Jalen Wilson entered his name into the NBA Draft this past summer, hoping to get honest feedback from professional evaluators.
He ended up getting that — and then some.
Like Kansas Jayhawks teammate Ochai Agbaji, Wilson tested the NBA waters before announcing in July that he was returning for another year at KU.
Agbaji has since talked about a critique from Toronto Raptors higher-ups fueling him: They told him if he returned to school, he needed to play with more assertiveness and aggression.
Wilson said the message he received was much different.
But just as direct.
"I was just told that I was a horrible free-throw shooter," Wilson said this past weekend ahead of the NCAA Midwest Regional final in Chicago, "which I was."
Before then, Wilson hadn't put much thought into how that impacted his overall game.
The numbers didn't lie, though. While playing as a taller guard in KU's lineup, Wilson finished last season at 63% from the line — the worst mark among the Jayhawks' top six rotation players.
NBA folks were well aware. Wilson said "all different kinds of people" spoke to him about that number — along with his low field-goal percentage at 41% — whether it was general managers or other NBA personnel.
"I knew it, coming in obviously, that I didn't shoot as well as I wanted to. But just hearing it straight up forward is kind of funny when they just tell you all for real," Wilson said. "So it's just how it is."
Wilson, a redshirt sophomore, knew it was up to him to change his free-throw perception.
The work started in sessions with Lawrence basketball trainer Peter Danyliv this offseason. During those exercises, Wilson would shoot about 100 free throws each day, coming immediately after grueling drills to best simulate the stop-start nature of game situations.
Wilson also believed he benefited from intentional habits.
"I think last year, I would change routines a lot, and that would kind of mess up the cycle," Wilson said. "So now I've just stuck to the same routine every time, and just not let it be mental. Just know that it's going in, and don't even think about it."
The summer discussions also made him rethink what he needed to become a future professional basketball player. Some pro personnel, for example, spoke to him about free throws being a vital part of an NBA player's arsenal.
"I didn't really realize how a lot of the good scorers get their points is from the free-throw line. And that wasn't something that I really valued a lot until I realized how important it was when I was missing them," Wilson said. "Like, 'Man I left like six points (with missed free throws). So if we lose the game by three ... that's six points there.' Just stuff like that."
Wilson, in the end, has aided KU's run to the Final Four by shoring up that previous weakness.
That came after a rough start. After Wilson was charged with a DUI and suspended three games, he faced confidence issues when removed from the starting lineup, making 5 of 14 free throws in his first eight games.
Recognizing that, his final numbers are all the more impressive.
Wilson has pushed his season accuracy to 71% at the line, and he's been even better lately. Last season, during Big 12 play, he made 43 of 71 free throws for 61%; this year, that conference precision shot up to 76% (51-for-67).
"I'm always trying to be the guy," Wilson said, "that can ice the game with free throws."
That subtle progress shouldn't be overlooked, especially considering how this NCAA Tournament played out.
In KU's two closest games — against Creighton and Providence — Wilson went a combined 9-for-9 from the stripe, with four of those makes coming in the final 15 seconds of both contests.
The improvement might not have happened without some tough-love commentary.
Or without Wilson responding in the way that he did.
"I mean, it's the NBA. It's the highest level. They'll tell you directly what they think you can't do, what they think you can do and stuff like that," Wilson said. "And I just took everything, whether it was good or bad, and just took it back for me to learn and get better."
