A question I've been asking lately, especially watching Georgia Tech, Kentucky and even North Carolina struggle at times this year.

Georgia Tech especially, they play solid defense most of the time other than the fact that Luke Schensher cannot hope to block out on a rebound. I don't really know what to expect I guess, but they cannot shoot to save thier lives. GT beats North Carolina, with Bynum getting in excess of 30 pts I believe then they come out and miss point blank stuff and start 2-15 against Duke.

Then there are players like JJ Reddick who could seemingly at times heave the ball backwards over their heads and rain in shots.

Is shooting mental? I understand players get hot and cold, but it's rather odd even the most talented teams like North Carolina struggle with shooting percentage. Georgia Tech could have won 8 more games had they shot the ball well.

shooting is indeed mental. you can be on a streak and something happens to disrupt your mental process and boom, you start to miss everything. i find the more i think about shooting the worse the % is, when you just do it, its more natural

once you have established your fundamentals in regards to shooting, then i say yes, it definitely becomes more of a mental game...

there is no statistical evidence that streaks affect the outcome of the next shot.

i didnt say it did, i said something can happen to make you loose you mental process. every shot ever taken has a 50-50 chance of going on, either it does or it doesnt, whether its from under the basket or from the other baseline, but if youre a jump shooter and you have a sweet spot on the floor that you like to go to, something can happen that makes you miss the spot.

think kevin counting the screws in the parkay

I agree with you. You definitely need to have a little shooting skill in order to make it to the part that becomes mental.

I find that if you don't think about whether you are going to make it or miss it and just shoot that the chances of it going in will increase.

It's usually mechanics, but when a good shooter is going bad its most likely mental.

I know when I play the first couple shots in the game I take tell me if I have it or not. Alot of the time if I miss a few it's in my head that I'm having a bad shooting game and it usually continues

well, that's kind of true. If Shaq is a 50 percent free throw shooter odds are that he's going to make close to 50 percent the rest of his life. That is, if he makes eight in a row there is still a 50 percent chance he'll miss the next one. vice versa if he misses eight in a row. I don't think it has a lot to do with confidence. I think if it did there would be variation in percentages, and a streak effect would be present.

i have a awkward shot, in that im rarely ever squared up except on 3's. ive had a few games where ive been 4-5, 5-6 or even 6-6 on 3's, and then and the very next game i do the o'fer. im still taking the same shots from the same spot on the floor, but if someone runs out a bit quicker or the rotation is there, thats where mental takes over.

but theres also times where anything i or you can throw up goes in without question, no matter how a defense plays you, but if you do one thing differently, say jab with the different foot, that can through everything down the shitter...

hence why i said earlier that davo felt the need to correct, that sometimes something can happen that just affects your shot without rhyme or reason

Mechanics or being able to do them consistently is important, then confidence in knowing you are a good shooter whether or not you miss a bunch in row.

just ask Nick Anderson........