March 11, 2007

Addicted to threes
Twenty years after college basketball installed the three-point line, players can't imagine the game without it.

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

OKLAHOMA CITY | On Friday, Sherron Collins' case of addiction withdrawal got even worse.

Almost unbelievably, the Kansas freshman point guard missed all four three-point shots he took, and they were all open looks. That made it three games in a row for Collins without hitting a three.

Collins shook his head in the locker room after the game and pondered his problem.

"It's very addicting," Collins said, "especially when you have a wide-open shot. I'm still confident. I mean, I'm just a little bit off. I'm going to continue to shoot it, though."

And, sure enough, he continued to shoot it on Saturday in the Big 12 tournament semifinals against Kansas State. Collins missed his first attempt early in the first half, but thanks to a long rebound, his teammates got it back to him again in shooting position. He fired again, desperate for that rush he'd become so accustomed to, and drilled it. Later in the KU victory, Collins hit a big three that put the Jayhawks ahead 56-44.

"It was relief," Collins said. "I felt more relaxed."

Many vices have been created to produce that same sensation. For college basketball players, that drug is the three-pointer. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the three-point line's introduction to the college game. And it seems as if more and more players are defining their games on the ability to hit the long ball.

This weekend, in three days of basketball, players shot 335 threes in 10 games. They made 112 of them, a 33.4 percent clip. Players like Texas's A.J. Abrams and Missouri's Matt Lawrence were on the floor for seemingly one purpose -- to shoot the three.

Players these days couldn't stop chucking it if they tried.

"It's addicting to everybody," KU guard Brandon Rush said. "I don't know, it's just that line. That line gets to you. It talks to you. It's like, 'Shoot. Shoot.' "

That loving feeling Collins had lost? Rush knows it well. It's why when he shoots a three, his legs give him a couple of extra inches of lift on his jump shot.

"I can just feel the crowd," Rush says. "Every time you release, the crowd gets into it. They're like, 'Ahhhh.' And you miss or make it, the crowd goes back to its regular self."

***

Bobby Knight knew what the three-pointer would do to college basketball. He was vocal against the idea from the beginning. Yet, when it came down to it, Knight knew he could use it to his advantage.

In 1986-87, the first season of the three-pointer, he just happened to have one of the best outside shooters of all-time in Steve Alford on his team. Keith Smart, a member of that team, remembers a practice when Alford drove to the basket. Knight stopped Alford and said, "I don't even want you coming inside the three-point line."

"A three-pointer was like a layup for him," Smart said.

Alford went on to make seven three-pointers in the first half of the national championship game that season against Syracuse, a game Indiana won. That Syracuse team was clearly superior in talent, but Alford's shooting was worth more than it would have been in the previous season. One of the greatest effects of the three has been its ability to propel less-talented teams to victory.

"Over time," KU coach Bill Self said, "the three-point line has given a lot of teams an opportunity to beat a team they're not as talented as."

It has also made some teams almost totally one-dimensional. Rush points out that some teams like West Virginia and Texas seemingly do nothing else but shoot the three. Self says that has diminished the midrange skill of most players, who'd prefer to either dunk or shoot the three.

"You can go and look at every team in the country from 20 years ago," Self said, "and teams' in-between games were better then than they are now.

"To be honest with you, from a coaching standpoint, the worst shot you can take is an 18-footer. If you're going to shoot that far, you might as well get behind the line. So, it has changed the game."

***

So, what if there were no three-point line? Or, better yet, what if the NCAA suddenly ruled to remove it? Could players go on without their addiction?

"I couldn't imagine that," KU guard Mario Chalmers said. "I mean, I think I'd just take all layups. I don't think I'd shoot any more jumpers if there wasn't a three-point line."

KU forward Julian Wright says he couldn't imagine playing without it either, but he knows it happened before.

"Just to know that there were great players that played before us, and they were able to score so many points and there was no three point-line," Wright said. "I mean, it changed the game a lot. I think it's good, in terms of, when teams are down, I think it's more about momentum than the actual three points.

"It's almost like a dunk."

Self says his team doesn't take many threes compared with past KU teams.

"That's one thing I like about our team," Self said. "We don't rely on the three like a lot of teams do."

Then, in the same breath, Self continues: "I wish we shot more of them to be honest with you. I can't get my guys to shoot as many as what I'd like."

Self can't seem to decide whether the three is good or not. Maybe, like most addictive things, it's so bad that it's good. With the struggling Collins, Self didn't hesitate. He told him to keep shooting, and it paid off on Saturday.

Now that Collins has found the hot hand again, he doesn't want to think about what it would have been like before the line was introduced.

"It would be hard," Collins said. "I mean, there would probably be a lot of zones because everyone would be trying to drive, and there would be a lot of offensive fouls. I don't know, but it would be crazy."

J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell)