2) Wednesday Big East Games 1/11/17

[Bill Marsh]

I felt there usually was a good mugging every time SHU got the ball in the paint. I just wish the refs chose to either call it tight or let them play. It felt like they changed it up every few minutes.

And I disagree with the second point. Poor free throw shooting doesn't excuse poor free throw shooting. I don't expect them to shoot 100%, but when you miss 40% of your free throws and just 1 more make would've changed the result, that's a tough pill to swallow. MU wasn't good in regulation either. If they lost that game, say Carrington's shot at the end of regulation was a 3, you probably would be saying Marquette left the game at the line.

I can tell you, I wouldn't. Free throws, in my opinion, are rarely a deciding factor in a game. If Carrington's shot had been a three, the problem would have been the fact that we gave up 27 offensive rebounds and only managed to get to 23 defensive boards. Or that we again gave up offensive rebounds on missed free throws, giving you guys effectively more possessions. People remember free throws because there are more of them in the final minute or two, but in terms of what actually wins a game, they are far down the list.

When you take 8 more shots and make 2 fewer than your opponent, that's a recipe for disaster.

I agree with your analysis.

With regard to the free throws, Seton Hall shot 69% during regulation, which is about what you expect a college team to shoot from the line and well above their regular season average. So, I can't buy the argument that missed free throws cost them the game in regulation.

They did miss free throws in OT, hitting just 3 of 8. They would have needed to make 3 of those misses just to tie the game and 4 to win it. So, again I can't buy the idea that they would have won the game if they just made the free throws they should have made. Some misses are part of the game. No one's perfect.

The other thing to look at is what happened to those missed FTs in OT. Two of the 5 misses came on the second FT of a pair. Seton Hall got the offensive rebound in both cases. In the first case, the rebound was followed by a missed shot, a 2nd offensive rebound, and then a turnover. In the 2nd case, the offensive rebound was followed by a made 3-pointer. So they made up the missed foul shots with the 3. They would have scored no more points if they had made those 2FTs than they did anyway.