Basketball is here!

[AppOrange]

If we lose to Northern Illinois (or anyone else) by more than the number of free throws we miss that is a real issue. Suffered through this same deal last season. Can't leave those points on the floor. Need to get to the line a lot and make them. Kerns addressed it last night on the post game radio interview without the question even being asked.
Did not seem to see it as a concern at all. I am curious about that.

I haven't ever done a deep dig about it, but I've heard some statistics that say free throws aren't THAT important, especially since they are only one point. I just looked real quick at FT% for NCAA tournament teams last year. Of the final four, Miami was #10 in FT% and UConn was #37. The other two teams weren't even in the top 75, unless I missed them. Meanwhile, the team with the best FT% in the nation, Texas A&M- Corpus Christi, was bounced in the first round. ON THE OTHER HAND, Fairleigh Dickinson had a FT% of 75.7% and upset Purdue in the first round by 5 points. 5 missed free throws and they might not have made history. So what's my point? I don't really know, but I'd trust Kerns that he knows what he's doing.

Just seems like a big difference maker if a team loses by let's say 5 and misses let's say 10 free throws. I would love to know how many times we lost last year in games that we missed more than we lost by. I may be way off base but it just seems important if you are pretty even in every other stat.
Kinda like losing a football game by 5 and your kicker missed two pretty makeable FGs.

Close games late when free throws are invaluable worry me. Do you take Brown, with all he offers, off the floor in that situation?

I'd imagine FT% is also one of those stats where the difference between average and the best is small, but the difference between average and the worst is large. Like the difference between hitting 7/10 isn't that big of a difference over hitting 5/10 but it's a huge difference over hitting 2/10. So, an average FT shooting team is probably fine, while a bad FT shooting team will cost you games.

Agreed, if we loose a game by 1 point, and go 70% from the line, I can stomach that, but loose by 1 because you shoot 49% from the line, that is a big problem and unnecessary. Also, if you are that poor from the FT line, it can be used against you as Defense weapon. Hack-a-Shaq anyone?

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Watching JMU vs Kent State, they can score and play decent defense, but are sloppy with the ball. I didn’t watch the MSU game, but from what I’m watching now, they aren’t as good as I expected. If they are sloppy with the ball against us, we’re gonna have a ton of steals/fast breaks.

[spacemonkey]

Is the MAC challenge game not on ESPN + ? Espn owns both the Mac and sunbelt. Is the NIU / App game not on TV anywhere????

[proasu89]

Is the MAC challenge game not on ESPN + ? Espn owns both the Mac and sunbelt. Is the NIU / App game not on TV anywhere????

It’s on ESPN+