UCF’s 9 for 18 3 point shooting got me thinking. Does BYU ever shoot 50% from 3 point land? (serious question, have they done that this year?) Just think if we had a couple of 40%+ shooters. Blow out many teams. Maybe we will get some of these caliber shooters in the next few years.
BUT, I really believe that Pope’s current strategy is brilliant. He does not have the 3 pt horses so you make up for it with volume of shots. And the real key -what makes it work - is that the volume of shots (30-35 attempts a game) means more offensive rebounds will happen. Just physics. Some straw man numbers. If 30 two-point shots result in 15% offensive rebounds (because the ball only comes off the rim 1-5 feet usually) then that’s 4.5s offensive rebounds. 3 pointers way more often come out 10 to 15 feet so the chance for offensive rebound being up for grabs is say 35% resulting in 10-11 offensive rebounds for 30 shots taken.
Taking 35 3pters a game results in probably an additional 10 points on average than a more typical 15 - 20 3 point shots that teams take. Of course, it can’t be the only part of your game.
But, I think Pope is brilliant by implementing this strategy and I believe some others will copy it. Kind of like Lavell implementing passing to make up for physical and athletic deficiencies. And then we see it implemented by others - college and pros. (Yeah, not saying Pope’s strategy will have that impact, but it is a great one until we get better 3 point shooters.)
I think if UCF goes 9 for 18 from 3 against BYU they will win. I suspect it was a fluke they did that well. They have been a poor 3 point shooting team all year. They could still beat BYU with their athletecism but they haven’t impressed me with their basketball skills. Let’s hope the quick 24 hour turnaround between games does them in.
Like I mentioned in another thread after the Hopper insisted that BYU needed to be on top of UCF and their incredible 3 point shooting…
They were next to last in the Big 12 in both 3 point shooting percentage and number of 3 pointers made during the season. If you combine those two stats for every team in the Big 12 they would end up dead last overall.
If they were as good as the Hopper thinks they are (based on one game mind you) then they would have likely finished at or near the top of the final Big 12 standings. Of course you can only learn so much from statistical information, you have to watch the games to understand how good a team really is. The Hopper probably thought that game between OSU and UCF was like the Big 12 championship game because UCF beat a really good team in OSU.
