The three-point line has been moved a foot farther away from the basket this season. It is the first time the line has been adjusted since it was introduced in the 1986-87 season. This will make a significant difference across the country. The point guards and shooting guards take thousands of three-point shots every day in practice, so those players won’t have a major adjustment. The biggest change will come from the forwards and big men who have been three-point threats in the past. Typically, these players don’t have the range that guards have, but because the line has been so close, they didn’t need good range to be a three-point threat. Now they will.

Before the line change, there were some “bigs” that had decent range facing the basket and could hit open threes. It is hard to have your power forwards and centers spend hours in practice, though, trying to expand their shooting range when there are so many other skills that are more useful to an inside player. So the centers will either make far fewer threes, or they just won’t have as many attempts. Teams that had 4 or 5 three-point options on the court will probably now only have 2 or 3. That’s a major weapon that’s been removed from a lot of teams. The three-pointer is still the great equalizer, but it will be a lot tougher for teams as a whole to be able to take advantage of it.

What about the Hoyas? For Georgetown, the guards are the guys who make most of the three-pointers. Jessie Sapp, Chris Wright, and Austin Freeman have the range to step back even farther if needed, but that leaves DaJuan Summers as a question mark. Can he make threes from the new line? Yes. For sure. But he is the one returning player who might have the hardest adjustment to the new line. Having said that, the line moving back could help Summers more than any other Hoya.

Shooters like Jonathan Wallace can shoot from 20 feet or 30 feet and it doesn’t make a difference in their stroke. Summers is a good shooter, but the farther away he shoots from, the more he misses. The reason why the new line could help him is because he might not worry about making threes. He can make them if he’s open, otherwise shoot from closer. This season, the mid range jumper will be a much more viable option for DaJuan, which could make him a better scorer.

A good example to look at is the Detroit Pistons’ Richard Hamilton. Hamilton is a top scorer in the league but he rarely shoots threes. Last year Hamilton scored 499 hoops, only 62 were three-pointers. I know that Summers and Hamilton are totally different players, but if you want to find a good slasher and scorer who doesn’t need the long ball as an option, Rip could be a good role model…even though he went to UCONN.