Here's one of the fun oddities of this year's game.
Let's assume the ball is a sphere (it's close enough for this purpose)
Drag on a sphere is based on the Reynolds Number as seen here:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/air...ragsphere.html
To calculate the Reynolds Number, the formula is:
Re = ρvc/μ
Where:
Re = Reynolds Number
ρ = Fluid Density
v = Velocity
c = Characteristic Length
μ = Dynamic Viscosity
For air (We're assuming 20deg C):
ρ = 1.2041 kg/m^3
μ = 1.983*10^-5 kg/(m-s)
For the ball:
c = 25 inches = 0.635 m
So our formula for Re is now
Re = (1.2041 kg/m^3)*v*(0.635 m)/(1.983*10^-5 kg/(m-s))
Re = 3.8558 * 10^4 * v
Where v = velocity in m/s
I would say our ball is a fairly rough ball given the wrinkles and the material, so look more toward the rough line on the chart.
From v = 1 m/s to 5 m/s, we have Reynolds Number values between 3.8558 * 10^4 and 1.9279 * 10^5.
We pass straight through the transition between laminar and turbulent flow. So what does this mean? For some of the "hard" shooters, they're going to experience a transition from turbulent to laminar flow as the ball slows down causing potentially unpredictable results.
That's one of the reasons I like this game.