3P Shooting for Next Year

[Hey Adrien!]

UConn's 3p shooting in 20-21:

148-440, 33.6 3p% (175th in nation).

UConn's 3p shooting in 20-21 without Bouknight and Adams:

115-321, 35.8 3p% (would have been 72nd in the nation).

To put this in perspective:

Baylor, the best team, hit 41.3 3p% of 3PA.
The 5th best team, Cal Baptist, hit 39.5% of 3PA
The 20th best team, Oral Roberts, hit 37.7% of 3PA.
The 50th best team, Murray State, hit 36.6 3p%.

IF, Polley returns, our three-point shooting might not be as bad as some might think.

 

[aburks41]

Would really love to see them bump that up to 37.5% or better. Having 3-4 guys who are 37% or better would be awesome and open up the offense so much.

Cole, Gaff, Hawkins, and...Akok?

Whaley shooting 34-35% would be sweet too.

 

[imno1]

A problem of our offense has been the type of 3s we take. Many were forced, out of rhythm and rushed.

 

[navery12]

Cole, Gaffney, Hawkins I'm not worried about, though I think we need to add 2 more shooters on the wing. Whaley and Akok are going to be getting 90% of the minutes at the 4 next year, they need to shoot the ball and force the defense to respect them, hopefully they can get to around 33% each

 

[bendm]

Cole, Gaffney, Hawkins I'm not worried about, though I think we need to add 2 more shooters on the wing. Whaley and Akok are going to be getting 90% of the minutes at the 4 next year, they need to shoot the ball and force the defense to respect them, hopefully they can get to around 33% each

yeah whaley and akok should be getting ~90% of the minutes at the 4 and sanogo and whaley should be getting ~90% of the minutes at the 5.

PF- whaley (15); akok (20); samson (5)
C- sanogo (25); whaley (10); springs (5)

but that means a timeshare at the 3 of aj/martin and hopefully polley. only 1 of the 3 can shoot so we really need whaley/akok to help stretch the floor.

 

[ConnEd]

Bouk took some 3's at the end of shot clocks that were necessary but not the best looks. Hopefully, there will be less of that in the offense, but some of it will still happen when Cole, Martin, and whoever else has the ball as the shot clock runs down has to get off a shot. Those lower percentage 3's that Bouk took will be distributed across the returning guys and offset some of their improvements.

 

[jibsey]

Hurley on the lookout for these shooters because our roster doesn't have them except Polley.

 

[ToolzieFan]

It’s nice to realize our shooting might not be as bad as people (including me) think. At the same time, we really didn’t shoot many threes. 33.4% of our field goal attempts were threes, which was 270th in the nation. As a result, 28.2% of our points came via the three, 245th in the country. At that low of a volume, you’d like to see a higher percentage made. If we shoot more threes and still hit 36-37% of them, that’d be great. I hope Gaffney and Akok improve their shooting, and I hope Hawkins is the real deal (I think he is).

 

[husky429]

yeah whaley and akok should be getting ~90% of the minutes at the 4 and sanogo and whaley should be getting ~90% of the minutes at the 5.

PF- whaley (15); akok (20); samson (5)
C- sanogo (25); whaley (10); springs (5)

but that means a timeshare at the 3 of aj/martin and hopefully polley. only 1 of the 3 can shoot so we really need whaley/akok to help stretch the floor.

I like the minutes allocation you have here. My guess is it's either Springs or Johnson splitting the time between the 4/5.. not both. But that's nitpicking

 

[AntG168]

I like the minutes allocation you have here. My guess is it's either Springs or Johnson splitting the time between the 4/5.. not both. But that's nitpicking

So rese is strictly a 3 next season?

 

[pierogiscri]

UConn's 3p shooting in 20-21:

148-440, 33.6 3p% (175th in nation).

UConn's 3p shooting in 20-21 without Bouknight and Adams:

115-321, 35.8 3p% (would have been 72nd in the nation).

To put this in perspective:

Baylor, the best team, hit 41.3 3p% of 3PA.
The 5th best team, Cal Baptist, hit 39.5% of 3PA
The 20th best team, Oral Roberts, hit 37.7% of 3PA.
The 50th best team, Murray State, hit 36.6 3p%.

IF, Polley returns, our three-point shooting might not be as bad as some might think.

Polley shot 35% from 3 this year which isn't bad. However, if your role is to only shoot 3's, it's gotta be better than that. If he returns, hopefully he can return to form and shoot 40% again.

 

[husky429]

So rese is strictly a 3 next season?

If we don't pick up another shooter I think so. If we get someone who can hit the 3 at a decent clip that will change. Also if Akok isn't back to his usual self.

 

[Ratso]

cole can and will hit 3s
he knows how to play with the big dogs by now

 

[superjohn]

So rese is strictly a 3 next season?

I think so, he's a junkyard dog offensive rebounder, rim runner. He should be working like crazy on finishing at the tin, , and ft's this offseason. The 2 will be manned by Gaff, Hawkins, and whoever else Hurley brings in.

 

[navery12]

Hard to see us running out any more than a 10 man rotation and even that probably gets shortened as the season goes on. Not gonna try and assign minutes until the roster is closer to set but something like this.

PG: Cole/Diggins
SG: Gaffney/Hawkins
SF: Martin/Jackson
PF: Whaley/Akok
C: Sanogo/Johnson or Springs

I think that's a solid team but a 2/3 who can shoot really just solves so many issues for this team. Even if it's only 5-10 minutes a game getting lineups with Martin at the 4 opens up so many more possibilities in terms of lineups that will actually work on the offensive end for a full 40 minutes

 

[UconnU]

Hard to see us running out any more than a 10 man rotation and even that probably gets shortened as the season goes on. Not gonna try and assign minutes until the roster is closer to set but something like this.

PG: Cole/Diggins
SG: Gaffney/Hawkins
SF: Martin/Jackson
PF: Whaley/Akok
C: Sanogo/Johnson or Springs

I think that's a solid team but a 2/3 who can shoot really just solves so many issues for this team. Even if it's only 5-10 minutes a game getting lineups with Martin at the 4 opens up so many more possibilities in terms of lineups that will actually work on the offensive end for a full 40 minutes

A couple of those players need to be cut from the rotation and we need to make room for 2 players who can consistently make 3s. If you look at the best teams in the country the past few years they all had multiple 40% 3pt shooters. All of them. The floor spacing doesn’t work anymore with the length and versatility of today’s players unless you can draw 4 away from the center of the court. Bouknight was the extremely rare exception who could score in the paint without space. The only other way to score is to have a bunch of tough, durable kids with handle who can consistently get into the paint and get fouled.

 

[navery12]

A couple of those players need to be cut from the rotation and we need to make room for 2 players who can consistently make 3s. If you look at the best teams in the country the past few years they all had multiple 40% 3pt shooters. All of them. The floor spacing doesn’t work anymore with the length and versatility of today’s players unless you can draw 4 away from the center of the court. Bouknight was the extremely rare exception who could score in the paint without space. The only other way to score is to have a bunch of tough kids with handle who can consistently get into the paint and get fouled.

I'm completely with you on that, I've just gotten tired of arguing with people here about how many shooters we need and the spacing of players we have so I've stopped with my "radical" lineup ideas that are really just basketball in 2021

 

[rip7774]

A couple of those players need to be cut from the rotation and we need to make room for 2 players who can consistently make 3s. If you look at the best teams in the country the past few years they all had multiple 40% 3pt shooters. All of them. The floor spacing doesn’t work anymore with the length and versatility of today’s players unless you can draw 4 away from the center of the court. Bouknight was the extremely rare exception who could score in the paint without space. The only other way to score is to have a bunch of tough, durable kids with handle who can consistently get into the paint and get fouled.

Great post. So true. Villanova end Creighton looked like they could beat us 9 or 10/10 with everyone able to put it on the floor.

 

[ZenConn]

Hard to see us running out any more than a 10 man rotation and even that probably gets shortened as the season goes on. Not gonna try and assign minutes until the roster is closer to set but something like this.

PG: Cole/Diggins
SG: Gaffney/Hawkins
SF: Martin/Jackson
PF: Whaley/Akok
C: Sanogo/Johnson or Springs

I think that's a solid team but a 2/3 who can shoot really just solves so many issues for this team. Even if it's only 5-10 minutes a game getting lineups with Martin at the 4 opens up so many more possibilities in terms of lineups that will actually work on the offensive end for a full 40 minutes

Here is the glaring problem:

SF: Martin/Jackson

Martin shot 32% - Shot 1-17 from the 'Nova game to the end of the season. 3-22 since the Providence game.
And then there's Jackson. He shot 2-17 the entire year. Can't win many games with your SF shooting 3's like this. I can see Hawk/Akok seeing time at the 3.

Sanogo isn't a C. He's a 4 with limited range. He's 6 ft 9. There's guys on a lot of teams with his height banging 3s with consistency.

This where is Clingan comes in as a true 5 in the year after next which will put Sanogo in a position where he can do his most damage.

 

[bendm]

see Hawk/Akok seeing time at the 3.

Sanogo isn't a C. He's a 4 with limited range.

FIFY. putting akok at the 3 and sanogo at the 4 makes matters even worse

sanogo is 100% a C he has great size at 6'9 245. i dont think akok has played 1 min at SF in college and he's more likely to play the 5 than the 3 going forward

 

[navery12]

Here is the glaring problem:

SF: Martin/Jackson

Martin shot 32% - Shot 1-17 from the 'Nova game to the end of the season. 3-22 since the Providence game.
And then there's Jackson. He shot 2-17 the entire year. Can't win many games with your SF shooting 3's like this. I can see Hawk/Akok seeing time at the 3.

Sanogo isn't a C. He's a 4 with limited range. He's 6 ft 9. There's guys on a lot of teams with his height banging 3s with consistency.

This where is Clingan comes in as a true 5 in the year after next which will put Sanogo in a position where he can do his most damage.

I don't even know where to start with this. Martin and Jackson are definitely bad shooters for a 3 and then you went completely off the rails. Akok at the 3 and Sanogo at the 4? Don't you see how that might make your glaring problem even bigger?

Did you watch Sanogo dominate the other big men in the Big East all season?

 

[husky429]

Here is the glaring problem:

SF: Martin/Jackson

Martin shot 32% - Shot 1-17 from the 'Nova game to the end of the season. 3-22 since the Providence game.
And then there's Jackson. He shot 2-17 the entire year. Can't win many games with your SF shooting 3's like this. I can see Hawk/Akok seeing time at the 3.

Sanogo isn't a C. He's a 4 with limited range. He's 6 ft 9. There's guys on a lot of teams with his height banging 3s with consistency.

This where is Clingan comes in as a true 5 in the year after next which will put Sanogo in a position where he can do his most damage.

You had me with Martin/Jackson need to shoot better.

Thinking Sanogo isn't a 5 is laughably stupid.

 

[UconnU]

Here is the glaring problem:

SF: Martin/Jackson

Martin shot 32% - Shot 1-17 from the 'Nova game to the end of the season. 3-22 since the Providence game.
And then there's Jackson. He shot 2-17 the entire year. Can't win many games with your SF shooting 3's like this. I can see Hawk/Akok seeing time at the 3.

Sanogo isn't a C. He's a 4 with limited range. He's 6 ft 9. There's guys on a lot of teams with his height banging 3s with consistency.

This where is Clingan comes in as a true 5 in the year after next which will put Sanogo in a position where he can do his most damage.

Sanogo is absolutely a center. Teams are playing like 6’6 spot up shooters at the 4 now

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Sanogo isn't a C?

Whaaaaa?

 

[T-Squared]

Just one man’s opinion, but folks here that tout Polley’s 3-point ability are looking through rose-colored glasses. Let me tell you something - he’s not very good. He doesn’t shoot enough 3’s to be effective. He doesn’t shoot unless he’s WIDE open, which makes it easy to close him out. And he doesn’t hit enough shots when he does take them.

The Huskies need better 3-point shooters - on this we all agree. UConn also needs better ball movement and spacing to get better looks for those shooters. The roster, as it currently stands, does not have an outside shooting threat that concerns any opponent. I’m hopeful that this changes for 2021-22.