Practice Makes Perfect?

Growing up, I thought nobody did it better than Larry Bird.
The Hall of Fame forward played for the Boston Celtics from 1979-1992, and maybe put in more time shooting the ball than any other player in the NBA. While everybody else was caught in Boston traffic, Bird was shooting jumper after jumper in the Boston Garden...two hours before the game started.

Bird said he was never nervous when getting the ball in the clutch, because he knew he had put in the necessary time to earn the right to take the big shot.

On Monday afternoon at Cintas Center, you could hear just a few basketballs bouncing on the floor inside the arena. Head Coach Sean Miller's three sons were shooting with their grandfather, Sean's Dad, John Miller. And B.J. Raymond was putting in some extra shooting practice, long after his teammates had hit the showers.

Why?
I'm guessing B.J. knew he wasn't shooting the ball as well as he had all year.
By no means were his numbers disappointing. In Xavier's first two NCAA Tournament games against Georgia and Purdue, Raymond shot a combined 3-9 (33%) from three point range, noticeably below the 42% he shot from distance for the season.

And who made arguably the biggest shots against West Virginia to extend Xavier's stay in the Big Dance? Raymond's two three pointers were HUGE. One beat the shot clock and lifted Xavier to within one victory of the Final Four in San Antonio.

Sometimes coming up clutch, with the whole country watching, can be attributed to the time that a player puts in long after the cameras have been shut off for the day.

---Zach