Shooting the 3

[JTG]

I was at the game yesterday, and while the boys played hard, a couple things are evident. We NEED some 3 pt shooters, and Marquette has unbelievable shooters who can even hit when closely guarded. I think the 3 pt shooter is the most demoralizing weapon in basketball. Take yesterday, we spend a good portion of the shot clock to get a 2, then the other team comes down the floor, flicks a 24 ft shot, boom 3 pts. When you are on, it can break a teams will. It's just a devastating weapon and we have to get some shooters. Meanwhile, if we're going to have Welage in a game get him 3 shots in the first few minutes. He can't be effective shooting 3 or 4 times a game. Go X

[bleedXblue]

We shot the ball great yesterday. But, yet again we gave up a high percentage of 3's just like we have pretty much all year. IMHO, the only way we salvage this year is to realize the personnel and scheme we have cant defend good 3 pt shooting teams. Have to find a way to change this up somehow.

[GIMMFD]

We shot the ball great yesterday. But, yet again we gave up a high percentage of 3's just like we have pretty much all year. IMHO, the only way we salvage this year is to realize the personnel and scheme we have cant defend good 3 pt shooting teams. Have to find a way to change this up somehow.

Yeah, we did shoot a lot higher than usual from the 3 yesterday, but the point remains, we don't really have many weapons from deep. Harden/Kennedy are inconsistent, Welage isn't getting looks, and the rest are just average to say the least. This team doesn't have a designated guy that stretches the court completely who can get hot and drop in 20 or so on a random night, Welage could have been that guy but he just isn't getting looks off.

[xu82]

Anybody coming in in the next few years who is a pure shooter should be encouraged. Boy do we have an opportunity for YOU!

[xukeith]

Would LOVE top 60 talent from shooting perspective with Bluiett, Howard, Hauser talent. Just give X 2 in next 3 years.

[xu koop scoop]

The 3 is starting to hurt the game. Golden State & Houston in the NBA tried more 3s than 2s last year. Same was true in college. Nova 3'd their way to a title. Marquette made 14 of 25 for 42 pts against us. We would need 21 of 25 2's to equal that

[JTG]

The 3 is starting to hurt the game. Golden State & Houston in the NBA tried more 3s than 2s last year. Same was true in college. Nova 3'd their way to a title. Marquette made 14 of 25 for 42 pts against us. We would need 21 of 25 2's to equal that
It may be hurting the game, but Golden State and Nova have multiple championships to show for their efforts. I'd love for X to wreck College Basketball if it meant a title.

[bleedXblue]

Yeah, we did shoot a lot higher than usual from the 3 yesterday, but the point remains, we don't really have many weapons from deep. Harden/Kennedy are inconsistent, Welage isn't getting looks, and the rest are just average to say the least. This team doesn't have a designated guy that stretches the court completely who can get hot and drop in 20 or so on a random night, Welage could have been that guy but he just isn't getting looks off.

yeah I know that why I suggest a different defensive approach b/c we simply don't have the shooters to beat good teams like Marquette

[xu koop scoop]

3 pointers gone wild. Today Nova made 17 of 42 3pt shots. They only tried 16 2pt shots. Again, 42 attempts from 3. 16 from 2

[xu82]

The game has changed, and you NEED shooters. Period.

That will be a bit of a problem this year. And maybe the next few years until we can build it back up. It’s easy to get spoiled with Tre and JP in the same class.

[xu koop scoop]

No teams defend the 3 as hard as the 2. Nobody wants to give up 3 foul shots vs 2 foul shots. 10 or more years ago 2 of my buddies & I agreed on a fix to the foul issue. If fouled shooting a 3 you're guaranteed 2 shots, but need to make both to earn the 3rd attempty. This would cause more aggressive D vs the 3. Its unfair to automatically give 3 foul shots vs 2. A foul is a foul
you need to make the 1st 2 to get the 3rd attempt top

[Lloyd Braun]

I don’t understand how 3s are ruining the game....What’s wrong with having more 3 pointers? Is it because we currently suck at shooting it doesn’t benefit us to have a 3 point line?

[xu koop scoop]

I don’t understand how 3s are ruining the game....What’s wrong with having more 3 pointers? Is it because we currently suck at shooting it doesn’t benefit us to have a 3 point line?

What's wrong with the 3 is us older gents who watched games in the 50s, 60s, 70s & early 80s remember how beautiful the game was without them. I played my entire life without them.

[Lloyd Braun]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose. I prefer today’s game, watching basketball from the 60s and 70s is painful for me. Just my opinion.

The 3 point line has been around for almost 40 years so I think it’s here to stay. The reality is that players today are more athletic than players 30, 40 years ago. Avoiding contact preserves physical health. Analytics also will sway a team to maximize points and efficiency. The most efficient way to score is a dunk or layup. After that it’s the 3 point shot. I like watching teams score points, makes it more entertaining.... and I think that’s the opinion of the majority of casual fans.

[X-band '01]

We shot the ball great yesterday. But, yet again we gave up a high percentage of 3's just like we have pretty much all year. IMHO, the only way we salvage this year is to realize the personnel and scheme we have cant defend good 3 pt shooting teams. Have to find a way to change this up somehow.

Agree 100%. Even last year, defending the 3 was a liability. It was masked a lot because of a much more prolific offense from last year.

[BandDad]

I saw an analysis on KenPom over the summer and it essentially said that the three-point shot is a much better play statistically than a two-point shot. I think Jay Wright has figured that out. If you make 37% of your three-pointers, that means you need to make 55.5% of two-pointers to break even. You do need to account that you are much more likely to be fouled on a two-point shot than you are a three-point shot, but that is more than offset by the fact that 23% of all two-point shots are rebounded vs. 34% of three-point shots (due to the long rebound). The three-point shot can stay, but it should be moved out another foot or two (at least on the top half of the court as you can't do it on the sides).

[XU 87]

I think the three point line should be moved back in college. It's too easy of a shot for too many players to be giving the shot three points.

[Xville]

I think the three point line should be moved back in college. It's too easy of a shot for too many players to be giving the shot three points.

Tell that to this year's Xavier roster

[drudy23]

I think the three point line should be moved back in college. It's too easy of a shot for too many players to be giving the shot three points.

Moved back?

I promise you if you move that line to 16 feet, you'd see a lower percentage of made shots than if you'd move it back one foot.

[whopper]

why do we keep looking off Welage then except Castlin; Welage's biggest problem is the he always replaces Castlin who looks for him. Admittedly they are mid majors, but Welages best games (Oakland, Mercy, IUPUI, etc) were where Q, Marshall, Tyrique (at least one..sometimes two) were not playing so Castlin was at guard with Scruggs

[Mrs. Garrett]

The issue with this team is they play out of control at times. IMO they aren't losing because they can't shoot the three, they are losing due to turnovers and bad shot selection. While some of the bad shots are three, they just seem to be shots that are rushed and not within the regular offense.

[bleedXblue]

The issue with this team is they play out of control at times. IMO they aren't losing because they can't shoot the three, they are losing due to turnovers and bad shot selection. While some of the bad shots are three, they just seem to be shots that are rushed and not within the regular offense.

so we are undisciplined yep, I will go with that and in many ways that is a coaching issue

[vee4xu]

Three point shooters is a two edged sword. Having good ones as part of a balanced overall offense is good. Living and dying with three point shooters is not good. Marquette falls into this category. They had three guys score something like 70 of their 85 points and on top of that, many (if not most) were threes. A good defensive team will take out one of those three guys and Marquette gets beat. However, with players like Blueitt and Macura, X had two guys who could keep defenses honest outside the three point line and drive by them to the basket if they were overplayed. That is the recipe for success using the three point shot. Xavier currently has no one who can either consistently shoot threes, or drive to the basket. instead, teams pack the paint and dare X to shoot because they know if X doesn't shoot a three they won't drive to the basket. Until X does have a couple of players to keep other teams honest, it'll be tough. On the other hand, teams like Marquette are not destined to go very far either because they are totally reliant on three point shooting, which is the lowest percentage shot on the floor.

[XUGRAD80]

so we are undisciplined yep, I will go with that and in “many” ways that is a coaching issue

But not in ALL ways. A coach can only do so much, and if a player’s best assets is their ability to push things and to be agressive it is hard to draw the line to where it becomes “undisciplined”. Not contesting that they DO play out of control at times, or that the turnovers aren’t a real problem. But I’m not convinced that is totally caused by either lack of coaching or by bad coaching. It’s at least 50% on the players. Some of that is lack of experience and some of it is just the type of skills the players possess. Some of it is also the style of play and abilities of the opposition. There were times last year where the same claim of being undisciplined was made about JP. Same thing has been said about virtually every guard that X has had over the years, at one time or another. It’s certainly a term used for many frontline players like Reynolds. Doesn’t seem to matter who the coach has been, there have been players and even teams that have had the “undisciplined” tag placed on them at times, under every coach.

[N67ER]

I think that we can all agree that Marquette won the game because they hit so many threes. What would be wrong with guarding the three-point line tighter and forcing the Hauser boys to drive. The worst that happens is a 2 or maybe “and 1” once in awhile. If 6 of their threes were 2’s we win. And if we guard further from the basket, maybe we corral a few more long rebounds off missed threes. If the game is truly evolving, then we must adapt, both defensively and offensively (as in recruit great shooters).

And for goodness sakes, get Welage the ball and run more sets to free him up!