"Book" It!

I am a huge Creighton fan and Have been for a very long time. A couple of years ago they recruited a young kid out of Texas named Booker Woodfox who is one of my top five players to ever play at the University of Creighton. His first year at Creighton he got off to a very slow start mostly because the type of play Coach Dana Altman plays is not an easy one to adjust to. About halfway through the season though he got into his groove and started to hit his shots. In his last fifteen games (not sure on the exact number) he scored in double digits and we as the Creighton fan base were very excited to see him play the next season. As we all expected he exploded during his senior season and easily becoming one of the premier three point shooters in the country. He hit crucial shots for us in multiple games including a game winner vs Old Dominion in the Bracket Buster game, but none was as special as the shot he drained in the Missouri Valley Quarter Finals vs Wichita State. After Wichita's start Terre Murry hit a huge three to put them up one, Creighton had one last chance to win the game. Actually as it came to be they had two because freshman point guard Antone Young missed a leaning jumping but Wichita could not handle the rebound. After all of that there were 1.9 seconds left on the clock, and it was now or never for the Jays. Josh Dotzler passed the ball into Booker Woodfox who lost the Handel, but regained control and then somehow took two dribbles to his left and pulled up just inside the three point line and and it was Nothing but Nylon.

Brick City

Mostly in this blog I have talked about the great three point shooters and great three point teams. In this post I have decided to go another direction and talk about the worst three point team to ever play in college basketball. In recent history University of Cincinnati in the 20009-2010 basketball season proved to be the worst from behind the arc. As a team they shot a shocking low of 28.4% from downtown and in a game against St.Johns they went 0-12 from behind the arc. There best three point percentage during the span of 15 years has been 38.7 percent. Keep in mind that statistical records of the three just recently became a stat people kept track of so there still might have been a worse team out there that we do not know about. Either way though the performance of the Bearcats behind the arc is just sad and they certainly have a lot of work to do.

LINK

Pittsnogled!

"You've been Pittsnogled!" Whenever an announcer made that statement it meant that West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle, all 6 feet, 11 inches of him, had rained another 3-pointer down on some helpless opponent. When you first see Kevin Pittsnogle you would think he would make for the perfect center in college basketball, but instead you would find a guy who loves the outside shot and is very talented at it. "I'd be totally different without the shot,'' said Pittsnogle, whose 3-point makes have gone up every season -- from 49 to 53 to 60. Pitino said players like Pittsnogle, the big man who exclusively wants to be a 3-point shooter, still are the exception, not the norm. Beilein said Pittsnogle isn't giving himself enough credit as a legitimate big man. This season, Pittsnogle will have to play more inside; he'll have to do that anyway if he wants to play in the NBA. "I didn't work inside until I got to college,'' Pittsnogle said. "Being big and tall makes the defense come out to me. It helps guards penetrate and dish back out to create openings. Big guys are stepping out more and more to make the 3-point shot. That's what makes European players so versatile.''

LINK

Back Breaker

Before the excitement of the NCAA Tournament, there is a very entertaining week called Championship Week. Some people may say that this is the most nerve racking and thrilling week in the College Basketball. Championship week is the week where most of the conference tournaments are held, and when the tickets to the big dance get punched. The winner of each conference tournament gets an automatic bid to March Madness. Teams are fighting viciously against each other in order to get their chance to play the biggest tournament out there. Michigan was a team that had to win the Big Ten tournament in order to get into the Big Dance. In the quarterfinals they were match up against number 1 seed Ohio state and the favorites to win. It was a thrilling game and it looked like Michigan was going to pull out the amazing upset until the miraculous happened. Ohio State star Evan Turner drilled a very deep three to win the game by one, and ruin Michigan's dream of reaching the NCAA Tournament.

Expanding the Field

With the 2010 NCAA Tournament wrapping a couple of weeks, there is already talk about the 2011 Tournament. This talk is about expanding the current field of 65 teams to a whopping 96 team field. In my personal opinion this would be a huge mistake for college basketball and would just ruin the perfect tournament. The popular saying of "Don't Fix what is not broken" comes to mind when I think of the expansion but expanding the to 96 teams would bring in a ton of money for the NCAA. I know money is a necessity to every business and organization, but it is not everything. If they do expand a lot of teams would make this prestigious tournament when they do not deserve to be in it. For example teams like North Carolina and UCONN would have made the field even though they had terrible years. This tournament is suppose to have the top notch teams in the country and not mediocre teams and I believe that's what makes this tournament special. If they do expand that special feeling that comes with it will be destroyed. This is the one case that fewer is better.

Farokhmanesh For Three!

In the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament a mid major team from the Missouri Valley pulled off two incredible wins with one being the biggest upset in the tourney. Their first round game pinned them up against the Runnin Rebels of UNLV, and by the time the game ended a new star was produced. Ali Farokhmanesh, a Six foot nothing guard with Iranian descent, drilled a three pointer from twenty five out with 4.9 seconds remaining to put Northern Iowa into the second round. Johnny Moran got the game winning assist, and even though he passed up an open shot for himself he realized he made the right decision to pass it to the teams best shooter. The story for Ali does not end here however.

Two days later Northern Iowa was in a David Vs. Goliath scenario when they faced the number one overall seed Kansas Jayhawks. Every single sports analyst were saying Northern Iowa did not stand a chance, but boy were they wrong. UNI lead throughout and went into halftime with a 36-28 lead. Kansas would pull into striking distance but mighty Farokhmanesh would not let the Panthers of Northern Iowa lose. Leading by one against the colossus of the bracket, Ali Farokhmanesh stood at the 3-point line, no one around. The prudent play? Pull it out, burn some clock. Not a chance.
Taking his shot at history, Farokhmanesh let fly from the wing. Swish! The biggest upset in a tournament full of them was done. Northern Iowa had taken down mighty Kansas.

Meaningful Speech

I found an interesting article titled "Learning From the Pros" in Sports Illustrated that mentions what star athletes are talking about on popular social media sites. The author of this article Chris Ballard spent four days reading professional sport stars blogs, facebook pages, and twitter feeds. He thought all he would read was self promotion attempts and mundanity, but he was proven wrong. Olympic Swimmer Ian Crocker had a twitter post that told everyone to start spending money, for the U.S. can get out of this deep recession we are in. Another example is Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas giving his fans a picture of the rigors of NBA training.

COPD Awareness

I stumbled upon an article recently in Biotech Week that talked about how athletes and celebrities are helping to raise money Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder through social media sites. Everyone could follow these celebrities as they traveled to fourteen cities to screen thousands of people for COPD, which is the unknown top cause of death. More than 27,000 people completed the validated five question screening process to see if they are at risk for the disease. This event was started to help promote people to go get screened and never be shy to ask questions to your doctor if something does not feel right. NASCAR driver Danica Patrick had a strong showing with more than 9,000 screeners. This article was titled "Celebrities 'Tweet' to Drive COPD Awareness and Action."

"One World One Dream"

I recently found an interesting article about how the 2008 Olympics in Beijing used social media to help promote the games. They gave over one hundred athlete’s computers and asked them to set up accounts on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger. They wanted to help promote the lesser known sports, like field hockey and the pentathlon. The players posted statements about what the training was all about and the Olympic experience as a whole. According to David Churbuck they wanted to do something that showed their tech prowess, not something that uses the web as a billboard. This article was posted in Adweek and was written by Brian Morissey and titled "Brands Get Social for Olympics."

There is a Time and a Place

I was looking through USA Today this afternoon and found an interesting article about athletes and how they spend their time on Facebook. The article talked about how Facebook has changed how everyone uses the Internet because of what can be posted and who can see those posts. Throughout the article it talks about instances that student’s athletes have got into trouble using social networks like Facebook and twitter. Along with talking about these instances it also talked about how Facebook got its start and how it affects society today. This article is titled "Alarm Sounds Over Athletes' Facebook Time" and is written by Eric Brady.

LINK TO ARTICLE

Athletes Beware

I came across an interesting article today that said schools are requiring their students to sign a "Student-Athlete Conduct Policy Regarding Involvement in Internet-Based Social Networking Communities." The policy states that any online behavior failing to reflect the high standards set by the school could result in harsh punishments, including not renewing existing scholarships. Along with the policy the University of Michigan is requiring students to attend an informational presentation that teaches them how to properly use social networks. This article is from the Michigan Daily and is written by Nate Sandals

LINK TO ARTICLE

Promoting the Draft

I found an exciting article that mentions how the NFL is using social media to help promote the spring draft the NFL holds every April. Usually the NFL just depends on fan creating a buzz about this event to promote but the reason they are taking this route is to promote fan engagement. This allows fans to know exactly what their favorite teams are doing, and where the favorite players and going. The NFL is also helping fans to be more engage through social media by not only the draft but the whole sixteen week season. The title of this article is “Q&A: NFL Online’s Laura Goldberg” and is published is Adweek.

Twitter Gets Drafted

I found this interesting article that explains a new site that was created to help sports fans follow their favorite athlete or team much easier. David Katz first created a website called SportsFanLive.com in 2008 which was an alternative site to use instead of ESPN.com and SI.com. More Recently David Katz has created a site which branches off of Twitter.com and holds all of your favorite athletes and organizations tweets all in one place. This new site is called SportsTweets.com, and Katz stated that this is the modern day chat room. The company’s goal as a social media company is tapping into the fans experience especially because social networks around bigger sports is lacking. The title of this article is “Twitter Gets Drafted: Sports Site Aggregates Feeds From Avid Fan Base” by Mike Shields and is published in MediaWeek.

League Liabilities

I found an interesting article about how social media and mainly Twitter can turn into legal liabilities to sports organization. Almost all sports organization and clubs approve of social media sites and even encourages their athletes to use them. The NFL commissioner himself actually has his own Twitter account and uses it frequently. Organizations encourage the use of social media because it is a great way to get closer to the fans and it effectively promotes player initiative. The article also states that if players do not use the sites wisely it can easily turn ugly for both the athlete and organization. for example athletes can not use derogatory terms in any tweets the he or she posts. The article is titled "When Tweeting Athletes Turn into League Liabilities” and is by Rich Thomaselli and published in Advertising Age in 2009.

Game Time Tweeting

I recently stumbled upon an article that discusses how athletes use twitter during sporting events. Major League Baseball has no official guidelines to the use of twitter, but urges players from using it thirty minutes before the start of a game. These sporting organizations are putting policy against posting tweets during games because they want to protect broadcast right holders from fans who follow twitter from getting to close to play-by-play. Another issue that was brought up was professional players posting tweets about disgruntle fans and calling them names. One example was a player from the Washington Redskins called fans “dimwits” and had to apologize before closing down his twitter account permanently. This article is titled “U.S. Pro Sports League Ban Game-Time Tweeting” and is published in PC Magazine Online.

Facebooking

I found an interesting article that explains the impact of social networks for sports at the collegiate level. Recently the use of social networks, like facebook, myspace, and twitter by NCAA athletes have been under increase scrutiny. The article also talks about how different schools handle this situation, by either monitor these collegiate athletes facebooks closely, or just enforce a full ban on all social network sites, while that student is an athlete at that school. This article not only mentions the negative aspect of social networks, but also some positive aspects. One major positive aspect is that makes it easy to meet people/teammates and know what they are like, before one actually meets somebody.

LINK to Article

The New School Guard: JJ Redick

"Growing up, most kids want to be outside shooting 3s,'' said the 6-4 Redick. "I would have developed differently without it. I would have probably spent more time working on my ball handling skills, trying to be a point guard or something.''

Redick's game has changed, though. He has been able to get his shot off on his own at times and has increased his mid-range game. He has essentially become more versatile.

"If it were taken away, my points-per-game production would go down but I would still be an effective player,'' Redick said. "If the shot were worth only two points, then teams would probably pack it in more. If you have a great shooter, then it can stretch the defense.''
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2186286

Breathing Room is a Must

The best way to defend and slow down a very talented three point shooter is to get in his face and challenge every shot they put up. In order to prevent this teams/coaches set up special plays to get their respected long range shooters an open and clear shot at the hoop.

There are many ways a team can achieve this and a very good play is a simple pick and roll. This occurs when the shooter sets a screen for the ball handler and then rolls off his defender and that creates enough space for he can get an open look. Another method is just simply setting a screen for the shooter, and the video above is a great example of this. A shooter can also create his own shot just by using a crossover dribble (Example in video below) or also using a shot fake to get the defender in the air. Another good plan is ball rotation, in which you the team rotates the ball around three point line until they get an open look, this technique works best against a man to man defense. The last method I will mention is ball penetration in which the ball handler enters the paint and allows the zone to collapse around him, then dishes it out to an open shooter for three. This method works best against a zone defense.

Game Winner not Once but Twice

This is a video of the Maryland Vs Georgia Tech game on February 20Th. The Terps made a half court shot with zero seconds left in the game, but it was called off because Gary Williams, the Head coach of the Terps, called a timeout. They got a second chance and did the near impossible when Cliff Tucker made a game winning three with no time left on the clock.

The CON of the Three

I have been discussing the positive aspects of the Three Point Line in college basketball, but along with the positives there are also many negative aspects to the 3 ball. The biggest negative part is the deterioration of fundamental skills. Young players are mainly focusing on the three point shot and the dunk and are slowly getting away from the basics. The three point line draws young players, because instead of only two points, if made it is worth three. With this extra point far fewer shots are taken 15 feet and the arc. Players often pass up an open two point shots, but take a contested three shot. Bradley, who played at Eastern Nazarene (Mass.) College, said he is glad he didn’t grow up with the 3-pointer.“The negative for me is it has reduced kids’ games,’’ Bradley said. “Many of the players now have an underdeveloped game.’’ The three pointer has been a great rule in college basketball, but that doesn't mean there is still room for improvement.

http://www.independentmail.com/news/2007/mar/18/3-point-shot-changed-game/

Here is a link to the article in which I got some of the information and quotes.

Steve Alford

Steve Alford is the current head basketball coach at New Mexico, and was formally the head coach at Iowa. He has compiled an overall record of 291-169 in 15 seasons as a head coach. He was also a player at Indiana from 1983-1987, and during his senior year the three point line was instituted in college basketball. During this season Alford shot 53 percent from behind the arc, which still stands as the third highest percentage in Indiana basketball history. Alford made 107 out of 202 three pointers leading Indiana to a national title. According to Alford when this new rule was made many players were so "enamored" with it, and they were going crazy about it. The three point was a new part of the game and players found it very odd, and because of this it drew shooters to it because it was so new. Unlike today's players Alford had a very short amount of time to get adjusted to the three point line and said that this was hardest part to overcome. This also made the transition to the NBA more difficult, as Alford shot only 35 percent from three in his first NBA season.

LINK TO ARTICLE

Half Court Prank Shot Gone Astray

Joel Branstrom was just a Girls Basketball coach at a High School in Olathe, Kansas. This all changed when a group of students decided to pull a prank on the popular coach, but it turned out they did not plan for everything. They told the coach that if he made a half court shot while blindfolded he would win tickets to the Final Four in Indianapolis, an event he loves. The students assumed the coach had no chance on making it, and decided to cheer and applaud when he missed the shot and make it seem like he won the tickets. The gym went crazy and into a slight panic when the coach made the impossible shot. Since the students thought there was no way he would make it, they never got the tickets instead they gave him a gift certificate to a certain restaurant. I have heard though some tickets have been donated to Joel Branstrom so he could go to the final four. After the ordeal was over, Joel said he figured it was some sort of prank but was not sure exactly what type. Since this video has hit the web Joel Branstrom has become some sort of a celebrity.
LINK TO ARTICLE


Just to show you how difficult of shot this was. This video is of SportsCenter emplyees trying to make a shot Blindfolded.

A Fast Pace Game

There are some arguments out there saying the introduction of the 3 in college basketball has made the game move at a faster pace. I found an article that gave a couple of great points defending this claim. The article states that it is much easier to find an open three, then it is to work the ball inside and find an open shot. Technically speaking this could shave off about ten seconds per possession and would lead to a considerably higher amounts of possessions for both teams in a 40minute game. Another point that is made is the 3 point shot leads to more fast breaks. The reason why it leads to more fast breaks is because when a 3 is missed the chance of a long rebound is much greater. In case you don't know when a long rebound opportunity appears it is to the advantage of the team to go on the fast break because you will you get a much higher percentage of shot.

http://uponfurtherreview.kansascity.com/?q=node/1822




This video is of Tayshaun Prince from Kentucky University hitting five three pointers in a row to start the game.

The Three Pointer has Changed the Game

The NCAA adapter the Three Pointer in the 1986-1987 season to "open up the game, force teams to play more defense away from the basket and assist in the problem of rough low-post play". The three pointer has become the games great equalizer. There are alot of examples of this in recent college basketball history. In 2005 the West Virginia Mountaineers made 42 3s on there way to the Elite Eight. "We wouldn't have been around very long,'' West Virginia coach John Beilein said. "Can you imagine how low the scores would be without the 3-point shot? Defense has gotten so much better.'' Another great example also happened in the 2005 season when Vermont upset Syracuse in the NCAA tournament. T.J. Sorrentine clinched the game when he drilled a deep three pointer with about a minute left in the overtime thriller. "When the shot ripped through the net, the crowd inside the DCU Center in Worcester rose in unison, the roar reverberating off the ceiling and against the back walls." Would that moment have been as exciting and thrilling if it was only worth two points? Would Sorrentine even taken that shot? Luckily we never have to know the answer to these questions and it is obvious the three has impacted the game, and will continue to impact it down the road.

The information came from an article from ESPN.com by Andy Katz
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2186286



This is the highlight of the deep three pointer by T.J.Sorrentine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Why I love the Three Pointer

Many of you may be asking why I am doing a blog about the impact on the three point line in college basketball. Well overall sports are a big influence on my life, as I participate and or am a spectator to sporting events on a daily basis. I started playing basketball at the age of 13, and I was so glad I started because it was the time of my life. I am a fairly short person, so I naturally fell in love with the three point line and focused my time on developing that skill. Since my favorite part of basketball is the three pointer, most of my favorite college players are known sharpshooters. Kyle Korver, Booker Woodfox, Gerry McNamara, T. J. Sorrentine, and Stephen Curry are just a few. I believe the three point line in basketball makes the game even more exciting, and it’s because of the three point line why I love to play and watch basketball.

Draining it from Downtown

Hello everyone! I am Nate Retzlaff and a sophomore from Northwest Missouri State University. I am starting this blog for my English Comp 112 class and I have absolutely no experience with blogs, so it might take me some time to get use to the setup. I am very excited about this blog, because it is so new to me and will be very interesting to maintain a blog.

In this blog I will be talking about the impact of the three point line in college basketball. I will discuss how dramatically the game has change, some of the biggest three pointers ever made, and also the best long distance shooters that have ever stepped on the court. This is a very interesting topic and I hope it is enjoyed by many!