🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Hey Jaybate- You asked me about corner 3s in college. Dylan Burkhart of shotanalytics.com emailed me back with the stats. This from his email:

"With respect to avgs... 9.2% of (all) FGA are in one of the two corners (compare that to 23.7% are above the break threes). The avg percentage on corner threes is 35.4% and the average for above the break threes is 33.5%."

So Hoiberg was right with his numbers. Corner 3s are more efficient than non-corner ones. I wonder which coaches know this and utilize it.

Just for fun, here's KU's shot chart this year compared to ISU's.

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@Jesse-Newell great stats Jesse. Should we shoot more corner 3's then? Inside #'s are atrocious

Where is Jaybate?

@Jesse-Newell

Nice stats...

Looks like both KU and ISU shoot better from the top of the circle than they do from the corners. I would guess that when you look at all the games, shots taken from the corner are less guarded than shots taken from the top of of the key; I don't have any stats to back this up, but it looks to me that when players shoot from the corner, they are more open, more often than shooting for the top of the key and hence the better overall shooting percentage. In the NBA there is a clear advantage to shooting form the corner since the 3 point line at the corners is almost 2 feet closer to the hoop than at the top of the arc.

Yeah, I asked Dylan about it, and his hypothesis was that corner 3s almost never involve dribbling, which makes sense. Studies have shown that catch-and-shoot percentages are better than those that follow dribbling.

@Jesse-Newell

Great interactive journalism, JNew!!!! THX.

I am with Dylan on part of the dynamic being more catch and shoot.

But there maybe a dynamic biasing things some, too.

I have always noticed two kinds of outside shooters: those that like the corner shot and those that don't. There are a lot guys that coaches won't even allow to take the corner shot. And as I said there are a lot of guys that don't like it. They only want to shoot out front or on the wings.

Further, as the shot charts you provide make clear, a lot more shots are taken out front than in the corner. It would be interesting to know the standard deviation, or distributions at the various locations he quantified for you. Average and distribution.

So: we have total numbers of shots taken, averages and distributions around those averages to take into account.

And we have two shooter profiles to consider: the set of all outside shooters that must take the looks out front and on the side; and the subset of those guys that are good at the corner shot and so get green lighted and schemed to take it.

Very fascinating.

It appears graphically that Iowa State is more productive shooting outside, in part because of where they take their shots.

But I suspect it also has to do with how many open shots they are taking versus how many open shots KU is taking. But that is anecdotal, of course.

@Crimsonorblue22

Just came down with some crud and haven't felt like keyboarding. That ISU game seemed to drag down my immune system. :-)

@Jesse-Newell Its awesome to see you post on here Jesse. Keep it coming! When you can of course.

Awesome analytics. Thanks, @Jesse-Newell !

I'm thinking he biggest factor is defending those 3s. I think shooters have more time from the corners and out on top (typically). Both of these spots are the hardest areas to defend (mattering on the defensive set). The corners are always hard to defend, regardless of the defense. If a corner is being defended then someone has to be open somewhere! But we are talking about zone defenses. One strength of a M2M should be that you can defend the corners without leaving a man open somewhere!

I know I was coached to always challenge the 3 shot but not worry about getting the block (you don't want to foul). The idea is to slightly rush the shooter... try to impact his "flow out."

I believe, in general, the corner 3s are the hardest shot to hit because shooters only have the rim as a point of reference (missing the backboard). And there is little chance of getting any help on backboard bounces.

I really like the ISU graphic.. There is clear symmetry on their graphic. They don't have over-sized guards so defense should better impact their shots.

What stands out about the Kansas graphic is our post efficiency (or lack there of). Who would ever guess we'd have a graphic like this?!

Look at how much better efficiency ISU has in the post than us! All of this yack about size... turns out "size doesn't matter!" :-)

@jaybate-1.0 dragged mine down too, mostly my attitude. Can't handle the lack of effort and hustle! TCU could beat us.

@Crimsonorblue22 @jaybate-1.0

I'm feeling up!

I'm slurping down my daily green smoothie... which I have to take to keep my blood pressure down. We know why my blood pressure goes up! :-)

@Jesse-Newell do you have the shot charts from the OU game? It would be interesting to see the different halves. Thanks!

I'd be interested in knowing the percentages of individuals from different parts of the floor. Is that available? Ellis is a top of the key three baller, can't remember the last time I saw him shoot one from the corner.

How about a big shout out to all of those managers on basketball teams that shag rebounds in practice to feed the ball to shooters in practice! Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, feel that rhythm.

In practice, and those three point shooting contests, your feet are squared, your knees and especially your hips are squared. This helps the shoulders be squared and the body be squared.

Corner shots are typically passes to a set and squared shooter as compared to other spaces beyond the arc. 90 degrees of the court is out of bounds in the corner so that limits so many options of play. Dribble penetration can see the set and squared shooter in the corner most easily for a dish to the three. The space is slim in the corner for the three point shooter so be set and squared or pass if the ball does not arrive clean in your window for a rhythm shot. Ask Ray Allen what a rhythm shot in the corner feels like. How often does a pass go to a shooter in the corner at an angle more than 45 degrees? How often does the the shooter dribble laterally in the corner then shoot an unbalanced shot?