You run into him at the HS reunion but he has to reintroduce himself because he is unrecognizable from when you last saw him
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If Kansas isn’t ranked tomorrow, how far back would you have to go to find them, Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina all unranked at the same time?
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That’s wild. And UCLA is barely in there (#23).
Some ESPN analyst is sending their assistant back to his/her cubby to answer that question right now. . .
A similar question was posed during a game I watched last week - I think it was MSU vs Rutgers - when was the last time Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and MSU were all unranked at the same time? Answer was December 1961.
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That would have been my first Christmas. What a glorious Christmas that must have been. Unfortunately I have no memory or it.
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Saw this posted on MgoBlog and thought it was interesting. Did Moving The Arc Bring The 3-Pointer To A Breaking Point? | FiveThirtyEight
Basically, 3 pointers and 2 pointers are now close to each other in efficiency for the first time since the NCAA put in a 3 point line.
What’s notable here to me is how much more efficient teams have gotten inside the arc over the last decade or so. That speaks to taking much better twos on first glimpse but I wonder if it has more to do with officiating changes.
Anything to the idea that teams are selling out to prevent 3s on defense, and giving up easier 2s in response? Obviously many good defenses prevent open 3s and easy 2s, but not every team is equipped to do both.
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This was my thought as well. Maybe taking away the rim and the 3 line has opened up the mid range. I think the question would be whether the “other 2s” are contested at a lower rate now.
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But 2PT% has actually dipped in the two years where 3PA/FGA dipped. Right?
I think it is a combination of the longer 3 point arc combined with teams (at an across the sport level) trading long 2s for 3s that has lead to the relative change in efficiency. 2 point efficiency has gone up because teams aren’t taking those long 2 point jumpers as often. 3 point efficiency has gone down because they are taking even more 3s.
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Yep, I agree that’s a big part. I think the changes to the rules (freedom of movement, etc.) have had some impact on being able to create easier twos also though.
Yeah it’s definitely not midrange becoming viable. It’s more about teams abandoning that altogether.
I wasn’t sure how much to draw from this 538 piece since the variations seemed subtle and there’s enough noise that I wasn’t sure if we are at a point to draw conclusions - especially in the midst of a pandemic that has affected practice time.
Overall I suspect that 3pt% will settle in back to normal levels as players adjust to the new line. What might be interesting to track is freshmen 3pt%. I suspect that the adjustment from HS to NCAA with the new line has been more dramatic. I can’t make the leap yet to try an explain the struggles of teams that rely heavily on freshmen…but it might be a secondary root cause.
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Didn’t Lavar Ball already try this?
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Won’t last more than a year unless the new nil rules make those players ncaa eligible
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To be fair, Gonzaga is a top 10 program so for Few to leave Zags, it would have to be a massive upgrade program wise for him to consider leaving Gonzaga. At the moment, I don’t see him leaving Gonzaga unless Few wants to coach in the NBA
Thought experiment: USA basketball creates a traveling team for top players that don’t want to play in college. They can train full time and play exhibitions against top Euro pro teams.
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