Seniors Brian Grandieri and Michael Kach turn free-throw shooting into a friendly competition. In their spare time, the two roommates use the hoop behind their house; at practice, whoever plays worse buys the other dinner.
If game performance is any indication, Kach has been enjoying a lot of free meals this year. He leads the Quakers, hitting 79.4 percent of his free attempts; Grandieri has sunk 67 percent.
Yet as the rest of the Quakers frequently struggle with their foul shots- - just 59 percent in a 26-point loss at Villanova, for example - experts say that the responsibility may lie with coach Glen Miller's approach.
The Quakers are shooting 65.9 percent from the line this season, slightly worse than last year, and roughly three points below the national collegiate average.
"It's a coachable skill," said Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Gary Boren, a banker who doubles as the only free-throw shooting coach in the NBA. "It's a direct function of how much time their coaching staff puts into it."
It's also a specific skill. Upper-body movement should be identical to a jump shot - but the feet don't jump. Footwork is often a source of difficulties; thus, a player or team who succeeds from the field can still struggle at the line.
Ed Palubinskas, who considers himself the top free-throw expert in the country and who has coached Shaquille O'Neal, added that it's about "knowledge and application."
"If you keep missing a shot, that's cancer," he said. "And the problem is that most coaches don't even address the problem."
For instance, Grandieri said that free-throw drills under Miller primarily consist of each player attempting up to 100 shots before practice. Practice under previous coach Fran Dunphy wasn't much different, Grandieri said.
But experts say that such repetition may fail to address underlying flaws. Put simply, it's easy to get into a groove.
"The only ones of those throws that resemble a game are the first one or two you take," said Dennis Hans, a longtime basketball journalist.
Boren, the NBA coach, said that he films all players and approaches them afterwards about their technique.
"The big problems are what they're doing with their feet, and there's too much motion in a shot," he said. "There ought to be a rhythm, from the toes to your fingertips - a one piece shot."
"A lot of people" - including Grandieri and Kach, as it turns out - "think it's mental, and it's not," Boren said. "It's mechanics."
Using his approach, the Mavericks have finished no lower than sixth in the NBA in his nine seasons as coach.
About five years ago, Boren came to Penn to hold a one-day clinic with Dunphy and his staff. He has not been involved with the Quakers since.
Miller acknowledged the importance of improving mechanics, and said that he and his staff use film to look at all aspects of their team.
"But it's really difficult to do when you're playing seven games in 14 days," Miller said. "You really need a break in the action to make adjustments."
The Quakers' inexperience may have negatively affected their play throughout the year, but it may be an asset when it comes to foul shooting.
So far, the freshmen are nailing 75 percent of their attempts, well above the team average. Miller added that it's harder to work with veterans.
"I think it's more challenging to improve shooting mechanics in general with older guys," he said. "A lot of freshmen are earlier in their career and more willing to make adjustments."
Specialized coaches such as Boren and Palubinskas have documented success at improving the free-throw shooting of the players with whom they work. But, so far, hiring instructors to perform this function has yet to catch on at the college level.
"I don't know why. They're wrong in not doing it," Boren said. "The teams are kind of in the dark ages on this particular subject."
