COLLEGE BASKETBALL ‘86-87 : With Pac-10 Coaches, It’s Only a 20% Shot

Trying to get a bunch of coaches to agree on anything is like dribbling through quicksand, which may explain why the NCAA rules committee paid little attention to coaches who did not want the three-point shot this season.

It’s here anyway, no matter that 8 of the 10 Pacific 10 Conference coaches didn’t want it. For the first time in all of Division I basketball, a shot made from 19 feet 9 inches or farther will be worth three points.

“It’s a gimmick,” said Coach George Raveling of USC. “It’s a farce. You start awarding three points for a shot at the top of the circle, then you should cut down a layup to one point.”

Raveling is upset because coaches had scant input in the decision.

In February, the NCAA rules committee mailed a questionnaire to the Division I basketball coaches and asked simply: ‘Do you favor a three-point shot?’

According to Arizona Coach Lute Olson, only 46% of the Division I coaches responded.

“I voted for it, but I didn’t want it at 19 feet 9 inches,” Olson said. “I personally like it, but I feel it’s too close.

“I think the decision took most everyone by shock,” he said. “Usually, when something like this is considered, it becomes a large decision that should be worked out carefully, then put into effect.”

Raveling said the issue “was railroaded through.”

Another critic is Cal Coach Lou Campanelli.

“We don’t need to make our game anything like the NBA,” he said. “We’ve got a much better product than that and we don’t need the three-point shot. I just don’t understand how we got it.

“How could anyone in his right mind vote for it if he didn’t know what the distance was?” Campanelli asked.

UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard, for one, did just that because he had Reggie Miller on his team.

“The line is second nature to Reggie,” said Hazzard. “I know that none of us (coaches) were really consulted, but the decision was that this was the time for it. So I like it.”

Olson acknowledged that the three-point shot will make coaches work harder, but he said that had no bearing on the coaches’ objections to the issue.

“I have guys on my team who think they’re three-point shooters,” he said. “I don’t think they are. The three-point rule will create some really poor shot selection. Coaches are going to have to adjust. I think all of us have nightmares of guys shooting three-pointers who shouldn’t be doing it.”

Already there are rumors that the NCAA will scrap the three-point shot, possibly even before the end of the season. Olson, however, would like to see it stay, with modifications.

He suggests a distance of 20 feet 6 inches, the distance used in international competition. Olson also said that the three-point shot should be introduced in the high schools first.

“From that distance, a guy has to really be a shooter to hit it,” Olson said. “The idea is to make the game better. I don’t care if the NBA has a three-point play or not. That’s not a reason for us not to have it also. But if the three-point shot makes our game better, then we should do it.”