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CannonCougar85This is not my research. I received an email from a friend and decided to copy and paste to CC. All credit goes to he who did the research!
We realize that in basketball, officiating, by nature, has to be subjective. Overall, we think game officials
do a very good job, considering the job requirements.
Most coaches acknowledge the rigors of officiating, but sometimes they can also get a little annoyed.
The most annoyed we have seen BYUâs Dave Rose this season was a few weeks back when he obviously
was disgusted with the lack of calls given Jimmer Fredette going to the basket in the final minutes
of the BYU-UNM game in Albuquerque.
We acknowledge that our perspective may be a little tainted because we see way more of BYU basketball
than we do of other teams in the league. We admit that our viewpoint is very subjective, but in
our opinion, Jimmer Fredette is not getting the same calls by conference officials that he was getting
in other games officiated by non-conference officials.
We are aware of all the variables of officiating. Players that go to the basket get more calls than jump
shooters. But again, in our opinion, Fredette doesnât get equal treatment when he goes to the basket
in MWC games as he did in non-MWC games.
We also realize that officials tend to swallow the whistle when a blowout is in progress and seem to be
more interested in keeping the clock running than putting a player at the line. That is understandable
and appreciated.
With all of that said, here are some numbers we find interesting when it comes to three of the top players
in the Mountain West Conference.
In all games (conference and non-conference) played to date by Jimmer Fredette, Treâvon Willis of
UNLV and Dairese Gary of New Mexico, here are their free throw numbers. All three have basically
played the same number of contests.
Fredette, overall this season, has shot 169 free throws and made 152 of those attempts.
Gary, overall this season, has shot 191 free throws and made 143 of his attempts.
Willis, overall this season, has shot 171 free throws and made 143 of his attempts.
Here are the free throw numbers for the same three players in Mountain West Conference play only.
Fredette, in MWC games, has shot 75 free throws and converted 65 of those.
Gary, in MWC games, has shot 111 free throws, making 85 of them.
Willis, in MWC games, has had 117 free throws, making 94 of them.
According to our math, in non-conference contests this season, Fredette had 94 free throw attempts,
Gary had 80 and Willis just 54.
As soon as conference play started, those numbers flip-flopped with Willis getting 117 attempts, Gary
at 111 and Fredette just 75 free throw attempts.
It was obvious that Dave Rose thought Fredette should have had more calls, especially in the late
going of the first UNM game when he was taking the ball to the basket and never got to the line.
We saw at least seven or eight times in last weekâs games against Wyoming and CSU when Fredette
was knocked to the floor while going to the basket and nothing was called. Maybe it would have been
different if those games were hanging in the balance, but who knows?
All we do know is that when it comes to free throw attempts, it appears that Fredette is not getting the
same calls in conference play that he was getting in non-conference games.
Maybe conference defenders against Fredette are just much better than those non-conference players
who defended the junior guard from New York. Maybe Fredette isnât as aggressive in MWC games
in going to the basket. Again, who knows? All we really know is that there is a discrepancy between
the numbers of non-conference games and MWC games when it comes to Fredette and his frequency
of going to the free throw line. We donât think you can blame it on his early conference season bout
with mononucleosis.
We will also bet that when BYU gets into NCAA post-season action, that Fredette will spend more time
at the charity stripe than he currently does now in MWC play.
Again, these are just our observations.