"No, I don't think free throws will decide this championship game, even if we do shoot -47%."Press conference after press conference John Calipari was asked about his Memphis Tigers' horrendous free throw shooting, and press conference after press conference Calipari answered with the same basic statement. It went somewhere along the lines of this, "We have the ability to shoot free throws, we just aren't concentrating."
Well coach, I can only assume your players weren't concentrating down the stretch in Monday's National Championship game because they definitely weren't making their free throws. The Tigers made six of their 22 free throw attempts in the game, or 27%. That's on a level with UVa's Ryan Pettinella. It gets worse when the game was on the line in the last 1:15 of regulation. Memphis' three star players, freshman Derrick Rose and junior Chris Douglas-Roberts, and soon to be 25 year old senior Joey Dorsey, made only one out of their five free throw attempts. When the game was on the line, they made 20% of their free throws. That's on a level with Doug Gottlieb.
In no way am I discrediting the Kansas Jayhawks because they played an amazing game, but for all the highflying ability these Memphis Tigers had, and they had a lot of it, the championship game came down to the simple act of free throw shooting.
Before the final on Monday, Calipari was once again asked about his team's, and in particular Douglas-Roberts and Rose, ability to shoot free throws and he responded with, "These kids are tough, and tough minded kids will make their free throws."
I guess they're not so tough minded after all, John.
Well coach, I can only assume your players weren't concentrating down the stretch in Monday's National Championship game because they definitely weren't making their free throws. The Tigers made six of their 22 free throw attempts in the game, or 27%. That's on a level with UVa's Ryan Pettinella. It gets worse when the game was on the line in the last 1:15 of regulation. Memphis' three star players, freshman Derrick Rose and junior Chris Douglas-Roberts, and soon to be 25 year old senior Joey Dorsey, made only one out of their five free throw attempts. When the game was on the line, they made 20% of their free throws. That's on a level with Doug Gottlieb.
In no way am I discrediting the Kansas Jayhawks because they played an amazing game, but for all the highflying ability these Memphis Tigers had, and they had a lot of it, the championship game came down to the simple act of free throw shooting.
Before the final on Monday, Calipari was once again asked about his team's, and in particular Douglas-Roberts and Rose, ability to shoot free throws and he responded with, "These kids are tough, and tough minded kids will make their free throws."
I guess they're not so tough minded after all, John.
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