todays decision shows the importance of that princip

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Desperate to improve Floridas free throw shooting last season, coach Mike White tried a little bit of everything.He tweaked some of his players mechanics. He increased repetitions in practice. He had guys shoot while tired and winded and with some team accountability at stake. He even considered bringing in a sports psychologist.I didnt want it to become more mental than it already was, White said Tuesday.So he waited until the offseason.Over the summer, White brought in renowned sports psychologist Spencer Wood to work with the Gators.If you can train your mind, use different methods to understand how to stay in that place -- whatever that place is for you or whatever that trigger word is for you -- or get you back into that place of calm, or confident, those type things, I think it can help you with the rest of your game as well, said White, whos in his second season in Gainesville.So far, its made a noticeable difference for Florida (2-0), which plays St. Bonaventure (1-0) in Lakeland on Thursday night.After ranking 323rd (out of 346 NCAA teams) from the foul line last season, shooting a meager 64.7 percent, Florida is up to 78.6 percent so far this season. Two games are hardly enough of a sample size to make White a believer, but he wants to think there is improvement.You hope that moving forward we can be in the same mindset, White said. Im not sure its fixed. I dont want to sit here and think were a great free throw shooting team. But what weve seen the first two games is what weve been in practice. You want that to continue, of course. Our guys are in a pretty good place.White said feedback was positive, especially from center John Egbunu, point guard Kasey Hill and forward Justin Leon. Egbunu (53.2 percent), Hill (53.8) and Leon (46.2) were among Floridas worst foul shooters last season. All three are above 70 percent through two games.Leon said Wood worked with players to find their hype meter on a scale of 1 to 10, telling them they needed to play defense at a more frantic pace than offense, especially at the line.He gave me a lot of different breathing patterns, Leon added. So thats really been working for me. ... Its good to see it impact the game. That means the stuff weve been doing is working, and it shows weve taken the time to put the effort in the gym.Woods resume includes a number of college and professional teams. He worked with the Gators previously, getting invited by former Florida coach Billy Donovan before the 2010 season and helping that team deal with the psychological aspects of trying to get back to the NCAA tournament after a two-year absence. The Gators, led by Chandler Parsons, Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker, returned to the tournament.White blamed free throw shooting for his team missing the NCAA tournament last season. The Gators blew several leads, failing to put teams away late from the line, and had double-digit misses in 10 games.The Gators look considerably more confident this season. If not for newcomer Canyon Barry missing three of his first four underhanded free throws in the opener because of nerves, the Gators would have shot at least 80 percent from the charity stripe in both games.Very nice, very nice, White said. Knock on wood we continue shooting it this way. We have in practice. We just hope we continue to see that carry over. You can see it [in] their body languages, a little more confident at the foul line. ... Its a big factor for us. It kept up out of the NCAA tournament last year, single-handedly, and hopefully this year we continue shooting like this. Todd Gurley II Womens Jersey . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period. Darrell Henderson Rams Jersey . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. 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Jack Youngblood Womens Jersey BEIJING -- Basketball legend Michael Jordan now owns his Chinese name, after Chinas highest court sided with him Thursday following a yearslong legal battle over a trademark dispute.The former NBA star has fought a Chinese sportswear maker since 2012 over the name Qiaodan, pronounced CHEEOW-dan, the transliteration of Jordan in Mandarin.Qiaodan Sports, a company based in southern China, had registered the trademark under which it was selling shoes and sportswear.Jordan has been known by the Chinese characters for Qiaodan since he gained widespread popularity in the mid-1980s. He had previously argued unsuccessfully in Beijing courts that Qiaodan Sports had used his Chinese name, his old jersey number 23 and his basketball player logo to make it look like he was associated with their brand.The Supreme Peoples Court on Thursday announced that it was overturning two rulings by Beijing courts against Jordan from 2014 and 2015 that had found there wasnt sufficient evidence to support the athletes allegations over the use of his image and that Qiaodan was the translation of a common family name as the Chinese company claimed.It also ordered the trademark bureau to issue a new ruling on the use of the Chinese characters in the brand name Qiaodan, effectively awarding the trademark to Jordan. The company can continue to use the Romanized spelling of the name, however.Chief judge Tao Kaiyuan said there was an established link between Jordan and the Chinese characters for Qiaodan, which are commonly used by the public when referring to the former basketball player, meaning that Jordan was entitled to protection under the trademark law.The courts judgment was showwn live on its website.ddddddddddddJordan said in a statement that millions of Chinese fans and consumers had always known him by the name Qiaodan and that he was happy the court recognized his right to protect his name.Chinese consumers deserve to know that Qiaodan Sports and its products have no connection to me. Nothing is more important than protecting your own name, and todays decision shows the importance of that principle, Jordan said.In a statement after the ruling, the company defended its actions but said it would respect the courts decision.In a twist in the legal saga, Qiaodan Sports successfully countersued Jordan in 2013 for preventing it from pursuing a stock market listing because of the trademark lawsuit.The case reflects the difficulties faced by foreign individuals and companies in protecting their copyrights in China, where domestic firms have long taken a cavalier attitude toward intellectual property.Numerous Chinese companies sell products with names that sound similar to well-known foreign brands, often with only one or two letters changed.Chinese law protects foreign companies in cases where their brand was already famous in China before being registered by a Chinese firm seeking to capitalize on its notoriety.However, Apple Inc. lost a legal battle earlier this year when a Beijing court ruled the company had failed to prove that iPhone was a famous brand in China before a Chinese company applied for the iPhone trademark in 2007. The Chinese company uses iPhone on its handbags and mobile phone cases. ' ' '