When you don’t have anything to say, let the readers say it for you…

Ken,

Just saw your column commenting on Seth Davis saying Illinois "needed" a loss. Someone should ask Seth how teams with 1 loss have won since undefeated IU. Based on the teams I read about in the Final Four program in ’97 and the fact that there have been none since then, I’d say not well. So I guess you need 2 losses.

Alan

This is so very true. Folks are obsessed with going unbeaten, but there hasn’t been a one-loss champion since ’76, either. There have been 17 teams to enter the dance with one loss from ’77 to ’04, and all of them came up short. Only three went so far as the Final Four, and only ’99 Duke made it to the finals. So the evidence would seem to point against the utility of a late-season loss for the Illini.

Ken,

On Saturday the Dayton Flyers played the LaSalle Explorers and Dayton did not attempt a single foul shot.  Despite not attempting a free throw, Dayton won the game.  I can not remember a game where this has happened before and I remember you (I think) writing an article on how the importance of foul shots can be over emphasized.

So here are my questions.

How often does a game take place and one team does not attempt a single foul shot?

Thank you, I really enjoy your site.

Mike

College hoops version of the no-hitter doesn’t happen very often. Over the past two seasons, there have been only four instances of a team not shooting any free throws (team with no free throws in bold).

12/04/03, Central Florida @ Florida, Result: Florida 58-38
 2/28/04, Michigan State @ Penn State, Result: MSU 67-42
11/26/04, Charleston Southern @ Notre Dame, Result: ND 54-38
 2/12/05, Dayton @ LaSalle, Result: Dayton 56-45

In what surely must be a coincidence, and not related to any type of shady referee compensation program, the road team is the one that didn’t get to the line in all four cases.