Tuesday, January 06, 2009

MEN'S BB: Will Matt Gatens Miss His 35th Consecutive FT?



Super frosh, Matt Gatens, is quietly having one of the better freshman campaigns in recent Iowa Hawkeye Basketball history.

He's put up double digit points in 9 of his first 15 games.
He has 41 assists to just 24 turnovers (1.71 A:TO ratio).
He is shooting over 54% from 3 point range (26/48 3 ptrs).

Yet the biggest stat thus far, in my opinion, is his FT%. Matt has shot 31 FTs so far and missed just 1 of them (the miss came in the second half of the second game of the season). So while the amount FTs isn't remarkable, the percentage is (97%). Furthermore, if you go back to that miss against UTSA, Matt has now made 24 consecutive free throws. I don't know where that places him in the nation in regards to that sort of stat or where that ranks him all-time for freshmen... but I do know this. Matt is now just 10 consecutive FTs away from tying the late, great, Chris Street, for the Iowa record. So what is Matt to do? Whether he gets to that 33rd/34th in a row in the next couple games or even a couple years down the road, he will have a quasi-dilemma on his hands. What does he do? Does he miss that 35th intentionally or does he sink it and wipe Chris' record out of the record books. I know it might depend on the situation (or maybe it doesn't matter at all in the end), but it's something to think about.

I'm all about the team, but if it's me, I miss it.

5 comments:

  1. Tough decision but the great thing about Chris Street is that I think he would have said to make it. And then make 35 more in a row.

    Win/win for the record book.

    Long live #40!!

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  2. Chris Street was all about the team. I don't think Gatens will get there though.

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  3. Why should players be instructed not to break Street's record(s)? What significance does it hold if you intentionally miss a free throw so it stays intact?

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  4. No one would ever instruct him to do it. Just a thought of paying homage to Chris by not breaking it.

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