Bad Free Throw Shooting Kills College Basketball Teams

In the last couple of weeks or so, I've seen many examples of how the inability of players to make free throws at crucial times of a game have cost their teams a win. In particular, Texas, who at one point was ranked No. 1 in the country.

The Longhorns lost to Big Xll opponent Baylor on their home floor yesterday 80-77 in OT. In that game, the Baylor Bears went 21-27 from the line, while the Longhorns went 19-31. A week ago, the Longhorns went to Storrs, Connecticut to take on then No. 21 UCONN. They were handed an 88-74 loss to the Huskies. In that contest, the Longhorns went 9-16 from the line, which is 56.3%, a terrible percentage to shoot free throws at. The Huskies, though they got to the free throw line more, went 26-37, which is 70.3%. A week before that, Texas went into Manhattan, KS to take on No. 9 Kansas St. At that time, Texas was the top dog in the country. The Longhorns lost that game 71-62, and hit only 9 of 22 free throws. If this trend continues, the Longhorns will not win the national championship. Just ask the 2007-08 Memphis squad, who despite being a terrible free throw shooting team, made it to the national final, only to lose to Kansas after the Tigers missed two critical free throws giving the Jay Hawks the opportunity to tie the game and send it to OT.The rest is history.

Bad free throw shooting isn't just limited to Texas. Their fellow Big Xll foes Kansas St. cost themselves a chance to beat their No. 2 ranked in-state rivals Kansas yesterday in Manhattan in front of a raucous crowd of Wildcat supporters. The Wildcats went 15-22 from the line (68%). The Jay Hawks themselves actually shot worse (22-33 for 67%), but got more opportunities. Last night, Georgia, down 78-77, had a chance to go ahead of South Carolina with 3 second left. Georgia Guard Dustin ware needed only to hit the front end of a 1 and 1 to tie the game, but he missed, and the Gamecocks won the game. At a smaller college level, Oregon Tech, ranked No. 3 in the nation in the NAIA Div. ll Top 25, lost to in conference foe Northwest Christian in OT. In that game, the Hustlin Owls went 13-20 from the foul line while the Beacons of NWC shot a terrific 14-16 free throws (87.5%). A week ago, OIT had to hold on to beat Eastern Oregon 72-67 after being up by as much as 20 points. To their credit, EOU was able to come back due to free throw shooting. They shot 20-24 free throws (83%) while Oregon Tech shot 17-32 from the stripe (53%).

These examples should convince the reader that good free throw shooting is not overrated. It is an essential to win games and win championships. A good team may get away with bad foul shooting against inferior talent, but not against top quality opponents and certainly not in the post season. Again, just ask the members of the 2007-08 Memphis squad. When I was playing high school basketball many years ago, I was told that players should be able to shoot at least 70-75% from the foul line. I'll bet you that most of the good teams who don't make it to the final 8 or final four of national tournaments shoot below 70 % as a team.