The 2016-17 Colorado Buffaloes have had an interesting non conference performance so far this year. Head coach Tad Boyle has called his team "overrated," and he's named the Buffs' 72-58 loss to CSU at the Keg on Nov 30 the worst loss in his tenure as CU's head coach. Finally, he labeled Colorado's recent win over Fort Hays State as the "worst win" that he's seen during his time with the Buffaloes.
So needless to say, it's been an interesting season. Something that hovers above all the inconsistencies that have defined the 9-3 Buffs so far this year has been free throw shooting. In Tad Boyle's first year at CU, the Buffs ranked fifth nationally in free throw shooting. The team knocked down 77.8 of its shots from the charity stripe that year.
In his sophomore season at CU, Boyle's Buffaloes shot .691 from the free throw line, but went on to win the Pac-12 Tourney as well as making it to the third round of the NCAA Tournament in March, eventually losing to Baylor.
The Buffs regressed a smidgen the next season, making 68.6 percent of its free throws in 2012-13. However, in 13-14, 14-15 and 15-16, the Buffaloes as a team posted a FT percentage of higher than 70 in all three seasons.
Now, the Buffs are dealing with a .696 free throw conversion rate. If the charity stripe woes continue, the 2016-17 Buffaloes could easily turn out to be Boyle's most inefficient free throw shooting squad that he has coached at CU.
The Buffs' .696 mark ranks 162nd nationally for D1 basketball squads. Notre Dame currently leads the nation with 85.6 percent of its 209 foul shots going in the basket. The Fighting Irish have missed just 30 FTs this year.
As I'm sure we all raised our eyebrows to, the Buffs made just 11-of-22 free throws in their narrow win at Air Force. Versus CSU, the Buffaloes made just under 55 percent of their free throws, missing 14 in the loss.
Look at Xavier Johnson for a second. He's shooting .704 from the Ft line, a bit better than the team average. But boy, has he had to work up to that. As a freshman, he shot .561 and the next year he shot .613. In '14-15, he got it up to .645, so the guy has been steadily improving during his CU career but the team around him continues to struggle.
With the exception of Josh Fortune. He's a great foul shooter and has made nearly 90 percent of his attempted free throws this year. Derrick White is next on the team, owning a near 80 percent make rate.
The fist of the new year on January 1 will feature the beginning of Pac-12 play for the Buffs, who travel to Utah that day and have following road contests vs. Arizona State and Arizona.
I'm somewhat afraid that the team won't turn its FT woes around and thus will finish the year with a worse than 70 percent conversion rate. Hope I'm wrong. Thoughts? Am I making too big a deal out of this?
So needless to say, it's been an interesting season. Something that hovers above all the inconsistencies that have defined the 9-3 Buffs so far this year has been free throw shooting. In Tad Boyle's first year at CU, the Buffs ranked fifth nationally in free throw shooting. The team knocked down 77.8 of its shots from the charity stripe that year.
In his sophomore season at CU, Boyle's Buffaloes shot .691 from the free throw line, but went on to win the Pac-12 Tourney as well as making it to the third round of the NCAA Tournament in March, eventually losing to Baylor.
The Buffs regressed a smidgen the next season, making 68.6 percent of its free throws in 2012-13. However, in 13-14, 14-15 and 15-16, the Buffaloes as a team posted a FT percentage of higher than 70 in all three seasons.
Now, the Buffs are dealing with a .696 free throw conversion rate. If the charity stripe woes continue, the 2016-17 Buffaloes could easily turn out to be Boyle's most inefficient free throw shooting squad that he has coached at CU.
The Buffs' .696 mark ranks 162nd nationally for D1 basketball squads. Notre Dame currently leads the nation with 85.6 percent of its 209 foul shots going in the basket. The Fighting Irish have missed just 30 FTs this year.
As I'm sure we all raised our eyebrows to, the Buffs made just 11-of-22 free throws in their narrow win at Air Force. Versus CSU, the Buffaloes made just under 55 percent of their free throws, missing 14 in the loss.
Look at Xavier Johnson for a second. He's shooting .704 from the Ft line, a bit better than the team average. But boy, has he had to work up to that. As a freshman, he shot .561 and the next year he shot .613. In '14-15, he got it up to .645, so the guy has been steadily improving during his CU career but the team around him continues to struggle.
With the exception of Josh Fortune. He's a great foul shooter and has made nearly 90 percent of his attempted free throws this year. Derrick White is next on the team, owning a near 80 percent make rate.
The fist of the new year on January 1 will feature the beginning of Pac-12 play for the Buffs, who travel to Utah that day and have following road contests vs. Arizona State and Arizona.
I'm somewhat afraid that the team won't turn its FT woes around and thus will finish the year with a worse than 70 percent conversion rate. Hope I'm wrong. Thoughts? Am I making too big a deal out of this?
