For Herdman, It’s Just Pop Till You Drop

What could stop Jeff Herdman from shooting now?

His job description at UC Irvine is a simple one, a shooter’s bliss. Shoot until you miss, then miss until you hit.

Nothing so ordinary as a few missed shots--or a half-dozen of them--will discourage him this time.

The two-year-old stress fractures in the balls of his feet have not been enough.

Neither was the flu-like illness that dogged him last week. It might have helped hold him to one point in the second half against Fresno State, but where was it in the first, when Herdman scored 23?

There should be no more scenes like last season’s, when Herdman, who led the nation in three-point shooting percentage for a time as a sophomore, ended up benched as a junior, his confidence sagging down around his ankles like a pair of socks that had lost their elastic.

That is over now, says Herdman, who saw his three-point shooting percentage plummet from 51% his sophomore season to 34% last season, and lost his starting position to a freshman.

Before this season, it wasn’t even a sure thing that he would start. But he has become the steadiest player for an Irvine team that needs one. Of the Anteaters’ 17 games, Herdman has scored in double figures in 16, averaging 16 points and seven rebounds.

He is shooting 44% from three-point range this season, and he is doing it without the luxury of passing up a shot. If he is open, the ball is going up. He already has tried 150 three-pointers, 49 more than he did all last season.

But don’t look at Herdman’s imperfect shooting technique for the answer. He says you won’t find it there.

“I’m shooting the same way now as last year,” Herdman said. “I’ve always been able to shoot, but now I’m able to keep my confidence up. In the past, I would let my confidence get down and that affected my shooting. It’s more my frame of mind that’s different than my shot.”

He is not letting his senior season slip away unnoticed, not with the prospect of playing in Europe next year. Not when the NBA’s three-point line is nothing to Herdman, who used to have shots ruled no-baskets at Mission Viejo High because he had stepped on the sideline as he shot.

Last season, if not a sore subject, is at least an uninteresting one to Herdman, who is determined not to dwell on last season, last game or even the last shot.

“I don’t think that I had that terrible a year,” he said. “I averaged 11 points and six rebounds. Not a lot of people can say that.”

His mother, Linda Herdman, watched him struggle last season.

“I think he gets really tired of people asking what was wrong,” Linda Herdman said. “Obviously, if he knew, he would have fixed it.”

It was difficult for anyone on the Irvine team to have a good frame of mind last season. The team had the worst record in school history, winning only five of 28 games, and set a school record by losing 15 in a row.

“The lowest point?” Herdman said. “I didn’t even play for two games straight. I didn’t even practice. I was over there on the scout team.”

At the heart of it was a futile cycle. Herdman didn’t play well and felt bad about it. Coach Bill Mulligan criticized him, and Herdman felt worse and played worse.

“I let everything bother me,” Herdman said. “If I made five in a row, then missed two, I’d stop shooting. This year, I have confidence if I miss a couple of shots.

“In the past, last year, when I had a bad game I would carry it over to practice and have a bad practice. If I had a bad practice, I would carry that over to the next practice.

“Now, one game I’ll miss five in a row, then I’ll make five in a row. I watched Jeff Fryer last year go about 0 for 14 one game, and then next he scored about 31 points. That’s just an attitude.”

Attitude might have been a key word last season. Herdman admits his was not the best.

Mulligan rode him, but Herdman didn’t respond. Herdman’s mother, who travels to many of the road games, saw it in his expression, and the way his shoulders sagged after he missed a shot.

“He used to need a lot of positive reinforcement,” Linda Herdman said. “If he wasn’t getting it. . . . Some people, when they’re told they’re wonderful, will be better. Some, when they’re told they’re terrible, will be better.”

Herdman mostly seemed to get worse.

What had once been a good relationship with Mulligan had turned strained.

“I don’t want to say anything about that,” Herdman said. “It was just a matter of us both being stubborn. I was wrong a lot of the time, and he’s the head coach. . . .

Some other players left the team after the season finally ended. Others thought about it. Not Herdman.

“I never even considered transfering,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave. I’d rather stay here and show I can come back. I always got along with Coach, except the second half of last year.”

He knew that couldn’t go on that way, and so did his mother.

“I told him last year, ‘I can’t face another season like this,’ ” Linda Herdman said. “You’ve either got to go out and do what you’re told or give it up.”

Herdman didn’t give it up. Instead, he says he matured.

After the season, Herdman worked as hard as he ever has.

“This summer, Dylan (Rigdon) and I would spend two hours a day, just shooting,” Herdman said. “I worked out a lot just shooting. I’ve always just played basketball in the summer and not worked. This year I had more intensity.”

Mulligan noticed. When Herdman came back, he was in good enough shape to win the team’s preseason fitness competition. By the time the season began, he had reclaimed his spot in the lineup.

“What he did this summer and spring really paid off,” Mulligan said. “I think he just made up his mind he was going to really get it done, and he did. I’m really proud of him. He not only didn’t play well, he wasn’t a happy camper.”

He is now.

“I feel great,” Herdman said. “My confidence is really up.”

But what if it should take another dive? Herdman won’t consider it.

“I’m not gonna let it happen,” he said.