Dave Sez

Missing Free Throws, A Tiger Tradition

We all know that Clemson has likely cost themselves a win or two this year with their poor free throw shooting. What you may not know is that the 2006 Tigers are on pace to set a new ACC record for free throw shooting futility.

The really interesting thing about Barry Jacobs' look at the worst free throw shooting times of all time is just how many of them are Clemson squads. It's funny, because it does just feel like Clemson should suck at free throws. I guess it feels like that because they so often do. Counting this season, the Tigers have the four worst shooting seasons in ACC history and seven of the worst nine. Seven of the worst nine!

We all know that Clemson has the poorest basketball tradition in the conference, but that doesn't really explain this. It seems to me that free throw shooting is almost orthogonal to overall success. Many crappy players can hit their freebies while guys like Tim Duncan struggle. So what explains Clemson's institutional free throw futility? I can't even think of a good joke for it.