The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team attempted 737 3-pointers last season, by far the most in the Southern Conference.
Just how many of those were shot from beyond the men’s 3-point line of 20 feet, 9 inches and not the women’s line of 19 feet, 9 inches, isn’t known.
Enough 3s were launched from the longer distance, however, to convince Lady Mocs coach Wes Moore that the NCAA should approve a recent proposal to move the women’s line back to the men’s.
“I think we’ve got a lot of kids that are capable of shooting the 3 pretty well, so hopefully moving it back a foot isn’t going to affect us too much,” Moore said. “We rely on the 3 a lot – it’s a big part of our offense – so you do worry is that going to take away from what you do?”
Earlier this month, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee recommended moving the line back, and the proposal could be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on June 9.
An NCAA study of 3-pointers attempted during exhibitions and scrimmages – UTC was one of the 194 schools that submitted data – revealed that women were shooting more often from behind the men’s line (3,203 attempts) than between it and the women’s (1,823).
In addition, the women made 33 percent of their shots from behind the men’s line and 30 percent from the shorter distance. The women play with a smaller basketball.
“Women versus men, obviously they’re not as long and athletic, but I think it’s been proven before that women can shoot with the guys pretty competitively,” Moore said. “I don’t think having the same line is going to be that bad of a thing.”
While Moore is for the change, Tennessee Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt is not.
“I like it where it is,” Summitt said during her Big Orange Caravan stop in Chattanooga last Wednesday. “I think it would be a real question mark. Why would you do it?”
The subject of moving the women’s line has been discussed since the men’s line was moved before the 2008-09 season. Moore said he was initially “adamantly” against it because the 3 in the women’s game is the “energy boost” like the dunk is in the men’s.
In the Lady Mocs’ offensive system, which features four players on the perimeter and a post player inside, moving the 3-point line back could work in UTC’s favor.
“The more I’ve looked at it, most of our kids are shooting out there,” Moore said, “and I guess from our standpoint – the four out, one in – it is going to spread the defense out a little bit more and open things up inside some.”