Cal Basketball: Mark Fox Thinks the New 3-Point Distance Will Have an Impact
New Cal coach Mark Fox was on the NCAA rules committee, which noticed three-point shooting was at an alltime high, so, as Fox puts it, "To discourage three-point attempts, they have moved the line back."
OK, so what are we talking about here?
The three-point line last year was 20 feet, 9 inches away from the center of the basket. This year it will be 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches from the basket for Division I games. That is a change of virtually 17 inches, which might be enough to have a genuine influence. Of course, you can't tell until teams start playing games, but Fox figures it will at least make teams more discriminating about which players are taking those long shots.
The idea, says Fox is "to get the game into more of the traditional ballace," instead of merely a three-point shooting contest.
"Has it affected our team?" Fox says, "I don't know what kind of three-point shooting team they were a year ago. It's not three inches back; it's a distinct difference. I think you'll find you have to be real diligent on who's shooting that three-point shot.
"Not everyone is going to be firing it up there for any team because it is a deeper shot, and we've got to be sure we're taking the right ones."
Fox is in favor of the rule, although it's difficult to predict how it will change the game. The theory is that it will open up the middle for more offensive moves. But it will create more space inside only if the player attempting that deeper shot can make it often enough to be a legitimate threat.
"Everyone here knows the Warriorsn," Fox said, "and if Steph Curry couldn't shoot, that lane would be a lot more crowded. So you have to have a great shooter in order to take advantage of the three-point line being moved back."
The Bears might have such a shooter in Matt Bradley. He led the Pac-12 in three-point shooting percentage last year at 47.2 percent. And the extra foot and half did not seem to bother him in Wednesday's exhibition game against St. Martin's.
He was 4-for-8 from three-point distance and looked smooth on every attempt. Graduate transfer Kareem South is another Cal player who might be given the green light from long range. He made 36.7 percent of his three-point shots last season at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and he was 3-for-9 from the new distance on Wednesday.
