Bracketology 2024: Christmas gifts for UConn, Purdue, Kansas, Arizona, and Houston

No. 3 Houston Cougars - Free throw shooting coach

When you're one of the last undefeated teams standing, finding a Christmas gift for your season can be difficult. After dispatching Texas A&M the Cougars are 11-0 and ranked No. 3 in the country. The Cougars are also exceptional on both ends of the floor as evidenced by their 17th and 1st rankings in offensive and defensive efficiencies respectively.

However, if there is one thing that has been a bugaboo of all Kelvin Sampson Houston teams it's their struggles at the free throw line. So, under Houston's tree I am leaving a visit from great free throw shooters past Steve Nash and Mark Price. Houston has reached a final four but if they want to take the ultimate step, they'll need to improve at the charity stripe.

It's no surprise that when the Cougars made the Final Four in 2021 they had their best free throw shooting year under Sampson, shooting 73.3%. In Sampson's tenure the Cougars have shot as low as 66.7% from the line in 2022 and to end that season they missed five of 14 in their 50-44 loss to Villanova in the regional final while the Wildcats were a perfect 15-15. If Houston wants to cut down the nets for the first time in school history, they're going to need to shoot better from the line because at some point it's going to come into play.