Luke Winn's Top 16 Shooters

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Oct 12, 2011

Luke Winn's Top 16 Shooters

Nemanja Mitrovic

Mitrovic, whose father was a member of the Yugoslavian national team in the '80s, had a breakout junior season in 2010-11, shooting 46.3 percent from long range (93-of-201) and making 84.5 percent of his free throws. The Toronto product now has to be considered among the top two gunners in the West Coast Conference.

Scott Christopherson

The Cyclones are getting national attention for their wave of transfers, but don't sleep on Christopherson, a Wisconsin product who's been a 40-plus percent three-point shooter for three seasons. He connected at a 44.1 percent rate as a junior, going 86-for-195.

Bryson Johnson

Johnson is the lone Division I player from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia -- where he was coached by his mother in high school -- and has emerged as the best gunner in the Patriot League, hitting 45.6 percent of his threes as a sophomore.

John Shurna

Shurna has the most unconventional form of anyone on this list -- a push-shot out in front of his body -- but he uses it to generate astounding results, making 43.4 percent of his threes as a junior. If he gets more accurate from the line, where he shot 70.7 percent last year, he could be a 20-points-per-game scorer.

Tim Abromaitis

Abromaitis has thrived in Notre Dame's unpredictable motion offense, hitting 42.9 percent of his threes for each of the past two seasons. With Ben Hansbrough gone, will Abromaitis be able to continue that pace as one of the Irish's go-to options?

Kyle Kuric

Kuric was an excellent floor-spreading weapon for the Cardinals as a sophomore, making 44.9 percent of his threes. He was somewhat of a one-dimensional scorer, with 59.1 percent of his points coming from beyond the arc.

Scott Bamforth

Bamforth came out of nowhere to finish fourth nationally in three-point percentage (48.7, 78-of-160). He played his freshman season at Western Nebraska Community College, broke his arm and missed his whole sophomore year, after which he transferred to Weber State ... and became the Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year.

Jordan Taylor

Part of Taylor's brilliant junior season -- one of the greatest offensive campaigns by any point guard this decade -- was his emergence as one of the Big Ten's best three-point shooters (42.9 percent) despite being hounded by the league's top on-ball defenders.

Seth Curry

Curry will have a chance to be a featured scorer for the Blue Devils this season after serving as an auxiliary scoring option behind Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler as a sophomore. Stephen's little brother can light it up from three; he hit 43.5 percent of his treys in 2010-11.

Kevin Foster

Foster is the one sub-40-percent shooter (36.8 percent) who cracked this list -- because he led the nation in threes made by an overwhelming margin. His 140 were well ahead of BYU's Jimmer Fredette (124) and Ohio State's Jon Diebler (114).

Malcolm Grant

Grant was the focal point of every Miami opponent's game plan, yet managed to make 94 of 222 three-point attempts (42.3 percent) as a junior, as well as make teams pay for fouling him, shooting 85.3 percent from the stripe.

Doron Lamb

Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones were the Wildcats' most-hyped freshmen last season, but Lamb proved to be a highly effective perimeter weapon whom defenses helped off of at their own risk. He made 48.6 percent of his threes (68-of-140) and should be new point guard Marquis Teague's No. 1 option on drive-and-kick passes.

Marcus Denmon

New coach Frank Haith is fortunate to inherit a weapon like Denmon, who was making treys at an over 50 percent rate halfway through his junior season, before a slump brought him down to a still-stellar 44.8 percent. He's one of the country's best at finding space in transition and knocking down dagger threes.

Robert Nyakundi

Nyakundi is the best shooter no one outside Conference USA knows about; he made 49.7 percent of his threes as a junior, second in the nation only to Ohio State's John Diebler, and also hit 90.0 percent of his free throws. If Nyakundi's two-point percentage improves -- he shot just 46.0 percent inside the arc -- he can be an all-around star.

John Jenkins

Jenkins' three-point percentage, which was 48.0 as a freshman, dropped to 40.8 as a sophomore as he faced relentless harassment (even double-teams) from SEC defenders. If he were left open as often as some "designated shooter" role players, Jenkins would likely fire at an around 50-percent clip. He's nearly automatic from the foul line, making 89.4 percent of attempts.

Ashton Gibbs

Gibbs had a brilliant junior season, ranking third in the nation in three-point percentage (49.0) despite heavy attention from Big East defenses. He only missed 10 free throws all year, finishing 80-of-90 from the stripe.