Official statistics are, as we’ve been known to point out, circumscribed in their applicability. By imposing necessary but ultimately arbitrary criteria for inclusion, they tend to minimize the role played by those who make the most of limited opportunity.
The outlook for the upcoming season is typical. Five of the ACC’s nine most accurate returning free throw shooters did not attempt 2.5 foul shots per game in 2020 and so failed to qualify among the official leaders.
The official leader, Syracuse sophomore Joe Girard III, hit at a .894 clip (84-94). Girard was only the third freshman to officially pace the ACC in free throw accuracy, after Georgia Tech’s Mark Price in 1983 (.