The long, still gaze at one single target point — usually the front of the rim — held before the shooting motion begins. Elite shooters hold it for around 900 milliseconds or more.
The E in BEEF stands for eyes, and it is the letter people quietly skip in practice. It is also the cheapest upgrade available to you: in a study of 240 participants, training the gaze alone clearly outperformed conventional technique work for beginners and intermediates — and the advantage held up even under defensive pressure. In practice: pick one single point, usually the front of the rim, fix it calmly before your legs start, and hold it until the ball has left your hand. The classic fault is the roaming eye, bouncing between ball, defender, backboard and rim. Pressure makes it worse: anxiety shortens fixation on the free throw, and the percentage drops with it. One caveat belongs here — quiet eye does not replace shooting mechanics.