3 point FG accuracy from year to year

[nwhoopfan]

For individuals, not teams. I've been thinking about this a bit lately. It seems a bit random. You get players who aren't very good at the start of their careers and improve. But you can get the opposite, players who seem to get worse over time. And then the ones who are all over the place year to year. Anyone can get stuck in a shooting slump, even a prolonged one, but over 30-35 games you would think it would average out fairly much. It just seems weird to me how good shooters can have a whole season where they don't shoot very well. Anyone have any thoughts about this? I'll throw a few names out to illustrate.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Brynna Maxwell was excellent as a Fr. at Utah at 47%. Then she dipped to 33% and 38% the next 2 seasons. This year she transferred to Gonzaga and was back up to 48%. How do you explain that kind of wide fluctuation?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Haley Jones has been much discussed. She hit 27% as a Fr. and then 33% as a soph, which while not great is actually decent. Never a high volume shooter behind the arc, but then she dipped to 24% as a Jr. and plummeted to 9% as a Sr. That's...inexplicable to me.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Jones' teammate Hannah Jump has been pretty much a model of consistency--41%, 43%, 40% and 44% over her 4 years.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Caitlin Clark has gone 40%, 33%, 38%, so a bit of fluctuation.

 

[nwhoopfan]

How about the career leader in made 3s? Taylor Robertson has 5 seasons hitting 40%+. Peaked as a Fr. in accuracy, although not a large variation--47%, 43%, 43%, 44%, 44% (I'm rounding off, the numbers aren't quite exactly the same all those seasons).

 

[The deacon]

Interesting stuff, nwhoopfan. Maxwell might simply have been a case of not being happy at Utah? I have no clue.

Haley? A sad mystery for Stanford folks.

Closer to home, Azzi shot 43 percent last year and is at 35 percent this year, for what should be obvious reasons. 9 of 38 during the Big East and NCAA tournaments is off the charters shaky for such a great talent.

Here's hoping she has it up closer to 40 percent by tournament's end.

Thanks for starting this thread. I suspect it'll get a lot of play.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I didn't put up numbers for Fudd or Bueckers because both have missed so much time due to injuries, limits their sample size.

 

[DaBball]

Taylor Mikesell shot 33.3% from three at Oregon. Over 40% from three her other four seasons (including 47.5% last season).

 

[Bone Dog]

I think some teams run better action to get perimeter shooter open, and this can vary year to year. It may not be just about the individual player.

 

[TheFarmFan]

I think some teams run better action to get perimeter shooter open, and this can vary year to year. It may not be just about the individual player.

This is 100% true at Stanford. We've had fewer and fewer three point threats from outside each of the last three seasons since Kiana Williams graduated after our championship season. Jones isn't a great three point shooter because her shot is so flat, but it's a lot easier to get open from outside and shake your defender when you have two guards (Williams and Lexie Hull) on either side of you who you can either shoot the trey or take it to the basket, and so your defender has to be ready to play helpside defense in either direction.

This season, when Jones was at the top of the key, Jump was the only meaningful threat, and she's almost exclusively a catch and shoot player, so no need for helpside defense to come to the rescue if Jones passed to her. We actually had decent three point shooters this season, but just not the kind that can shake defenders while on-ball. Guarding catch-and-shoot players is much easier, so our outside players had to either shake a defender prior to the pass, or else wait to be egregiously sagged off by their defender. Makes for a relatively high 3pt shooting percentage but does little to open up lanes to get inside.