More press from cbs sports

[Grant Carter]

If you do not notice the author of the post you are reading and then come across a reference to SMU living or dying with the three, you do not even have to scroll back up to see who the poster was.

[Prideful Pony]

"Living and dying by the three" is maybe not the most accurate description. There's an implication there that we're gunning away from deep and that going cold could sink us.

We take (and make) a lot of threes because that's what many defenses give us and our ball movement opens up. Our guys shoot a great percentage because the majority of threes we hoist are wide open. That makes us a pretty unlikely candidate to "die by the three" unless a team actively takes it away; in which case we have enough handles and patience to put it on the floor to either get to the rim or open up the 3 anyway on the kick out.

Reducing our offense to "living and dying by the three" is a huge disservice. The beauty of the "five wing" offense we're running is that at any point there's a mismatch somewhere and we have the ball movement + team mentality to exploit it.

[pwnyxpress]

We haven't done much dying.

[Grant Carter]

"Living and dying by the three" is maybe not the most accurate description. There's an implication there that we're gunning away from deep and that going cold could sink us.

We take (and make) a lot of threes because that's what many defenses give us and our ball movement opens up. Our guys shoot a great percentage because the majority of threes we hoist are wide open. That makes us a pretty unlikely candidate to "die by the three" unless a team actively takes it away; in which case we have enough handles and patience to put it on the floor to either get to the rim or open up the 3 anyway on the kick out.

Reducing our offense to "living and dying by the three" is a huge disservice. The beauty of the "five wing" offense we're running is that at any point there's a mismatch somewhere and we have the ball movement + team mentality to exploit it.

I was not trying to dispute the comment, just note that CP mentions it a lot.

SMU was 33% from 3 in the 4 losses and 41% in the 30 wins, so there is something there. Excluding Boise (1-11 from 3) from the losses leaves 38% for the three remaining losses which is still lower than in the wins but not by a ton.

[mrydel]

But the advantage is having 4 that shoot the 3 over 40%. If 3 are cold we can still have one hot.

[Pony_Law]

I don't think it is really fair to compare our team now, as opposed to the team when Froling was on the roster. That's not to say Froling was terrible it's just that we ran a different offense when it was thought/hoped that he was going to give us 20 minutes a night. Case in point Semi and Ben spent a lot more time on the block during those games than they do now.

A bigger statistic I think is that in 3 of our 4 losses, our opponents over preformed on their season average for 3 point shooting, the outlier is Boise who shot slightly below their average but we had 24 turnovers and 2nd game of a west cost trip.

My takeaway is if we hit our averages the only way a team beats us is they shoot lights out. And even then we are still in the game (cinci and USC).

[Treadway21]

Weird to think we were 2 points away from going undefeated once the Aussies left. We just aren't the same team, so it's like comparing apples and oranges when looking at our losses.

The only loss that really matters as far as evaluating the team (in my mind) is the Cincinnati loss.

[Dukie]

Dear God, people. The tournament has not started and people are already worried if Jank is leaving. Enjoy the moment for what it is.

And stop talking about playing Baylor, much less Duke. One game at a time.

[Whitwiki Pony]

The Cincinnati loss is when I realized this team was going to make a splash in November because Sterling basically came out there and said "[deleted] that I won't let this team lose"

[Prideful Pony]

"Living and dying by the three" is maybe not the most accurate description. There's an implication there that we're gunning away from deep and that going cold could sink us.

We take (and make) a lot of threes because that's what many defenses give us and our ball movement opens up. Our guys shoot a great percentage because the majority of threes we hoist are wide open. That makes us a pretty unlikely candidate to "die by the three" unless a team actively takes it away; in which case we have enough handles and patience to put it on the floor to either get to the rim or open up the 3 anyway on the kick out.

Reducing our offense to "living and dying by the three" is a huge disservice. The beauty of the "five wing" offense we're running is that at any point there's a mismatch somewhere and we have the ball movement + team mentality to exploit it.

I was not trying to dispute the comment, just note that CP mentions it a lot.

SMU was 33% from 3 in the 4 losses and 41% in the 30 wins, so there is something there. Excluding Boise (1-11 from 3) from the losses leaves 38% for the three remaining losses which is still lower than in the wins but not by a ton.

I know you weren't, but I was . I don't think I'd even call 1/11 "dying by the three". Bad percentage but we didn't exactly shoot ourselves out of the game with a lot of deep attempts. Found points other ways, it was the turnovers that killed us.

[Charleston Pony]

Sorry if I offend people with references to the three point shot being a key to our success, but I would say the same thing about Duke, even though they have more low post players on their roster. The simple fact is that we are not a team that is going to beat you by banging down low for high percentage shots and our ability to hit threes is what has opened up the paint at times for points from close range. Yes, we have skilled guys who can also shoot mid-range jumpers, but my point is simply that if we go cold from three, it's going to translate to a quick exit from this tournament. I want at least 3 of our guys feeling it every night out if we are going to compete with the teams we are now going to face.

[gostangs]

I don't think charleston is wrong at all - and by the way every top team you could say the same thing. This is not 1995. Any team that makes headway in the tournament is going to be a strong 3 pt shooting team and if they go cold they will stand to lose. Every team.

[Grant Carter]

I agree it is just funny that he repeats it so often with the same wording, even sometimes in posts that it is only tangentially relevant to.

[Prideful Pony]

We're obviously much more dangerous when we're hitting the three. No one reasonably is going to argue otherwise. Our spacing and ball movement opens up more than just the three though.

We beat TCU shooting less than 32% from deep. Houston less than 30%. Temple less than 25%. Those aren't tournament teams but that's not "dying" either.

[sadderbudweiser]

I agree it is just funny that he repeats it so often with the same wording, even sometimes in posts that it is only tangentially relevant to.

https://youtu.be/zLRlY46ttfE