Christmas Wish Lists: Forward’s free throws, 3′s and a third threat

Dec 10, 2012, 9:15 PM EDT

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Over the course of the next two weeks, College Basketball Talk will be detailing what some of the country’s best, most intriguing, and thoroughly enigmatic teams need. It’s the spirit of the holidays. We’re in a giving mood.

What do other teams have on their Christmas Wish Lists? Click here to find out.

Gotta have it list-topper: Free throw shooting from the forwards

The guards and wings seem to have no problem knocking down the freebies – Peyton Siva hits 87.5-percent from the line, along with Russ Smith, Luke Hancock and Wayne Blackshear all hitting 70-plus-percent. But as a team, Louisville is only hitting 68-percent from the charity stripe, and it starts in the post. Chane Behanan, a guy who lives in the paint and takes more contact than anyone on the roster, is shooting an embarrassing 45.5-percent from the line. The problem extends further, with Gorgui Dieng (before injury, obviously) and Montrezl Harrell, shooting sub-65-percent on free throws as well.

Stocking Stuffer: Three-point shooting

I tried to think of something else to not copy Dauster this afternoon, but this is a need. This is something that has been on the Cardinals Christmas list since last season. Louisville is shooting 31.4-percent from deep, with not a single player hitting better than a 38.5-percent clip (that’s Russ Smith, obviously). Peyton Siva’s 33.3-percent, Wayne Blackshear’s 30.2-percent and Luke Hancock’s 25-percent aren’t awful numbers, but in Rick Pitino’s system, there needs to be better production on the perimeter. I’m sure Pitino would like to see the rest of his shooters hit the three’s on-par with Russdiculous.

Planning on re-gifting: The search for a third scoring threat

When two players carry the scoring load for a team, some ask ‘where’s the rest of the production coming from?’ This has been a phrase uttered by a few pundits and fans on social media about Louisville. In this case, who cares? Russ FREAKING (as Dauster has to include) Smith is clocking in 20.3 points per game and Siva is chipping in 10.9 per game. But after that, three Cardinals, Blackshear, Dieng and Behanan average eight-plus points per. After them? Hancock and Harrell average six-plus points. With balance like that Pitino doesn’t need a third major threat. So go ahead and let someone else have that gripe.

David Harten is a sportswriter and college basketball blogger. You can follow him on Twitter at @David_Harten.

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