An argument can be made -- and many a coach has made it -- that it's better to take and miss a shot than to hesitate in its execution.
Yet sometimes, sad to say, it's definitely better to give doubt its due than to go ahead and shoot.
Certainly that's true for plenty of players currently active in the ACC, particularly when it comes to launching 3-pointers. The shot may look open, but then again that fits the opposition's game plan.
Most of the worst returning 3-point shooters, six of 10, were freshmen in 2013. Adjustments to the college game excuse their struggles to some extent.
Still, you have to wonder about the temerity of Syracuse's Trevor Cooney, who tried 2.7 threes per game despite missing nearly three-quarters of the time.
You have to think Georgia Tech muscleman Robert Carter, Jr. must shed his predilection for the perimeter, where he attempted two bombs per game and made only 28.1 percent. Better to haunt the boards, achieving the 10 rebounds per game coach Brian Gregory believes are within his capabilities, rather than avoid the hurley burley of interior play.
And is it really advantageous for Wake's gangly, 6-9 Tyler Cavanaugh to try nearly a pair of threes per game, when he made only 14 in 31 games last season?
Only two seniors were among the league's least-accurate bonusphere shooters: FSU's Ian Miller, fighting a bad foot and carrying 25 extra pounds, and Miami's Rion Brown.
Miller, slimmer and vowing improvement this year, saw his 3-point accuracy drop by 7.7 percent from 2012 to 2013. Brown's decline over the same period was more precipitous - 10.2 percent.
OFF-THE-MARKSMEN |
|||
---|---|---|---|
Player, School | 3 Pct. | 3M-3A | Class |
Aaron Thomas, FS | .220 | 9-41 | So. |
Eddie Odio, BC | .222 | 8-36 | Jr. |
Damarcus Harrison, C | .224 | 15-67 | Jr. |
Tyler Cavanaugh, WF | .231 | 14-59 | So. |
Marshall Wood, VT | .236 | 13-55 | So. |
Solomon Poole, GT | .250 | 6-24 | So. |
Trevor Cooney, SU* | .267 | 28-105 | So. |
Ian Miller, FS | .277 | 23-83 | Sr. |
Robert Carter, GT | .281 | 18-64 | So. |
Rion Brown, Mi | .292 | 38-130 | Sr. |
* Compiled in Big East. |