How Smart Are You About Basketball?

Are you a basketball mentor? Do you have some free time at your hand? If yes, then you might be willing to take on a little bit of entertainment. But not just any entertainment. No! We are talking about some absolutely interesting basketball quiz questions.

Basketball is a sport that requires a wide array of skills, including speed, agility, endurance and strength. That’s why it’s a popular spectator sport, particularly in the United States. In fact, over 10 million Americans play basketball, according to the National Federation of High Schools.

An effective strategy for a single free throw is to aim at the back of the rim. The ball will hit the backboard and come straight down into the hoop. This simple strategy, however, is mathematically equivalent to making a succession of shots from distance, each one to a different spot on the backboard. In fact, if you try this out on a full-size basketball court, you can convince yourself that there is a spot on the backboard where you can put the ball that will make it go in every time. The magical spot is at the center of the circle formed by the hoop and the dotted line. It’s about a third of the way from either end. If you aim there, and throw with a little bit of spin, you’ll be able to convince yourself that no one can block your shot.

Suppose you are at a basketball game. The home team has the ball, and is down by two points with three seconds left on the clock. They throw the ball inbounds. The visiting team’s center jumps up to catch it, but as he does so he slips and falls on his back. He scrambles to his feet and grabs the ball, then throws it up toward the basket. The ball arcs upward. As it comes down it looks like it will miss everything: rim, backboard, and net. But as it gets closer to the ground its motion slows and changes direction. It hits the backboard and bounces straight through the hoop. Game over! What just happened? The obvious answer is that God was on the home team’s side, so He made sure they won. But this answer is wrong: it ignores what we now know about physical systems such as basketballs and backboards. There would be no reason for God to intervene in a system He had already carefully designed just so that fans of one team could feel better about winning than fans of another team. The right answer is that there was something wrong with how we were thinking about this problem.

What’s your free throw percentage?

The free throw is one of the most effective ways to score points in basketball. A free throw is when a player attempts to score points from the foul line after getting fouled by an opponent. The free throw is so effective because it’s almost always successful! With a perfect record, the free throw will result in two points 75% of the time. The other 25% of the time, it will result in zero points. Using these numbers, we can calculate that the expected value for free throws is 1.25 points per attempt.

Hopefully, the information above will help you to enjoy basketball more. If you’re new to the sport, players even on poor teams are fun to watch. And if you’re a seasoned student of the game, there are always new insights to glean from watching basketball. Put some of these tips into practice, and your next game will be even better than the last!