I think of free throws when I think of Memphis.
This season was not about any individual player missing free throws—let me make that clear. Individually, even poor free throw shooting will not hold those individual kids back.
Pointing out that they are amazing athletes would be an understatement. They are amazing basketball players and competitors. They were even impressively humble in the loss.
My focus is on the free throw attitude of John Calipari—but it is sad for him too.
In what would have been a storybook year, solidifying him at the top of the list of innovative active coaches with his advanced DDM offense, he continuously downplayed the importance of free throws.
(The true test for the DDM will come next year, when it is the DDM offense without the GNR crew putting the M into motion.)
The sad thing is that this team will forever be remembered for missing free throws—and in some ways, they will not be remembered at all because they missed free throws.
I blame Calipari for that.
"You look at the numbers and say, 'They can't shoot free throws,'" Calipari said. "That's what they zero in on. It's almost hysterical."
"They say, 'They are so bad shooting free throws, they can't win games.' We've been the same the last three years. What is our record the last three years?"
"Part of the reason my teams haven't shot free throws well is the style we play," Calipari said. "We expend so much energy on defense, being so aggressive and running so fast, that it's hard to go to the foul line, shut it down, stop, and make free throws."
"Our percentage may not be great, but we're still making more than they make," Calipari said.
Well? Aside from that being a near-mentally-handicapped response, let's take a look just for giggles.
Looking across the top eight seeds in the NCAA tourney, Memphis is sixth in free throws made (483), never mind the poor percentage.
Also, Calipari says his team "makes free throws in the final four minutes when we need them."
Do they? Well, I suppose that since they haven't 'needed' them—we don't have a lot of data points....
But even when they haven't 'needed' them through the year, Memphis shot about 60 percent from the line in the last five minutes of games. Memphis missed four out of five during clutch time down the stretch in the championship game when it mattered most.
"I'm truly not worried about it," Calipari said. "My concern in this tournament is toughness and rebounding. That will have more to do with us than anything to do with free-throw shooting."
"We don't have anybody that has bad free-throw shooting mechanics."
Season free-throw percentages by NCAA champions
Top Five Free Throw Percentages of NCAA Tournament Winners
1. Marquette, 1977, 77.8
2. Indiana, 1987, 76.7
3. Kentucky, 1978, 75.9
4. Duke, 1992, 74.8
2 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
Jameson Fleming 11 months ago
I'm going to assume the ESPY's inspired this article.
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Don Forbus 11 months ago
The main problem was Calipari had to shorten his bench during the championship game and his star players, who missed the critical free throws, were totally exhausted and could barely stand up at the line at the end of regulation. Good article though and well researched.
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