Basketball '86-'87 Friday, November 21, 19869
3-poiet rale shonald
alter very fabric off
college basketball-
By SCOTT FOWLER
Sports Editor
And now, let's all welcome once
again an old friend (and foe) of the
Atlantic Coast Conference who has
grown two feet in height and immea
surably in importance for the 1986
87 college basketball season the
three-point shot.
You thought the 45-second clock
would have an effect on college
basketball? Then think about this 19
9 semicircle painted on every college
gym floor in the country that will
alter the very fabric of collegiate
hoops.
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Dean Smith
...likes 3-pointer
Shooting 40 percent from the
three-point line is equal to shooting
60 percent from two-point territory,
as UNC guard and three-point-rule
beneficiary Kenny Smith points out.
"Anytime you get three for two, you
take it," said Smith, grinning at the
prospect like a kid who just found
out he was getting a new bike for
Christmas.
Forty percent from three-point
range doesn't seem too difficult,
either. As UCLA's Reggie Miller
said, "I can almost throw it in
underhanded from 19-9."
This latest version of the three
pointer is two feet longer than the
17-9 chip shot that the ACC used
in 1982-83, but four feet shorter than
the NBA rocket launch of 23-9 (22
feet in the corners). The new three
point line is tangent to the top of
the key, easily within the shooting
range of Smith and Jeff Lebo.
Those two top guns for the Tar
Heels, along with Ranzino Smith,
should be the prime miners of three
point gold this season for UNC.
Around the conference, there's Clem
son's Anthony Jenkins, who led the
ACC in three-pointers back in 1983;
N.C. State's Bennie Bolton, Wake
Forest's Rod Watson, who coach
Bob Staak said can hit the shot "in
his sleep," Virginia's Richard Mor
gan, ("We have to move him in and
tell him there's no four-or five-point
shot," says Virginia coach Terry
Holland) and a host of other little
and not-so-little men who will be
elevated to a greater importance.
"Everybody was jammed in the
paint last year," said UNC coach
Dean Smith. "Not anymore."
Designated shooters in the mold
of former Wolf pack gunner Terry t
Gannon will again find a niche, being'
counted on much like a field-goal
kicker to come in, put the three points
on the board and depart to let the
bigger men play. For players like
Smith and Lebo, who can not only
shoot the ball but also play the game
in general, the three-point rule
guarantees a greater prominence.
"I'm not going to try and change
my game for it," said Lebo, who is
often labeled one of the best pure
shooters in the game. "I'm not going
to dribble a step back to shoot it.
But if it's open, that's a good shot
for me and Kenny if weVe got the
board covered."
Coaches around the league give
mixed reviews for the shot. Dean
Smith likes it. "I think it's done for
the good of the game, for the so
called have nots, for the Bucknalls,"
he said. "You make them shoot it
in 45 seconds (taking away a delay
game option), but now they can score
three points with it. It's entertaining.
Fans will like it, players will like it.
There will be more upsets."
N.C. State's Jim Valvano, whose,
team won the national championship
the only year the ACC has exper
imented with a three-point shot,
doesn't like it. "It's foreign to anyone
who likes the game of basketball,"
he complained. "Why we put the
three-point shot in, I have no idea.
It really makes the game upside
down."
Valvano then launched into a
scenario where his team had a four
point lead and was playing delay ball
perfectly, yet kept getting points
sliced from its margin. Much more
strategy does enter the game in the
late stages, because a coach whose
team is behind by one point can foul
quickly, knowing even if the oppo
nents hit two free throws his squad
can tie the game with a three-pointer.
"It's a strange thing when you're
down five, and then suddenly you're
down two," said Georgia Tech coach
Bobby Cremins.
Valvano may be biased because his
team last season won by firing the
ball inside to Chris Washburn and
Charles Shackleford and "winning
ugly." Clemson, on the other hand,
has not had a dominating inside
player in recent years and has lost
a number of games because of it.
"Before, whoever had the best paint
players would win," Clemson coach
Cliff Ellis said. "This opens the game
up."
The three-point rule surprised a
number of hoops aficionados when
it was announced earlier this year.
Although many conferences have
experimented with the shot at var
ying lengths, the NCAA Rules
Committee's decision sent coaches
scrambling to their playbooks and
gave the six-foot high school player
who could play good defense and
shoot from long range a greater
market value.
However, the Rules Committee
can always undo itself. Although the
trend in basketball appears to be to
use a three-pointer the NBA and
International Amateur Basketball
Federation have both adopted it
if enough coaches complain, for a
long enough period of time this year
may be only a statistical blip in a
two-point game. At least, that's what
Valvano hopes.
"I think well be out of it in a year,"
he said.
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