To HC

[Grizz]

At the Michigan State game I was sitting with a group of MSU fans who asked why Kampe leaves the free throw line empty. So I emailed him and asked why, I also told him that a Valpo fan thinks it's because he wants to prove he's smarter then everyone else. Here is his response. I am interested in yours;

Dave,

First let me say I am no genius, nor do I even think like most good coaches. I'm just trying to give my team it's best chance to win. The Valpo guy is wrong about my motive, yet he might be right in that I'm not very smart. The reason I leave the free throw line open is:

1. We make free throws at about 76%. So that's 24 misses out of 100 shots.
2. We historically rebound missed free throws at about 15%.  The national average is a little less. So out of the 24 misses we would rebound 4 of them.
3. So doing the math WE shoot 24 free throws a game so that's about 6 misses a game, which means we would rebound about 1 to 1.5 per game or we are giving up about 2 to 3 points a game if we converted the rebound.
4. On the defensive end, when our defense is set we give up about 0.8 points per possession (by set I mean all 5 are back and in position and the ball is being inbounded – dead ball situation.)
5. Our defensive points per possession in transition (missed or made shot) is about 1.08 ppp.
6. Not lining up ensures we are not committing fouls going for offensive rebounds.
7. This allows us to rest which is necessary to the amount of minutes some guys get and the pace at which we play.
Late in games if we are down, I will fill the lanes on a FT

Not sure you can defend me with this logic, but.........

[Grizz]

Sorry, that was for WH. I am getting old

[HC]

Lol, I was excited to see a callout thread with my name on it. Guess I'm going to have to try harder.

[agibson]

Great fun that he replied, and with a nicely reasoned argument.

I don't have an informed opinion about whether it's a good idea or not, but I appreciate the enterprise and experimentation.

[wh]

First, let me say that I am quite impressed that Coach Kampe would take the time to provide such a thorough response to your inquiry.

His rationale is interesting to say the least.  It makes sense that an opponent's PPP in transition would be higher than when the entire defense is back and in position, but I had no idea it was 25% higher.  Assuming that is accurate, I understand his logic for leaving the free throw line open.

That said, I think there are some end-of-the-game scenarios where loading the FT line would always be preferable to leaving it open. For example, the other team has a 1 or 2 possession lead with less than a minute remaining, and 1 of your players gets fouled. Why would you not load the FT line and give yourself an opportunity for an offensive rebound and put back?  Valpo won a game like that 3 or 4 years ago when a player (KVW) got an offensive rebound and put back off a missed FT and sent the game into OT (or did we win it in regulation?). 

Anyway good stuff from Coach Kampe.  Thanks for sharing.

[HC]

We also wona game like that when GB didn't put anyone in the box and KVW managed to grab the board, passed it to Rowdy who went up the court unimpeded for the win.

[a3uge]

I think it's a good thing if Kampe thinks he can substitute rest and reasonable rotations by keeping his guys out of the box during free throws.

Who knows, maybe he'll wear his players out so much again that they lose to UIC in the conference tournament again.

[StlVUFan]

I have emailed Kampe before and gotten equally thoughtful replies.  In November of 2012, I told him some Valpo fans were faulting Bryce for trying to burn clock.  I also mentioned how the screen-roll to Kevin Van Wijk had stopped working all of a sudden.  He replied that he had called a timeout and told whoever was guarding Buggs was on his own, there would be no help from teammates, and that's what stopped that play.  As I recall we had a 9 pt lead and they scored the final 10 points.

He loves talking with fans, though all I can say about non-Oakland fans is that he likes the ones that show a keen interest in the conference.  What else draws him, I do not know.

[valpotx]

Of course, Stl has to get into the Kampe love fest

[StlVUFan]

Of course, Stl has to get into the Kampe love fest