Best 3 Point Shooters

[jibsey]

Who wins the "hand in your face, under pressure, onions 3's ?" I think Bazz.

 

[Inyatkin]

Ray is #1, and I don't understand how this is a question. Rashad took some big threes, but his success rate is a lot lower than Ray's. I'd have Ray, Gordon, and maybe Chris Smith over Rashad. How has no one said Chris Smith yet?

Wes was the man, but he's not on the list because there was no such thing as a three-pointer then. It's a cute argument to have, but ultimately, there's no real merit to it.

You really do enjoy your role as fun police, don't you

 

[CallMeBruce]

You really do enjoy your role as fun police, don't you

It's a conversation on who UConn's best three-point shooters were. We can say Wes was the best shooter ever at UConn, or we can say he would have been the best three-point shooter ever at UConn, but you can't call him the best three-point shooter when he never took a three-point shot.

 

[Excalibur]

I can only go on players that I actually saw.

Ray Allen has to be first, just based on the unreal percentage that he shot and the number of attempts. After that, I think the list looks like this:

2) Ben Gordon (he had the occasional cold shooting night but was as reliable a shooter as we have ever had outside of Ray)
3) Rashad Anderson (loses to Gordon only because of his tendency to be streaky, but when he got hot he could be unstoppable)
4) Shabazz Napier (shot 40% over his last two seasons when he was the 1st and second scoring option)
5) Neils Giffey (one outstanding season gets him in the top five despite a fairly low number of attempts)

Honorable mention:

Doron Sheffer -- shot 40% for 2 of 3 seasons.
Albert Mouring -- 2000 season was statistically superior to Giffey in 2014. Almost the same %, 60 more attempts.
Chris Smith -- regarded as a streaky shooter, but was right around 40% all four seasons.
Brian Fair -- improved greatly during his 4 years. Volume was surprisingly low when I looked back.
Phil Gamble -- Our first high-volume 3 point shooter. Very streaky.

 

[Waquoit]

Taliek wins 'big shot' long distance award. Sorry guys but love me some Taliek.

And Taliek must hold the record in year-to-year 3-PT shooting improvement. He was 3x more successful shooting 3's in his senior year than his junior year. It was a big reason UConn won the whole thing.

 

[CallMeBruce]

And Taliek must hold the record in year-to-year 3-PT shooting improvement. He was 3x more successful shooting 3's in his senior year than his junior year. It was a big reason UConn won the whole thing.

This took me a second.

 

[champs99and04]

I'm sorry but no way Niels is a better 3 point shooter then Gordon, Doron, Shabazz, or Lamb.

I agree with the first three, but what did Lamb do to be included in a discussion of the best 3 point shooters to play at UConn? He was a 35% three point shooter for his career (compared to 42% for Giffey). Even during Lamb's freshman year, when he shot mainly wide open threes, he was only at 37%. He was always far more efficient from mid-range.

In my mind, it's Ray, Ben, and then the rest.

 

[auror]

NG was the most efficient shooter in the country his senior year. (and before that auror stats geek pops up, he was up there).

3rd in TS%, 4th in EFG%. Out of probably roughly 1,000, we can round that to #1.

 

[David 76]

not top 5 but John Gwynne was quite a shooter.

 

[Strummer]

Ray is #1, and I don't understand how this is a question.

Step back boys - I got this one.

The reason that Rashad Anderson is considered for the top is because, in addition to a very nice career hitting 3s, most of which were contested because he was virtually a one trick pony, he hit shots that ultimately led to a title - that ultimately were required for a title - that ultimately led us to the promised land a second time, pushing us out in front of the Arizona/Syracuse pack of wannabes. All respect to Ray, but you can keep all of the 3s he made for UConn IF I can keep all the 3s that Rashad made, and specifically the one he hit after an outlet from TBrown with 2 minutes and change left against Duke that started the amazing run that brought us back from down 8.

This is Dan Marino/Tom Brady. If you only look at career numbers, other than post season wins, you'd easily conclude Marino was a better QB. And you'd be very, very wrong.

 

[champs99and04]

Step back boys - I got this one.

The reason that Rashad Anderson is considered for the top is because, in addition to a very nice career hitting 3s, most of which were contested because he was virtually a one trick pony, he hit shots that ultimately led to a title - that ultimately were required for a title - that ultimately led us to the promised land a second time, pushing us out in front of the Arizona/Syracuse pack of wannabes. All respect to Ray, but you can keep all of the 3s he made for UConn IF I can keep all the 3s that Rashad made, and specifically the one he hit after an outlet from TBrown with 2 minutes and change left against Duke that started the amazing run that brought us back from down 8.

This is Dan Marino/Tom Brady. If you only look at career numbers, other than post season wins, you'd easily conclude Marino was a better QB. And you'd be very, very wrong.

Ray Allen never played on a team with five lottery picks, nor did he ever play alongside a NPOY, or a slightly lesser version of himself, who also happened to be the #3 pick in the draft. Because, if we're comparing the two based on team accomplishments, I'm not sure I have to explain how flawed that premise is. Swap Ray for Rashad on that '04 team, and, even ignoring their ability as total players and simply focusing on their capabilities as shooters, do you think we are worse off? Do you really think we're worse off with Ray drawing the open looks off Emeka post-ups, or Ray coming open off a double screen? We're talking about one of the best shooters ever. If the argument is that Ray somehow wasn't clutch, or was less clutch than Rashad, then we're completely ignoring Ray's body of work and focusing on one game against Mississippi State (a game in which Ray was sub-par, but certainly not the main reason for us losing). And if we do want to play that game, we can point to Rashad's 1 of 5 against N.C. State, or his 2 of 8 against GMU. But that wouldn't be fair to Rashad, because such a small sample of shots doesn't define a career.

By your logic, let's put Giffey ahead of Ray, too. He hit shots that directly led to us winning a championship. Hell, Giffey won us two championships. I mean, c'mon. Dan Marino and Tom Brady? Were it even at all sensible to compare two basketball players with drastically different roles to HOF quarterbacks, that wouldn't be the apt comparison. Ray would be Marino, and Rashad would be Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger.

 

[aceboon]

Step back boys - I got this one.

The reason that Rashad Anderson is considered for the top is because, in addition to a very nice career hitting 3s, most of which were contested because he was virtually a one trick pony, he hit shots that ultimately led to a title - that ultimately were required for a title - that ultimately led us to the promised land a second time, pushing us out in front of the Arizona/Syracuse pack of wannabes. All respect to Ray, but you can keep all of the 3s he made for UConn IF I can keep all the 3s that Rashad made, and specifically the one he hit after an outlet from TBrown with 2 minutes and change left against Duke that started the amazing run that brought us back from down 8.

This is Dan Marino/Tom Brady. If you only look at career numbers, other than post season wins, you'd easily conclude Marino was a better QB. And you'd be very, very wrong.

the enlarged isn't close to being true. Rashad hit alot of tough, dagger 3s in his career, but he got plenty of wide open looks off of dbl teams in the post seeing that he played with true low post scorers, screen action, and the table being setup for him with two of the more creative passers in program history in Taliek and MWill. Ray had way more attention paid to him on the on offensive end by opposing defenses(stating the obvious) and had to take and make more contested 3s, BG as well.

 

[jleves]

And Taliek must hold the record in year-to-year 3-PT shooting improvement. He was 3x more successful shooting 3's in his senior year than his junior year. It was a big reason UConn won the whole thing.

I had to look this up and now your post is freaking hilarious. Taliek was 1-17 as a junior and 1-5 as a senior so he was a little better than 3x more successful. However, I don't know that his improvement in shooting the three was in any way a reason we won the whole thing.

Amazing to think our starting point guard only made one three the entire season and we had a dominant team. He only took 5 all year? wow! At least he knew his limitations.

*note* I'm not calling your post wrong - I'm appreciating the humor.

 

[stick]

ok lets stop the insanity here.

Any list that does not start with Ray Allen is invalid.

1. Ray Allen - Greatest 3pt shooter in the history of basketball, shot 46% at VOLUME at UConn.
2. Rashad Anderson - Onions(Duke, Alabama,Washington, nuff said)
3. Shabazz - His efficiency is good(~40% his final year), but it is the degree of difficulty/significance of his shots that carries him. Never took an open three, all were contested and/or off the dribble. Amazing he shot ~ 40% with all the tough daggers he took in hero-ball situations.
4. BG - Same as shabazz but down a level. He is the player that I had the most confidence in shooting. As in, when he took an open three, it was IN. Every time.
5. Albert Mouring - Sweetest stroke this side of Ray. Was just textbook, with the efficiency to match. Forgotten a bit because the majority of his career was in that in-between the 98-99 core and the 03-04 core.

Pretty much agree with this list except I think I would put BG #2 and move every one down a slot.

 

[stick]

Almost feel like Napier's was bigger to put us up 4, but that's open to debate. Ky immediately cut it to 2 and Giff hit the next one to make it 5.

Isolating specific threes on title runs - Rip vs Duke, Rashad vs Duke, Lamb vs SDSU would be the other biggies. Boat had a big one against St Joe's too (maybe cutting it from 6 to 3 with four minutes left), but early in the tourney.

A case could be made that DD breaking the ice down 16-4 was a huge one. Felt like we were on the ropes and sinking fast.

Those are some great examples. That DD 3 down 16-4 was huge as it felt like Florida was just gonna run away with the game at that point.

 

[Inyatkin]

Those are some great examples. That DD 3 down 16-4 was huge as it felt like Florida was just gonna run away with the game at that point.

You mean right about the time Seth Davis tweeted that Florida was playing "grown-man ball"? Making Seth Davis look dumb is always fun.

 

[Fishy]

1) Ray Allen
2) Brian Fair
3) Ben Gordon

After that, you just have a jumble - Sheffer, Rashad, Shabazz, etc.

Two underrated shooters - AJ Price and Albert Mouring.

 

[stick]

1) Ray Allen
2) Brian Fair
3) Ben Gordon

After that, you just have a jumble - Sheffer, Rashad, Shabazz, etc.

Two underrated shooters - AJ Price and Albert Mouring.

For some reason I don't rate Fair that highly and I always compared him to Mouring and thought Mouring was much better. And no way was Fair better than Rashad.

 

[Excalibur]

1) Ray Allen
2) Brian Fair
3) Ben Gordon

After that, you just have a jumble - Sheffer, Rashad, Shabazz, etc.

Two underrated shooters - AJ Price and Albert Mouring.

Fair is probably #6. I had him in my top 5 but then looked at the stats and they didn't support my memory of him. He was great in 94-95, but statistically it didn't match Gifffey's season this year (within 10 attempts, shooting % nearly 40% lower). Prior to that, he was good (sub 40% for his first two seasons, right at 40 his junior year but only 80 attempts or so), but not as good as the others on the list.

 

[Excalibur]

not top 5 but John Gwynne was quite a shooter.

The epitome of the streaky shooter. Barely shot 33% for his career but had stretches where he was unconscious.

He almost never shot directly off of the catch. He always had to take a dribble to set himself.

 

[60'sfan]

Giffey may have been better when wide open but definitely not with any pressure. I love Rashad but Wes B. would be #1 on my list and Leotis Wilson would be on the list somewhere.

Leotis Wilson, wow! I may be the only other person who remembers him. Leotis was a designated shooter in his day. He never started by was brought in the game when Uconn trailed. He never saw a shot he didn't like but I don't recall him warranting a place on any list with Wes B.

 

[Tampahusky]

A lot of you guys need to take a chill pill BC there is no right or wrong answer....that being said Rashad #1 he had the most range out of anyone.

 

[Huskies4ever]

A lot of you guys need to take a chill pill BC there is no right or wrong answer....that being said Rashad #1 he had the most range out of anyone.

Wrong............

 

[boog204]

And Taliek must hold the record in year-to-year 3-PT shooting improvement. He was 3x more successful shooting 3's in his senior year than his junior year. It was a big reason UConn won the whole thing.

Not sure if you were being funny, but he was 1 for 17 as a junior and 1 for 5 as a senior. So percentage wise, yes, he was more 3x more successful.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Sheffer and Fairs numbers are both excellent. I disagree with the Giffey criticism. Teams rarely doubled with Giffey's defender.

Rashad, on the other hand, was very dependent on his teammates getting him open. His 3 point % went way down after okafor left despite still having Williams, Villanueva and Boone on the court with him in 2005.