Some nights, it doesn't matter if the player at the line is a star or a sub. Players may scorch the nets from behind the arc for 3 points, but when a free throw is shot, some nights it looks like the ball doesn't fit in the basket.

Shoot, I've seen college intramural players who are better free-throw shooters than some college and professional athletes.

Watching from the stands, it seems like such a simple task. There is no hurry. The clock is at a standstill. A player has a relaxing 10 seconds to shoot. There are no hands in your face. There's no defense to worry about. The distance is short and doesn't change. The backboard is directly behind the basket, aiding errant shots that bounce long.

For crying out loud, it's a wide open shot. Bounce... bounce... bounce... clang.

For every game in which a player "calmly sinks two free throws," there are a multitude of games in which the player shoots it so hard that the shot resembles a pin ball as it bounces hard off the glass backboard.

Or, a player shoots it so short that the ball barely draws iron.

Is free-throw shooting becoming a lost art? Most coaches would be thrilled with a 70 percent success rate. Has the bar been lowered in the past couple of decades?

There have always been and will always be the Wilt and Shaq, who struggle at the line. Players can be glad that good free-throw shooting isn't a requirement to make it into the Hall of Fame.

Brawn, size or quickness, the usual weapons of basketball, don't help in shooting a free throw.

Former Purdue star Rick Mount says "...about 75 percent of close games are won or lost at the free-throw line."

Considering that fouling is the main strategy late in games for the team trailing on the scoreboard, it's no wonder that free-throw shooting is vitally important.

I remember officiating a high school varsity boys' basketball game a number of years ago in which the visiting team began fouling to put the home team at the free-throw line. Their only hope of catching up was for the home team to miss some free throws.

The strategy nearly worked. The home team clanked free throw after free throw, which led the coach of the home team to ask, "Hey Joe, can you shoot free throws?"

On occasion, our local high school and college teams have had less than stellar nights from the charity stripe. It's enough to make a coach age prematurely. But hey, if you're in the coaching profession, there are plenty of reasons to age prematurely in addition to erratic free-throw shooting.

Rules-makers have tinkered with the free throw as well. The current high school and college rule guarantees a player two shots after a team commits 10 team fouls in one half. Nevertheless, as long as free throws are an adventure, fouling is still the most appealing option for a team that's behind late in the game.

The goal of most teams is to get to the free-throw line, because it stands to reason that the team shooting the most free throws will win.

But reason doesn't always prevail.

Given some of the awful free-throw shooting that occurs, coaches and fans have to wonder whether it's worth going to the free-throw line because the results are all too often foul.

As columnist Mike Lopresti said on USAToday.com, "It apparently gets no easier with age and experience. You'd never imagine picking a college player to make the big shot or grab the big rebound in an NBA game. But there are any number of collegians you would just as soon have at the line as most of the (San Antonio) Spurs.

"And there are truck drivers you'd rather see there than Shaquille O'Neals."