Missing free throws underscores a more perturbing issue that isn't conveyed in the 15-foot distance between the stripe and the basket.
Because the trajectory of 10 free throws was off, the UNM men's basketball team lost out on an opportunity to beat Notre Dame and move on in the National Invitational Tournament.
More important, the Lobos lost an opportunity to host a game against college basketball royalty.
"We kind of got snipped in the tail - missing free throws," head coach Steve Alford said, referring to the Lobos going 15-of-25 from the line against Notre Dame in their second-round exit. "Had we made free throws, we're coming back here to play Kentucky."
Kentucky? The same program that has hosted seven NCAA Tournament championships, the most recent coming in 1998? Kentucky - the place esteemed coach Tubby Smith compiled a 263-83 record.
Even in a down year in which Kentucky fired its coach Billy Gillispie, a visit from the Wildcats would've spiffed up the Lobos' up-and-coming program - and perhaps made them a more attractive buy on top-tier programs' schedules. This year, the Lobos ranked 88th in strength of schedule out of 347 Division-I teams, according USA Today's stats guru Jeff Sagarin. RpiRatings.com had UNM rated 66th on its compilation of RPI listings.
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Now you understand what Alford means when he says free throws are that important, even more so given the coach's nightmarish task of scheduling quality opponents.
"Catch 22 - we've got a great facility," he said. "So, it's not like I want to all of a sudden start playing six road games in the nonleague and now you're only playing five nonleague games here. Continuing to upgrade the schedule is going to be an issue. Next year's schedule is going to be more difficult than what this year's schedule was, and that's hard because our team's going to be young."
Not only will the Lobos lose Tony Danridge, Daniel Faris and Chad Toppert, but they will play with nine underclassmen on their roster. In arguably the best year the MWC has had in its 10-year history, the league still received only two bids to the Big Dance, and only BYU's was an at-large berth.
Even though they were regular-season champions alongside the Utes and Cougars, the Lobos were an afterthought once they were bounced out in the first round of the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas.
And it won't enhance the MWC product that both Utah and BYU bowed out in first-round games of the NCAA tourney.
See, the thing is, the backdrop was set for at least three MWC teams to cut some rug in the tournament.
Nine teams in the top 32 of the RPI listings earned automatic bids by winning their respective conferences' tournaments. Those teams were Duke, Louisville, Memphis, Utah, Missouri, Purdue, Utah State, Gonzaga and Siena.
Because they did, that freed up eight spots for other teams. But here is where the hypocrisy and confusion lies in the concept of the RPI. RPI is calculated by three components: Division-I winning percentage, strength of schedule and opponent's strength of schedule.
Keep in mind that the other 24 teams in this year's RPI top 32 were included in the tournament thanks to at-large bids.
If, as we have found, RPI was a good indicator of which teams were included in the tournament, then the remaining eight at-large bids should go to teams with RPIs 33-40.
Was that the case?
UCLA, check. San Diego State at 34 - snubbed.
"That's something we have to talk about in May meetings - just how do we get respect as a league, because nationally we don't have (it)," Alford said. "People can say that we do, but if we're really being truthful about it, we don't have respect. This was, by far, the deepest and best our league's been, and we were still a two-bid league."
Only Utah and BYU were selected after speculation that the MWC would get as many as five teams in, according to USA Today.
"It's obviously very frustrating that we don't make the NCAA Tournament in a league that's ranked seventh in the country," Alford said. "Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I'm not so sure I've got that formula. I sat here last year and said you had to win the league or win the league tournament. We did one of those two things."
So, if the Lobos want to be in the NCAA conversation but plan on losing in the first round of the MWC at the Thomas & Mack Center, where they're 0-4 in postseason play, then they'll need to upgrade their RPI by playing a stiffer non-conference schedule.
The problem is attracting larger, winning programs, Alford said, because if you play in a well-known conference, you can rely on scheduling cupcakes in the nonleague season and wait to battle through a rigorous conference schedule.
"Rest assured, you look at all the BCS schools, we've called a vast number of them not just once but two and three times," Alford said. "Maybe we have to do two-for-ones, where we go to their place twice. We've been trying to do home-and-homes. Ole Miss, a year ago, was a good home-and-home. And this year, they've fallen into hard times."
Alford said he is in a tough predicament, largely because scheduling is hit or miss.
"We beat Louisville twice when I was at Iowa, and they ended up just being average wins, where this year you play Louisville, like UNLV, and you beat a Louisville at their place, it carries you all the way to the conference tournament," he said. "UNLV was being talked about more than we were for the NCAA Tournament because of that win."
