You went the VT shot more free throws route, which, is a good one because the team that shoots more free throws, on average, wins the ball game more than those that do not. With that said, had we lost this game, the last thing anyone would say is that free throws did it. We would come up with about ten other things surrounding our play down the stretch. And all turnovers and free throws are not exactly created equal. I would trade a chunk of turnovers and missed free throws in the first five minuted a game for solid ball control and made free throws in the final five minutes.


We were not good from the line tonight. Let's not pretend that we were. We shot 60 percent from the line and if we HAD made our free throws (we left 9 points on the board), we would have likely won more comfortably. We are 141 in the nation in free throw percentage, which, isn't really awful. Average teams shoot about 70 percent from the line. But tonight we were not good. We were well below average and we cannot discount that.


But you are correct in that we did get to the line 21 times to Miami's 10. That was a huge advantage for us, especially because Miami shot 80 percent from the line. And as I said above, the team that gets to the line more, on average, wins more times than not.


I liked your "fact 3" but I was not a huge fan of your blanket "myth 3." It can easily be argued that free throws, this particular game, DID almost cost VT the game..especially considering they shot well below their already mediocre average from the line.

[Post edited by Hubman at 12/29/2020 10:03PM]