Like it or not, 3-point shot key to a title
SAN ANTONIO » It used to be considered a gimmick, an experiment and even worse — a shot employed only by risk-taking coaches with teams that were big on dreams, short on talent and unafraid of the low-percentage play.
More than 30 years later, and with plenty of help from Billy Donovan, Steph Curry and Steve Nash, to name a few, the Villanova Wildcats have officially made shooting the 3 a bona fide way to win a championship.
Villanova is making 3s at record-setting levels this season, and with a win over Michigan in Monday’s title game, might lay waste to the last vestiges of the once-sacrosanct notion that nobody could win big by lofting up the long shot without maintaining an inside game.
“When the line came out, I think a lot of coaches were opposed to it,” Donovan said. “They thought it would really hurt the game.” Not by a long shot. In their win over Kansas on Saturday, the Wildcats tied the Final Four record for 3-pointers in a game — by halftime — then shattered it in the second half.
They took only four shots from inside the arc over the first 20 minutes.
Their 18 3s against the Jayhawks gave them 454 for the season, breaking an 11-year-old college record and setting themselves up as potentially the most 3-point reliant champion since the line was first drawn in 1986-87.
“Over the last two years, I’ve noticed a dramatic change,” said Brian Katz, the Sacramento State coach who, like so many in his low-major world, tries to play like the big boys even though he doesn’t draw Villanova-style talent. “When you go into a game, teams all say ‘Take away the 3 and make them take tough 2s.’ You don’t worry a whole lot when guys are making tough 2s. But when they’re making 3s, you’re worried about that.”
Only one previous champion made more than 400 3s in a season: The 2001 Duke squad led by Shane Battier and Jay Williams. Since then, no champion has come within 100 of what Villanova has made this season. The only team close: Jay Wright’s 2015-16 squad, which made 347, capped off by Kris Jenkins’ game-winner at the buzzer in the title game.
In some ways, the reliance on 3s is a pure math equation. Whether a team shoots 50 percent on 60 shots from 2, or 33 percent on 60 shots from 3, it results in 60 points either way. If that team shoots 40 percent from 3 — or 45 percent, as was the case Saturday night — it runs away most nights.
With a lineup full of tall, athletic players who can create their shots and drain them, Villanova is recalculating the risk-reward equation of the 3. The Wildcats have won their five tournament games by an average of 17.8 points.