This is a picture we are accustomed to seeing. Corperryale L’Adorable “Manny” Jonathan “Fresh” Harris (CLMJF) shooting the free throws. This gives us comfort as we know that CLMJF is getting to the rim, the refs are calling shooting fouls instead of gritty, slap the floor flops, and Beilein is getting cozy in his snuggy. You may not be aware, but CLMJF leads the Big Ten in free throw attempts (FTA) and even averages 6.4 FTA per game. [See graph below]

FTA/GAME All Games

This would be well and good, except for one thing, MICH plays in the Big Ten and we all know that the Big Ten refs don’t like Manny, or Michigan, who is second to last in FTA in Big Ten games.

When you look at Big 10 games only, CLMJF drops from first in FTA to 12th and his FTA/game drops to 4.44. [See graph below]

FTA/Game Big 10 Games

But you might suggest that that since Manny sat out the Purdue game, he naturally has fewer FTA, but he is not even near the top. Verdell Jones, Kalin Lucas, E’Twaun Moore, JaJuan Johnson, Drew Crawford, and Robbie Hummel all have more FTA and FTA/game than CMJF. What do all these players have in common? At least one of them is the son of a referee and none of them play for Michigan. So unless Michigan perfects its grit factor or the refs suddenly have a change of heart, MICH is in for a crappy rest of the season.