The Most Shocking Free Throw Form You'll See Today Comes From South Florida Women's Forward Kendall Puryear

Told you. Wasn't that legitimately kind of shocking? I think I actually jumped a bit. Kendall Puryear cocked that thing back FAST and with AUTHORITY, as if she was about to put a hole in the backboard. Dare I say she almost looked frightened. Like when someone gives you a jump scare, and you react by throwing whatever object you have in your hand at them.

Ok maybe that's a bit of a stretch. It was more like she saw an active shooter in the 200 level and burst into action, ready to knock the weapon out of his (or her) hand with the force of a 100 MPH basketball. 

Credit to Kendall Puryear, though. I looked up her stats, expecting her free-throw percentage to be around 30%, but in two years at Purdue before transferring to South Florida, she was a cool .582 from the line.

It's not great, but I've seen plenty of players worse. NBA players have been worse. I'm not sure if Kendall Puryear's ultra-unique free-throw shooting form flew under the radar at Purdue the last two seasons, or if something happened this year to put a hitch one-armed cock back in her follow-through. I can't seem to find any highlights of her shooting them prior to this year. I went through a whole ass Purdue-Indiana full game highlight from last season, found the point in the game when Puryear went to the line for two, and the highlight just skipped right over her shots. She made both free throws, too. 

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So if they were trying to keep Kendall Puryear's revolutionary free throw style under wraps, they did a pretty good job. Until last night. Cat's out of the bag now. Based on the two shots that went viral last night (her only two attempts of the game), it doesn't look especially effective. But give her time. Puryear's regular jump shot doesn't look too crazy. And she's a monster in the low post. She'll figure it out.