy worked – earlier tonight Memphis knocked out No. 3 seed Texas A&M 65-64 with two Antonio Anderson free throws with 3.1 seconds left. While the Tigers shot an unremarkable .667 from the line, that figure is still a full five percent improvement over their regular season average. Keep an eye on the rest of the tournament to see how far Memphis can go, and keep checking with SPINw for mental game updates on the tournament.

Read the entire San Diego Union-Tribune report here.

Check out the Memphis-Texas A&M game report from ESPN here.