Bricking It

There are players in whose hands coaches want the ball at game’s end, hoping to entice or even force an opponent to foul and send them to the line.

The list that follows does not include that kind of player.

Those catalogued below are apt either to be relegated to the bench to avoid getting fouled come crunch time, or compelled to get rid of the ball quickly when it comes their way.

You can understand why they would treat the ball like it was radioactive when there’s a risk they’ll be fouled: None of them made even half their free throws last season.

Then again, except for 7-footers Anas Mahmoud of Louisville and Wake’s Doral Moore, none even tried as many as 50 free throws last year. But they did play at least 300 minutes, qualifying them as regulars in our book. Both are gone this year.

Half of the top – or bottom – 10 return this season, perhaps most notably Virginia big man Jack Salt. He got to play 673 minutes, 19.8 per outing, and started every game.