College Basketball changes 3 point line distance starting 2008

The men’s basketball rules committee approved a measure Thursday that would move the 3-point line back one foot in 2008 — from 19 feet, 9 inches to 20 feet, 9 inches. If approved by the playing rules oversight committee on May 25, it would mark the first major alteration to the 3-point shot since its adoption in 1986-87.

Chairman Larry Keating said the committee considered two proposals. The other would have moved the line to 20 feet, 6 inches, the same distance as international 3-pointers. Both are shorter than the NBA line, which is 23 feet, 9 inches at the top of the key and 22 feet at its shortest point in the baseline corners.

“We made it a point to come up with a distance that was correct for us and that didn’t necessarily mimic the international line,” Keating said.

Women’s rules committee chairwoman Ronda Seagraves said the 3-point line will remain unchanged in women’s basketball.

The reason for delaying the change until November 2008 is money. Keating said it was unfair to charge schools a surprise expenditure when most of the budgets for next year have already been approved.

NCAA statistics show that 3-point percentages since 1992 have hovered between 34.1 and 35.6 percent each year. Stats from the experimental line showed shooting percentages between 34 and 35 percent.

Source: Fox Sports

Dear visitor, if you enjoyed reading this post, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!