Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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70 PRESEASON 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED MEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI F or the second time since the o r i g i n a l i n c e p t i o n o f t h e three-point line in men's col- lege basketball in the 1986-87 season, the arc will be moved back, starting with the 2019-20 Division I campaign. • From 1986-2008, the three-point line was 19 feet and 9 inches. • Beginning in 2008-09, the NCAA moved it back a full foot to 20 feet, 9 inches. That season, there was a slight decline in three-point conver- sion rate from 35.2 to 34.4 percent. • It went back up to 35.2 percent again by the start of the 2017-18 sea- son — so this time the Men's Basket- ball Rules Committee has moved the arc back to the international basket- ball distance of 22 feet and 1¾ inches, nearly 20 inches longer than what it had been the past 10 years. In 19 seasons as Notre Dame's head coach, Mike Brey's teams have made efficient use of the three-point line overall. The past season's 14-19 campaign was an exception with a 31.5-percent mark from beyond the arc. The previous six seasons Notre Dame shot an exceptional 37.2 per- cent aggregate from three-point range. Anything beyond the 36.0 level is considered potent. The Elite Eight team in 2014-15 converted a remarkable 50.9 percent from the field overall and 39.0 per- cent from three-point range, while the Elite Eight unit the following sea- son was still a robust 47.6 overall and 37.4 beyond the arc. The track record of players under Brey making gradual to significant improvement from their freshmen to senior years is promising, which is why he had no objection to the NCAA moving back the three-point arc (it will not apply to the women's game). Despite last season's woeful cam- paign, ball movement and protection remained strong for the Irish. They fin- ished third in the 15-team ACC with a 1.39 assist-to-turnover ratio, behind only national champ Virginia's 1.59 and traditional superpower North Carolina's 1.44. This past year, though, the shots just did not fall for Notre Dame the way they had in the past. "Our assist to turnover we were still pretty good, even though we didn't make threes like we used to," Brey said. "In the big picture, it was time to move the three-point line out, no question about it because it was probably being used a little much — even some average shooters. "The guys who can really shoot it, I don't think it's that big a difference." What intrigues Brey is whether the spacing on offense will truly improve with the longer distance. "At the old arc maybe there were four guys you were really closing out on, worrying about making threes," he said. "With the new arc, is it just two you're worried about? And it's anti-spacing, people playing in a little bit more and jamming out. I think there are a lot of people that are A NEW DIMENSION The three-point arc moves to the international distance this season Senior guard T.J. Gibbs led the Irish from three-point range in 2018-19, making 67 of 211 attempts (31.8 percent). This season, the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee has moved the three-point arc to the international basketball distance of 22 feet and 1¾ inches, nearly 20 inches longer than what it had been for the past 10 years. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN