Friday, April 13, 2007

Roberts And The Free Throw Record

I must admit that I dropped the ball on the Terrence Roberts Free Throw shooting watch. All year long I kept you up to date on his quest for greatness, to be the worst free throw shooter at Syracuse University of all time. And he pretty much sealed the deal back in January. However, I do owe the man a final wrap up of this accomplishment.

Out of 59 players at Syracuse University who have attempted 200 or more free throws in their career, Roberts by far set the mark. His finished his career at 48.0%, 176 for 367, surpassing the legendary Stevie Thompson (52.7%) for the mark. Roberts wasn’t just satisfied with setting the career mark; he also made sure to nab the worst season performances, grabbing both the #1 and #2 positions. His junior season he was 42.1% from the line (56-133). His senior season he improved to 48.4% (62-128).

The Bottom 10 free throw shooters at Syracuse (minimum 200 attempts) are:

Terrence Roberts 48.0%
Stevie Thompson 52.7%
Darryl Watkins 54.2%
Rony Seikaly 57.6%
Jimmy Williams 58.1%
Etan Thomas 59.8%
Bill Smith 60.8%
Dale Shackleford 61.1%
Conrad McRae 64.8%
Otis Hill 65.3%

As I mentioned earlier in the year, the worst free throw shooters I ever saw on the Hill were Herman Harried and Derek Brower. And if you lowered the standard of free throw shooter to 100 attempts the Bottom 4 would be:

Herman Harried 37.8% (45-119)
Derek Brower 42.1% (67-159)
Louis McCroskey 47.2% (51-108)
Terence Roberts 48.0% (176-367)

Brower, if you recall, was responsible for an NCAA rule change regarding intentional fouling.

Some interesting notes about the bottom four. Harried, Brower and McCroskey combined for 386 attempts; Roberts had 367 attempts by himself.

McCroskey was a classmate of Robert and Darryl Watkins. We’re talking about three of the worst free throw shooters in Syracuse University history, all in the same recruiting class! Thankfully Demetris Nichols came along with his 75.2% shooting.

How bad were Harried and Brower? Brower was 67 for 159 in his career. If he had gone 41 for 41 to finish his career, that would have raised him to 108 for 200, or 54% for his career. He still would’ve qualified for #3 on the all time list with a minimum of 200 attempts!

Harried was 45 for 119 for his career. If he had finished going 81 for 81, he would’ve been 126 for 200 for his career, or 63.0%, coming in at #9 on the list. Egads.

Of special note is Hakim Warrick. He started his freshman season on pace to be the worst free throw shooter ever at Syracuse going 23 for 60 (38.3%). Yet, in his sophomore season he improved dramatically to 66.7% (124 for 186), and remained about that level for the remainder of his career. So whomever taught Hak how to shoot free throws that summer… sign him up!

Now Roberts was a frustrating player to watch for four seasons. The guy appeared to have tons of potential, but never seemed to put it all together. Yet, he was a solid player. He’d get his rebounds, do some scoring, play solid defense. He’d make stupid fouls, take silly 3 point shots (5-25 for his career), and shy away from physical play inside. Yet, he showed tremendous heart and hustle. He basically played on one leg his senior season, battled through a lot of pain, and managed to pull down 20 rebounds in the Big East tournament versus Notre Dame.

Roberts would play 127 games at Syracuse, score 963 points (7.6 per game), and pull down 716 rebounds (5.6 per game).

So Terrence, thanks for the memories! It was an adventure to watch you play.

No comments: