Free Throw Percentage by position: what each level actually looks like
Athlete Quotient's D1 free throw percentage benchmark in men's basketball is .774 for a guard, .691 for a forward and .643 for a center. The table below runs the full ladder - high school varsity to the elite D1 rung - for every position, with the women's sport-wide ladder beside it.
Free Throw Percentage benchmarks by position
| Position | D1 elite | D1 | D1 floor | D2 | D3 | HS varsity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guards (PG and SG) | .864 | .774 | .717 | .656 | .595 | .534 |
| Forwards (SF and PF) | .803 | .691 | .619 | .545 | .471 | .397 |
| Center | .776 | .643 | .571 | .488 | .405 | .322 |
Women's ladder
The women's free throw percentage ladder is published sport-wide rather than by position.
| Position | D1 elite | D1 | D1 floor | D2 | D3 | HS varsity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All positions | .840 | .712 | .682 | .672 | .662 | .652 |
See where your numbers actually land
A table tells you the bar. Your AQ Score tells you where you stand against it - all five dimensions, your gaps, and the level you actually fit, scored by the same engine these benchmarks come from. Your first score is free.
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Common questions
What is a good free throw percentage for a basketball guard?
Athlete Quotient's D1 benchmark for a basketball guard is .774. The D2 rung is .656, D3 is .595 and high school varsity is .534. The elite D1 rung is .864.
What is a good free throw percentage for a basketball center?
Athlete Quotient's D1 benchmark for a basketball center is .643. The D2 rung is .488, D3 is .405 and high school varsity is .322. The elite D1 rung is .776.
How to read these
Each column is a rung on the Athlete Quotient benchmark ladder - the bar the engine scores every athlete against - not a cutoff and not an entry price. Being under a rung does not close a door. It tells you the size of the gap, which is the only number you can actually train against.
These are Athlete Quotient's own benchmarks. Where a published college figure exists we use it; where none exists, the rung is ours. We would rather say that than claim a source we do not have.
These tables are the same ones the scoring engine uses, exported from it rather than retyped, so a page can never quietly disagree with a score. More: how AQ builds benchmarks.