BYU Free Throw Shooting Myths

59, 59, 56, 60, 61, 25(worthington), 50. These are what our "non-elite" shooters are converting on the year - this is pathetic!



Haws and Halford at 88 and 84 are about where everyone on this team should be, it's not that difficult (I would realistically be satisfied with anywhere in the 70's for the rest of the team.)



Our 3rd and 4th best shooters Carlino 69% and Winder at 68% - that's a big deal when you only have two guys to rely on consistently. These two are about 10% points lower than where they should be for veteran guards at this level.



Bottom line, FT shooting is sub par for this BYU team. There is no reason they should be this low.

We rank 209 of 351 teams in FT %. To make the top 100 we would have to shoot 72% or better. Best team shoots 79.2%.



True Blue just mentioned that Carlino, Collinsworth and Mika have missed more than 120 FT so far. That's game changing.

BYULV wrote:
We rank 209 of 351 teams in FT %. To make the top 100 we would have to shoot 72% or better. Best team shoots 79.2%.



True Blue just mentioned that Carlino, Collinsworth and Mika have missed more than 120 FT so far. That's game changing.

That's proved to be SEASON changing.

And that, is the rest of the story. Case shut!

BYU shoots FT's above their season average in 11 of their 13 wins, and below their season average in 6 of their 9 losses. Iowa St. @ 60%, Oregon @ 61%, LMU @ 65%, Pepperdine @ 60%, and Portland @ 67% are 5 losses that probably would have been wins with average to above average performance at the line in those games (maybe not LMU since they flat out punched BYU in the mouth). And as has been pointed out, average at 68.8% is way below average for a BYU team. So to say that free-throws have not been season changing let alone game changing is indeed a myth. Go Cougars!

No player or team that shoots sub 72% free throws can be considered good.

Just take one game then--@ OU. Make 2 of 2 FT's late and that game is over and we have a signature win. Same with Wichita St. We'd be their only loss of the year and they are a 1 seed currently.



To downplay the importance of FT's is to not understand sports in the least. Inches matter in football. "Free" Throws matter in hoops. It's that simple.

BYULV wrote:
Bib, so after watching the games this season, you can't see where one or two more FT makes gives us a win? We easily win 2-3 more games with just slightly better FT shooting, probably would have only taken 70% as a team.

Classic leisurely contrarian. Probably a Dem too.

Cougs_Rule wrote:

Another factor not mentioned, a lot of those misses were the front end of a 1 and 1. Make the first one we get to shot more free throws. So it could be even more points.

Bingo. Context. "Put that in your (stats)book." :)

Bingo.Context. The average opponent shoots approx 69% year in and year out. They miss 31%. Do ya think that any of those are the front end of a 1 and 1.



Of course making more free throws would win games. We are average. In seasons past, we usually are above average. At times we have been elite. That is the issue. We are horrible. We are average. We wish we were well above average.



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mizzoucoug wrote:
Just take one game then--@ OU. Make 2 of 2 FT's late and that game is over and we have a signature win. Same with Wichita St. We'd be their only loss of the year and they are a 1 seed currently.



To downplay the importance of FT's is to not understand sports in the least. Inches matter in football. "Free" Throws matter in hoops. It's that simple.

Who downplayed the importance of free throws. We are average. Not horrible. Average. Did I say average. Problem is - average FT shooting teams only win championships if they are elite at the other things.



FT, rebound, block, assist, 3 Pt, FG, steal, defense - All are important. A big play in any of these forms would have won those close games.



BYULV claimed 70% would make a big difference. I do not think he realized we were already 69%. As stated before, that would be about 5 points for the season. Sure 5 points, as stated earlier, timed perfect gets us 3 big wins. As stated earlier, 70% free throw teams do not choose when they make the extra 5. And teams lacking confidence are more likely to miss when a road game is on the line and fans are going bezerk behind the basket.



If BYU wants to win games shooting clutch FTs, they better get to 77% like the Jimmer year mentioned above.



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Wolverine wrote:
BYU shoots FT's above their season average in 11 of their 13 wins, and below their seasoned like beastsverage in 6 of their 9 los. .s. Iowa St. @ 60%, Oregon @ 61%, LMU @ 65%, Pepperdine @ 60%, and Portland @ 67% are 5 losses that probably would have been wins with average to above average performance at the line in those games (maybe not LMU since they flat out punched BYU in the mouth). And as has been pointed out, average at 68.8% is way below average for a BYU team. So to say that free-throws have not been season changing let alone game changing is indeed a myth. Go Cougars!

Math Lesson.



Average means some will be higher and some will be lower. If you raise the ones below average - the average changes.

You are correct that this BYU team - which is an Average FT shooting team - is a below average BYU FT shooting team.



Note this is also a more athletic BYU team. Generally more athletic teams do not shoot well. But they defend like beasts, block, dunk, and rebound. This team does not do much of that.



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BYULV wrote:
We rank 209 of 351 teams in FT %. To make the top 100 we would have to shoot 72% or better. Best team shoots 79.2%.



True Blue just mentioned that Carlino, Collinsworth and Mika have missed more than 120 FT so far. That's game changing.

Exactly. Top 100 is not average though. We would be well above average.



If we want to knock down clutch free throws at crunch time - we need to be ourstanding. 75% or better in my book.



77% would do it.



We are not outstanding. We are average.



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We are back peddling.

Cougarbib wrote:

BYU shoots FT's above their season average in 11 of their 13 wins, and below their seasoned like beastsverage in 6 of their 9 los. .s. Iowa St. @ 60%, Oregon @ 61%, LMU @ 65%, Pepperdine @ 60%, and Portland @ 67% are 5 losses that probably would have been wins with average to above average performance at the line in those games (maybe not LMU since they flat out punched BYU in the mouth). And as has been pointed out, average at 68.8% is way below average for a BYU team. So to say that free-throws have not been season changing let alone game changing is indeed a myth. Go Cougars!

Math Lesson.



Average means some will be higher and some will be lower. If you raise the ones below average - the average changes.

You are correct that this BYU team - which is an Average FT shooting team - is a below average BYU FT shooting team.



Note this is also a more athletic BYU team. Generally more athletic teams do not shoot well. But they defend like beasts, block, dunk, and rebound. This team does not do much of that.



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Math Lesson Part 2: ...and if you raise the ones above average the average changes....and if you lower the ones below average but raise the ones above average the average changes....and if you raise the ones below average but lower the ones above average the average changes....if you have none lower nor higher than the average the average will remain constant. What's your point BibEuclid? My point is that this BYU team is a below average free throw shooting team not just for BYU standards, but also in comparison to the other 351 D1 teams this season. Less than stellar free throw shooting has cost BYU in a number of games this year. It needs to be better. Go Cougars!

Wolverine wrote:

Wolverine wrote:
BYU shoots FT's above their season average in 11 of their 13 wins, and below their seasoned like beastsverage in 6 of their 9 los. .s. Iowa St. @ 60%, Oregon @ 61%, LMU @ 65%, Pepperdine @ 60%, and Portland @ 67% are 5 losses that probably would have been wins with average to above average performance at the line in those games (maybe not LMU since they flat out punched BYU in the mouth). And as has been pointed out, average at 68.8% is way below average for a BYU team. So to say that free-throws have not been season changing let alone game changing is indeed a myth. Go Cougars!

Math Lesson.



Average means some will be higher and some will be lower. If you raise the ones below average - the average changes.

You are correct that this BYU team - which is an Average FT shooting team - is a below average BYU FT shooting team.



Note this is also a more athletic BYU team. Generally more athletic teams do not shoot well. But they defend like beasts, block, dunk, and rebound. This team does not do much of that.



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Math Lesson Part 2: ...and if you raise the ones above average the average changes....and if you lower the ones below average but raise the ones above average the average changes....and if you raise the ones below average but lower the ones above average the average changes....if you have none lower nor higher than the average the average will remain constant. What's your point BibEuclid? My point is that this BYU team is a below average free throw shooting team not just for BYU standards, but also in comparison to the other 351 D1 teams this season. Less than stellar free throw shooting has cost BYU in a number of games this year. It needs to be better. Go Cougars!

My point is that it is average. What is the Ave % of the 351 D1 teams? IDK. But the average of our opponents this year and the other years I looked up is 69%. And we played mostly good teams. BYU is shooting 69%. Average.



We agree that "less than stellar" free throw shooting has cost us games. We are not stellar. We are not close to stellar. We are average nationally. I also agreed that we are below the normal BYU average. We are not below national average unless our opponents have somehow been below average - possible.



Anyone have the National 351 Team average?



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BTW. BY will probably get schooled at the free throw shooting line tonight unless. A ROAD game in front of 15,000 chaotic fans distracts them at the line. Pacific usually shoots 77.3%. I believe they lead the WCC. They are living, breathing proof that FT shooting is far from the ONLY thing that matters in college basketball. Last place living proof, iirc.



Do not get me wrong. FT shooting does matter. Several things matter. Historically, BY has been a good free throw shooting team ad has won games because of it. I wish BY was stellar. Playing away from Marriott Center so much had likely affected us a % or 2. But even then, we are average. We need to be stellar at this given our numerous other deficiencies. We are not.



Up is stellar.



Bold Prediction



Pacific will shoot below their league leading FT % average tonight. BY will shoot slightly above its very average FT% tonight. Pacific 75%. BY 70.5%.



Luckily, in all of the other areas besides shooting that matter, BYU will prevail.



Most importantly - Scoreboard - BYU wins by double digits with MC looking stellar coming off the bench.



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Cougarbib wrote:

Cougarbib wrote:

BYU shoots FT's above their season average in 11 of their 13 wins, and below their seasoned like beastsverage in 6 of their 9 los. .s. Iowa St. @ 60%, Oregon @ 61%, LMU @ 65%, Pepperdine @ 60%, and Portland @ 67% are 5 losses that probably would have been wins with average to above average performance at the line in those games (maybe not LMU since they flat out punched BYU in the mouth). And as has been pointed out, average at 68.8% is way below average for a BYU team. So to say that free-throws have not been season changing let alone game changing is indeed a myth. Go Cougars!

Math Lesson.



Average means some will be higher and some will be lower. If you raise the ones below average - the average changes.

You are correct that this BYU team - which is an Average FT shooting team - is a below average BYU FT shooting team.



Note this is also a more athletic BYU team. Generally more athletic teams do not shoot well. But they defend like beasts, block, dunk, and rebound. This team does not do much of that.



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Math Lesson Part 2: ...and if you raise the ones above average the average changes....and if you lower the ones below average but raise the ones above average the average changes....and if you raise the ones below average but lower the ones above average the average changes....if you have none lower nor higher than the average the average will remain constant. What's your point BibEuclid? My point is that this BYU team is a below average free throw shooting team not just for BYU standards, but also in comparison to the other 351 D1 teams this season. Less than stellar free throw shooting has cost BYU in a number of games this year. It needs to be better. Go Cougars!

My point is that it is average. What is the Ave % of the 351 D1 teams? IDK. But the average of our opponents this year and the other years I looked up is 69%. And we played mostly good teams. BYU is shooting 69%. Average.



We agree that "less than stellar" free throw shooting has cost us games. We are not stellar. We are not close to stellar. We are average nationally. I also agreed that we are below the normal BYU average. We are not below national average unless our opponents have somehow been below average - possible.



Anyone have the National 351 Team average?



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70.5% is the median percentage of the 351 D1 teams. BYU currently sits #208 at 68.7%.

Ouch. That last math lesson hurts... but...



Bib is right. FTs are NOT the only thing that matters. In fact, I'd say that FG% is the greatest predictor of winning percentage. And BYU has not been good at FG% this year either. I attribute this to no real offense, just run and gun which falls apart if a team (like Utah) focuses on getting back. Turnovers are another crucial aspect of basketball, not sure how BYU has done, but they aren't great at not turning the ball over, especially with the game on the line when missing the front end of a 1/1 is basically a turnover with no time off the clock.



Lot of variables in basketball for winning. Not as simple as looking at PER.... 8)

Home Sweet Home



BYU shot 72.2% tonight. Above average.

Pacific shot 80.8% - elite. Did not even keep them in the game.



look for BYU FT shooting to continue to edge up in this streak of 6 out of 9 games at home.



BYU Website showed BYU at 68.9% before the game tonight. After the Pacific game, BYU is now at 69.1%.



I think BYU will hit 70% + in the home games.



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Gonzaga shoots 69.1% FT. Exactly what BYU shoots.



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