PurpleBlood87
Active Member
First time in a long time for me too, agreed. I was unpleasantly surprised.
Aberrant free throw shooting is bad, we all agree. While we don't shoot them great, last night was an outlier, even for us. Nobody liked the way that game went, nobody.
That said, in my opinion though, we have every right to be sad or displeased, but we gotta be careful of that booing and similar behavior like just trashing these kids online (you never know what gets back to whom.)
Those guys out there physically look like grown ass men, but they're still in their early 20s if not late teens. And I remember being that age. Something like being booed and trashed by grown adults who are supposed to support me would have affected my psyche. Maybe even to this day, but not to that degree.
Also... is there a chicken-and-egg effect? Quite possibly. After all, the Frogs shot felt like 33% from the line, but we the fans probably only filled that place 33% full. That HAS to be disheartening to see for the players as the tip draws close. Yeah, I know, it's not the most entertaining product, even when we win. Hard to get there on time from work for some, I get it. But the BYU game on Saturday was similar. It's not like the Scholl seats 50k. We can do better as fans. We KNOW the team plays better with an excited crowd, we see it in small samples.
We have guys we want to keep for the future on this team. Giving them an empty stadium to play in front of, booing, and then trashing them online - how in the world is that supposed to help retain talent? I say "help" because I know we're not in control of everything. But come on men, we're sure as heck in control of ourselves. And if you're so miserable in general that you feel it's a good idea to come post the 15th version of the same complaint, or boo a bunch of young men who are probably just as frustrated as you, maybe reconsider that possibly it's not.
I'll disagree on the free throw shooting. Frogs are shooting free throws at a 64% clip. That's not good.
I don't know what the solution to the free throw shooting woes is but it doesn't seem to be getting better.