Basketball practice assembly

In combination with an elevated horizontal basketball hoop that extends forwardly from a vertical back board, a practice assembly that may be removably secured to said hoop to improve the accuracy of a user in arching a basketball through said hoop, said practice assembly including:

• a. a dimensionally stable arcuate member of generally semi-elliptical shape that has first and second free ends that are spaced from one another a distance substantially less than the interior diameter of said hoop;
• b. first and second clamps of inverted U-shape transverse cross-section that may extend downwardly over circumferentially spaced sections of said hoop;
• c. first means for permanently affixing said first and second free ends of said arcuate member to said first and second clamps in such a manner that said arcuate member extends upwardly above said hoop and inwardly towards the center thereof, said arcuate member and hoop cooperating to define a generally semi-elliptical upwardly extending space of substantially greater area than the transverse cross section of a conventional basketball, and said upwardly extending space so related to the space within said hoop that said basketball will fall downwardly through said hoop by gravity if it passes through said upwardly extending space;
• and
• d. second means mounted on said first and second clamps for removably holding said clamps on said hoop, with said second means permitting said practice device to be selectively disposed of either directly in front of said backboard to practice free throws or at an angle of up to ninety degrees to the right or left thereof to practice side shots.