surprising 3 point stuff

[bags27]

For those of us having angst about the lack of making and defending 3s, I realize that this doesn't close the discussion, but it is helpful.

From Jim Fuller:
http://elmcitytoeaglevillenhr.blogspot.com/2016/02/samuelson-thrilled-to-connect-with.html

1. Samuelson... now has 47 3-pointers this season and with three in Wednesday's game against SMU, she will join Taurasi, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Bria Hartley, Maya Moore, Jen Rizzotti, Ann Strother and teammate Kia Nurse as the only UConn freshmen with 50 3-pointers as a freshman.

2. I did some checking and there are three Division I women's players shooting at least 55 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 80 percent from the foul line. One of those players is Maryland junior Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, who is shooting 55.6 percent overall, a stunning 56.7 percent on 3-pointers and 80.2 percent from the free-throw line. The other two players in that category are UConn seniors Moriah Jefferson (58.5 percent on field goals, 41.9 percent on 3-pointers and 88.6 on foul shots) and Breanna Stewart (.589/.417/.817).

 

[MilfordHusky]

Well, Lou was 5-10 from distance tonight. She now has 52 treys. With up to 11 games to go, I'd love to see her get into the 80s.

As a reminder, the great Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had a mid-season slump as a freshman and finished at 93-242 (.384). She shot .492, .413 (despite injury and illness), and .488 her next 3 seasons. I think Lou can shoot .450+ the rest of her career. Her sis Karlie is at .452 (57-126) this season.

Lou is now at 52-145 (.359). I'd love to see her get to 80 treys and .380 this season. I think that is realistic.

 

[bags27]

Thanks so much for that good insight. Comparing KLS to KML is inevitable: same high school, same high school distinction, both sharp shooters. Otherwise, they bring very different skills to the court, many of which--for both players--don't show up in the box score. While 3s are an important index of both spreading the floor and the potential for quick separation on the score board, it's of course just one measure of these two highly talented players.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I never thought we'd see anyone better at making 3s than KML, and then Walker-Kimbrough happened. Nearly 57%? That is just sick.

 

[vtcwbuff]

From Fuller's article - "Thanks to the Twitter account of her high school team, the photo of UConn freshman Katie Lou Samuelson having a conversation with another sweet-shooting California native has made quite the splash on social media."

Freshman Samuelson rubbing elbows and getting advice from a legend. And now it's a splash on social media. That sort of thing probably doesn't hurt recruiting.

 

[UcMiami]

I never thought we'd see anyone better at making 3s than KML, and then Walker-Kimbrough happened. Nearly 57%? That is just sick.

KML's record was for most three pointers made and she only ranks second in career percentage at Uconn and third (and fourth) in single season percentage. In terms of the NCAA records - she doesn't even register in the top 20 single seasons which are all above 50% and she is #13 on career percentage.
Walker K is challenging the NCAA record which is 57.5 and like all the top 20 percentage shooters she will not break the 100 mark for made 3s in a season. She is having a remarkable season.

 

[MilfordHusky]

KML's record was for most three pointers made and she only ranks second in career percentage at Uconn and third (and fourth) in single season percentage. In terms of the NCAA records - she doesn't even register in the top 20 single seasons which are all above 50% and she is #13 on career percentage.
Walker K is challenging the NCAA record which is 57.5 and like all the top 20 percentage shooters she will not break the 100 mark for made 3s in a season. She is having a remarkable season.

Heather Donlan of Fordam holds the 57.5% record, from way back in 1990 on 50-87 shooting. Alicia Ratay of ND is 3rd at 54.7% in the 2001 ND championship season. Shatori is at 56.7% on 59-104 shooting. Obviously, at that level, Shatori can ill afford even a mini-slump, but I think 50.0% for the season is very attainable. Kaleena flirted with that twice, but didn't quite make it.

Alicia Ratay holds the career record for 3-point sharpshooting, 47.6%. Trisha Liston is 8th, Sue Bird is 9th, Kaleena is 13th, and Wendy Davis is 22nd. Of the top 25, Kaleena is the only one with more than 317 made shots--she has 398--and one of only three over 300. When combining accuracy and volume, Kaleena stands alone.

 

[UcMiami]

Milford - good points and added context. The interesting thing is she was only the second most accurate three point shooter her last two year on her own team having been edged out by Moriah each year! Though she took and made a lot more threes than Moriah each year. It gets into the fact that everything tends towards average the more times it is repeated - great three point shooters are capable of hitting around 50% in competition over extended repetitions, so the more threes you shoot the harder it is to keep above that 50% and when you extend it over multiple years it becomes even harder still. Being on fire for a month or two month and hitting 60+% has less effect when the sample size is 5 months for a year or 20 months for a career.
The same is true for teams - ND in December was shooting around 46% from three as a team which is astounding since the number for a great shooting three point team is about 40% and as the season has continued the ND torrid streak has waned and they are back to around 40% for the year - still great but not record territory.

 

[MilfordHusky]

SWK shot 5-6 from the arc tonight and it at .582 on the season. Yikes! People bad-mouth the Terps because of their schedule, but she and Jones can play.

 

[Gate81]

SWK shot 5-6 from the arc tonight and it at .582 on the season. Yikes! People bad-mouth the Terps because of their schedule, but she and Jones can play.

SWK is one of the most underrated players. She should definitely be in all conversations for AA...and no, I'm not a big Maryland fan. She's just extremely effective.