Forgive Gary Buchanan if he’s not in the best mood. He’s in one of those slumps.

The kind that drops your free-throw shooting nearly six percent and has everybody wondering when you will snap out of the funk. The Villanova guard has grown tired of people asking him what happened to his shot.

“People will be like, ‘Gary, what’s going on this year?’ “ Buchanan said over the phone earlier this week. “I don’t know what to tell them anymore. I’m upset about it, too.”

Can you blame him? Things like this are hard to get over. He used to pride himself on free-throw shooting, and this year his percentage has plummeted — all the way to 92.

Sure, the 6-foot-3 guard still leads the Big East in free-throw percentage, but the standards are high for a junior who set a Division I record by hitting 73 consecutive freebies and led the nation in free-throw shooting last year.

“I’ve never seen anything like the excitement he creates at the free-throw line,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “People just seem to love that chase. We’ll be up 20 points late in a game, and he’ll miss one free throw and the crowd will just groan.”

“I sit around at home and watch these guys missing big free throws at the end of games,” said Buchanan, who also leads the league in three-point percentage at 45. “I have dreams at night that I might do that, so I work hard to make sure it never happens. Some people don’t understand the value of a free throw.”

Buchanan used to be one of those guys. Nine years ago, he didn’t even know what a free throw was.

Growing up without a father and with a mother who didn’t value sports, Buchanan stayed away from the playing fields and courts for most of middle school. It took a friend’s coaxing late in eighth grade to finally bring Buchanan to a pickup basketball game.

“I wasn’t really into sports back then,” said Buchanan, who now leads the Wildcats with 19 points a game. “I didn’t think I was good at them or something. I didn’t understand the point.”

He learned quickly. Through a St. Louis youth basketball program, Buchanan met Louis Strata, an AAU coach who continues to serve as Buchanan’s father figure. Strata helped Buchanan make his varsity team at Valley Park High School and watched as he piled up points.

But when Buchanan’s test scores came in too low for him to qualify for Division I, Strata realized that his influence alone would not be enough. In what Strata calls the “best thing I ever did for Gary,” the AAU coach advised Buchanan to enroll at St. Thomas Moore, a prep school in Connecticut.

In one year at St. Thomas, Buchanan averaged 18 points, six assists and six rebounds. But he also attained something far greater in magnitude.

“He grew up,” Strata said. “He learned how to live away from home. He is such a quiet and shy kid that it is hard for him to spread his wings, but he learned how to do that.”

“It helped me grow as a person,” Buchanan said. “I learned to deal with independence. Your family is not there, so I had to go through stuff without Mom.”

Buchanan has since grown accustomed to that. Crystal Buchanan still doesn’t understand a free throw and had never heard of Villanova before the school offered her son a scholarship.

“Mom isn’t a really big sports fan,” Buchanan said. “That is just her. She’s actually coming to the Big East Tournament, but only so she can shop.”

“She loves her son, but basketball just isn’t her sport,” said Strata, who said he talks to Buchanan four times a week. “Even if it’s parent’s night, you have to drag her to go. She probably goes to just one game a year.”

Buchanan doesn’t mind too much. He never wanted to be one of those college basketball players who’s the star of his family. He doesn’t want a supportive entourage following him to the games. His teammates and coach are enough.

Wright has pushed Buchanan to become a more complete player by demanding that he take the ball hard to the basket, play better defense and rebound more.

“On offense, you can see that he’s concentrating more,” Wright said. “He’s taking every possession seriously. He’s also become a much better defender and rebounder.”

“It’s not just his basketball game,” Strata said. “He is very atypical for a college star. He’s very shy, and he keeps to himself a little bit. He has a competitive side with him, but he doesn’t pound his chest or anything like that.”

Except when he’s slumping at that free-throw line.

“You have to have high standards if you are going to be good at something,” Buchanan said. “If I miss one free throw, I will be so mad at myself I can’t talk after the game.

“That is how I’ve built a reputation for myself. I have to be perfect.”

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Published on February 27, 2002 at 12:00 pm