3 Point Shooting

[Igothawked]

I have been able to watch several other hoop games today from the various conferences, and nearly every single team just has guys that can bury the 3. Contested, open, whenever. The 3 ball has become such a critical aspect of college hoops (and NBA for that matter). Yet the Hawks literally have nobody who can knock down the shot even the wide open ones.
I have a hard time thinking none of these guys can shoot the ball period, but it is apparent they cannot in games. I know the talent level is not good, but teams like Detroit, UNI, UWmilwaukee, etc all have shooters. My thought would be, does Fran put enough emphasis on the 3 ball? Is the offense conducive to 3 Point shooting? What is the problem?

 

[Bigtenchamp]

I have been able to watch several other hoop games today from the various conferences, and nearly every single team just has guys that can bury the 3. Contested, open, whenever. The 3 ball has become such a critical aspect of college hoops (and NBA for that matter). Yet the Hawks literally have nobody who can knock down the shot even the wide open ones.
I have a hard time thinking none of these guys can shoot the ball period, but it is apparent they cannot in games. I know the talent level is not good, but teams like Detroit, UNI, UWmilwaukee, etc all have shooters. My thought would be, does Fran put enough emphasis on the 3 ball? Is the offense conducive to 3 Point shooting? What is the problem?

It's the biggest problem this team has and it goes back to last year.

Look at their wins and losses last year especially... when they are competent from deep they were a top 15 team...

But since the last 1/3 of the season until now they can't shoot and they aren't very good.

 

[volhawk50]

I used to disagree that it was so crucial and important, but it really stood out to me when watching the ISU game. There seemed to be a series of possessions where Iowa players had zero confidence in their three point shooting, and ISU players realized they had no confidence so they packed it in tight and quit defending the arc, which led to the Hawks really struggling to feed the post and really hesitating to shoot the easiest and most wide-open of 3s. I used to believe shooting the 3 wasn't a necessary part of the offense, then I realized that when the opponent doesn't even defend your three-point shots and you still can't make them, your offense is so handcuffed.

 

[PCHawk]

It is very strange that an entire team can struggle so bad shooting for so many years. I remember early in Gesell's freshmen year he knocked down a big 3 and I said to a friend "Gesell doesn't have the same loser mentality the rest of the team has because he didn't have to play on those horrible teams" im my mind then he was the new age of iowa players that was going to bring us back. 2 years later he can't shoot at all, Oglesby still can't shoot, Jok who is a pure shooter can't shoot, and Uthoff for some reason can't shoot any more. It really is crazy how contagious it is for our team.

 

[Igothawked]

I agree with both of you above. The 3 ball game has been critical for several years and it's really critical when you are terrible at it. Even if they could average 7+ threes a game they would be ok. But that is not happening. The players just become worse shooters as their careers roll along. Which is why I asked if it's possible if Fran doesn't put enough emphasis on it or if the offense is not set up to shoot many threes. But they seem to get a lot of open shots during games but just don't hit them, so I really don't know.

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

I simply don't understand how we can lack 3 point shooters. I watched UNI play Va Commonwealth last night and saw plenty of guys on the UNI roster who can bury the 3. We simply clank, clank, clank... I see plenty of 3 pt shooters on lesser teams and we just can't seem to land any...

 

[uihawk82]

Didnt we land some three pt shooters in Oglesby, Jok, Gesell was supposed to be a good shooter. If just the 3 of them could hit a few 3s apiece each game we wouldnt have these scoring droughts and trouble getting the ball inside.

Are these players putting in the extra time outside of practice to shoot 3 after 3 after 3? If they are good shooters then practice and confidence would really help.

 

[Knight78]

I have been able to watch several other hoop games today from the various conferences, and nearly every single team just has guys that can bury the 3. Contested, open, whenever. The 3 ball has become such a critical aspect of college hoops (and NBA for that matter). Yet the Hawks literally have nobody who can knock down the shot even the wide open ones.
I have a hard time thinking none of these guys can shoot the ball period, but it is apparent they cannot in games. I know the talent level is not good, but teams like Detroit, UNI, UWmilwaukee, etc all have shooters. My thought would be, does Fran put enough emphasis on the 3 ball? Is the offense conducive to 3 Point shooting? What is the problem?

Outside shooting has always been valued, even before the three point line. As an inside player, it's nice to have a guy that can shoot to pass the ball to you:
1) There is space to catch the ball and make a move one-on-one without worrying about being doubled down.
2) If you are doubled-down you have a reliable outlet who can score.

The only difference between then and now is that the made basket is awarded one more point.