IT’S the lesson that everyone once knew. And then, inebriated by Nike, “SportsCenter,” 3-point bombs and monster slams, everyone was encouraged to forget it.
Saturday, if one chose to pay attention, that lesson was re-taught, all day, then all night. And it was taught the hard way.
Starting early in CBS’s telecast of the Conference USA final between Memphis and Houston, Dan Bonner noted that UH’s one advantage should be at the foul line. That was worth knowing, especially this time of year.
By halftime, the teams had made a combined 15 of 33 free throws. Staggering. Yet at halftime, CBS’s first-half stats review didn’t even include FT numbers, as if they meant nothing.
By game’s end, a Memphis win, two Division I teams, in a conference final, had missed 27 of 57 free throws.
Next up on CBS was Ohio State-Purdue, a Big 10 semi. Ohio St. was up only one at the half, when halftime stats were posted. But CBS has eliminated free-throw numbers from its standard halftime stats billboard. Ohio State was 2 of 5 from the line in the first half; Purdue hadn’t yet been to the line. Since when is such info not worth knowing?
Over on ESPN, North Carolina State beat Virginia Tech, 72-64, in an ACC semi. The winners were 24 of 28 from the line. The losers were, yikes, 8 of 19. While free throws are considered a passé art on ESPN, there was nothing more significant to know about that game.
On ESPN2, in the late afternoon, Miami of Ohio won the MAC, 53-52, on a buzzer-beating bomb. Lost in the hysterics was that Akron was up, 52-50, at the line and shooting one-and-one with 6.6 seconds left. The poor kid, Cedrick Middleton, didn’t even come close.
Come nighttime, it was Knicks-Wizards on MSG. Early, Walt Frazier said the foul-shooting in the NBA has become “an embarrassment.” True. Also true was that MSG’s halftime stats graphics excluded free throw numbers.
Yet, as Frazier later noted, free throws is what had kept Washington in the game – Gilbert Arenas was 12 for 12 from the line.
But the Knicks, a sad 16 of 28 from the line, won, 90-89, on a Steve Francis buzzer-beater, a shot and opportunity directly preceded by a missed free throw by Wizards center Brendan Haywood. Haywood, a 59 percent shooter of field goals, is a 57 percent shooter of free throws.
In the coming two weeks, you’ll see a lot of players who wish they had been taught, before it was too late, that free throws count.
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Not sure why CBS’s studio crew found it funny that Florida star Joakim Noah sounded off like a street thug, speaking with CBS’s Bill Raftery, after yesterday’s SEC finals win against Arkansas, but they did – or at least pretended to.
There’s nothing smarter than a smartly applied stat. With the Rangers up, 2-1, in the third period against the Pens, Saturday, Kenny Albert, calling the game on 1050 AM, noted that Sidney Crosby had just drawn his third penalty of the game. Seconds later, Crosby scored.
If Michael Kay is supposed to be a shill on behalf of his interests and the business interests of the two networks (Yes and ESPN Radio), he certainly wasn’t shilling last week, when, during his show on 1050 – the radio home of the Knicks and Rangers – he tore into Jim Dolan for his shabby treatment of good people.
HBO’s “Costas Now,” tomorrow at 10 p.m., includes a feature on Frank McGuire‘s 1957 NCAA champion North Carolina basketball team, one with a starting five – Lennie Rosenbluth, Pete Brennan, Tommy Kearns, Bob Cunningham and Joe Quigg – all from NYC.
Perhaps because he eschews shtick, Len Elmore doesn’t get a big push from ESPN. But Elmore speaks college hoops – especially the inside game – a lot more sensibly than most.
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Best TV we saw over the weekend was, believe it or not, the “Hofstra Basketball Report,” Saturday morning on FSNY. Coach/host Tom Pecora is a ham sandwich. He hosted a segment in which he played a professorial, pipe-smoking, PBS-like book reviewer. A book on naval ships he dismissed as “lacking depth.”
But the best part was the segment devoted to Hofstra player Ryan Johnson‘s devotion. He’s a junior walk-on who doesn’t play much. And then there was a piece devoted to the devotion of Clarice Smith, Hofstra basketball’s office manager and, according to Pecora, the team’s “den mother.” Good stuff.