How far is the three point line in college basketball

College basketball's new 3-point line: Five ways moving the distance further out has impacted the game

If the first college basketball game you watched this season was Duke's 63-55 win at Boston College earlier this week, you might think the NCAA's decision to move the 3-point line back by 16.75 inches this season is having a disastrous impact on the game.

The Blue Devils and Eagles combined to miss the game's first 27 attempts from beyond the 3-point line, which is now the international distance of 22 feet, 1.75 inches.

But more than three months into the new season, teams continue to shoot as many 3-pointers as they did just two seasons ago when the shot's distance was more than a foot shorter.

So how has the shot affected the college game? Here are five takeaways.

1. 3-point percentages are down

There were just 12 teams that finished the 2018-19 season shooting below 30% from 3-point range. None of them were schools from major conferences.

Roughly two-thirds of the way through 2019-20 season, 33 teams are shooting below 30% from 3-point range, including Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Boston College, North Carolina and reigning national champion Virginia. The Cavaliers have suffered a bigger drop off in 3-point percentage than any team in the country.

Here's a look at the teams with the biggest drop this season in shooting from last season of the 350 Division I teams:

Team	2018-19	2019-20	Change
348. Oakland	40.3	29.4	-9.1
349. Grambling	40.3	29.7	-10.6
350. Virginia	39. 5	27.2	-12.3

(In Virginia's case, personnel may be the foremost issue; last year's top three scorers and shooters -- DeAndre Hunter, Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy -- all are in the NBA now.)

In total, teams are making a record-low 33.59% of their 3-pointers this season after making 34.54% last season. The record high came in 1987-88, the second season after the 3-point line was adopted by the NCAA, when teams hit 38.3% of their 3-pointers on just 10.4 attempts per game.

"It's had an impact on the game," TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. "Guys continue to shoot it. They're going to be spaced out. But it's a longer shot, and obviously a harder shot. And the percentages show that."

Some leagues are particularly struggling to adapt. After finishing 17th of the 32 conferences in 3-point shooting percentage at 34.7% last season, the Southeastern Conference is 30th this season at 31. 51%.

Here's a look at the 3-point shooting in the major conferences:

Conference	2018-19	2019-20	Change
AAC	33.28%	32.43%	-0.85
ACC	33.84%	33.1%	-0.74
Big East	35.32%	33.84%	-1.48
Big Ten	34.22%	33.26%	-0.96
Big 12	34.77%	33.1%	-1.67
Pac-12	34. 73%	34.32%	-0.41
SEC	34.72%	31.51%	-3.21

"We're a really young league this year," South Carolina coach Frank Martin told CBS Sports. "You go through our league, our league is probably younger than any league in the country. With young players you unfortunately have those inconsistencies."

Martin's Gamecocks are shooting considerably fewer 3-pointers per game this season and making 31.1% of them after making 36.6% of them last season.

But some teams are taking and making more 3-pointers than ever.

2. Attempts are still high

Teams attempted 22.45 3-pointers per game last season and are attempting 21.84 per game this season, which is almost identical to the 2017-18 average of 21.85 attempts per game. Just seven seasons ago, teams attempted only 18. 1 per game.

So while the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel cited a desire to slow the trend of the 3-point shot "becoming too prevalent" in college basketball, the new line is not even close to bringing attempts per game back to the level of just a few seasons ago.

"I don't think it has affected our guys all that much," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "If we go play in Madison Square Garden or some place where they have the NBA line, the first thing my guys do is go run out there and stand behind the 3-point line and start chucking balls. I think if we put the line at half court, they'd be shooting behind half court."

The Mountaineers are, however, one of the power conference teams seeing a sharp drop-off in 3-point attempts this season. After attempting 23.67 of them per game a year ago, Huggins' squad is shooting just 17.9 per game this season. That likely is the result of last year's top three scorers all being gone and the team relying on big men Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver (zero 3-point attempts between them).

Other teams and even entire conferences are trending up in 3-point attempts. Notre Dame, for example, is shooting 28.6 3-pointers per game and making 35% of them after shooting 26.1 per game and making 31.5% last season.

Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey said he had concerns over how the deeper shot would affect his traditionally 3-point-heavy team.

"But I never wanted to voice those to any of our players," Brey said. "I didn't want anybody thinking twice. If you're a guy that is a good 3-point shooter for us and that's a good shot for you at the old arc, we didn't want you turning them down all of a sudden or thinking twice. It's still a weapon for us, and we need to use it. I know the overall numbers are down probably a little bit nationally. But it's a key factor for us, even though it's further than last year. We need to make double-digit threes for the most part to win ACC games. So we're going to take them."

As a whole, the ACC is down slightly in 3-point attempts per game. But the Big 10, which is widely regarded as the best league in college basketball this season, is up to 22 attempts per game after averaging 21.5 last season when the line was shorter.

3. High quality, high volume shooters are less common

There were 49 Division-I players last season who played in at least 75% of their team's games and shot 40% or better from 3-point range last season with at least 2.5 makes per game. There were 66 in the 2017-18 season.

Through Tuesday's games, there were just 36 this season.

Of last season's crop of 49, only 20 are playing Division I basketball this season and just six were making more 3-pointers per game than they did last season. Those players are Justinian Jessup at Boise State, Terrell Gomez at Cal State-Northridge, Mitch Ballock at Creighton, Jordan Roland at Northeastern, Isaiah Joe at Arkansas and Markus Howard at Marquette.

Howard, who leads Division I in scoring at 27. 9 points per game, is making 39.6% on 10.3 3-point attempts per game.

"Offensively, he's got deep range, and the further you guard him out, that gives him more space to operate off the dribble, and he's really good off the dribble," Villanova coach Jay Wright said.

Wright's assessment of Howard aligns with one of the goals of the rules committee, which sought to increase floor spacing and make the lane more accessible in its decision to move the 3-point line back.

4. Coaches unsure if spacing goal accomplished

A deeper 3-point line might make the floor more open for Howard, who controls the action for Marquette by drawing multiple defenders and hoisting deep 3-pointers.

But coaches around college basketball are hesitant to suggest the new 3-point line has succeeded in opening up the floor across the game.

"I really haven't noticed a difference in that regard," Wake Forest coach Danny Manning said.

In fact, if teams decide to play more zone to encourage opponents to attempt 3-pointers from the deeper line or choose to go under on ball screens because they feel the threat of an opponent pulling up from deep is diminished, it could have the opposite effect in some situations.

"I'm still trying to digest it," Brey said. "I think we all are trying to analyze from a defensive standpoint, do you do things different defensively to let guys shoot from deeper out because the law of averages maybe kicks in and it's not as good a shot over 40 minutes? You rotate in and out of that mentality at times. I still think it's a debate at every staff meeting as we're still crunching some numbers halfway through the year."

Like Brey, some of the game's other veteran coaches are still gathering data and figuring out how, or if, to adjust their schemes to the deeper 3-point line.

"It's getting close to being enough, but I took a statistics course in college, and you can't have a good test if you don't have great validity," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "And you have to have a lot of examples to have great validity. So still, in my mind, waiting to see."

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes voted for the new 3-point line as a member of the NCAA men's basketball rules committee. In regards to its impact, he said, "I don't think we'll know until the year is over with and we look at it and see the percentages."

5. Expect a bounce back

But Barnes, whose first year as a head coach came during the second season with the original 3-point line in 1987-88, has been around long enough to understand the trends that likely lie ahead with the new 3-point line.

"If it goes by what normally happens, it'll go down a little bit," Barnes said. "But it always comes back."

The percentage of points in college basketball scored on 3-pointers rose steadily every season from the introduction of the line until the 2008-09 season, when the line moved from 19 feet-9 inches to 20 feet-9 inches.

Then, everything dropped. Shooting percentage fell from 35.2% to 34.4%, attempts fell from 19.1 to 18.3 per game and 3-pointers accounted for just 27.39% of total points a season after accounting for a then-record 29.09%.

But by the 2015-16 season, teams were hoisting an average of 20.49 3-pointers per game, making 34.7% of them, and the shots accounted for 29.22% of total points, surpassing the old record set in the 2007-08 season.

It took players only a few seasons to adjust to a deeper line, and the prevalence of the shot only increased in the following three seasons until the new line's implementation for this season. 

Here's how this season is compared to last season's for all Division I teams:

So even while 3-point shooting percentage hit historic lows and attempts per game dip slightly, there is an expectation that they will rise again and that the shot's prevalence will remain.

"We didn't move it back far enough, I don't think, to have much of an effect," Huggins said.

Everything You Need to Know About Basketball Court Dimensions

Of the two major American-invented sports — baseball and basketball — only one has gained worldwide popularity. We play baseball across parts of the globe, but we play basketball worldwide. You can play with as few as two people and as many as ten. Shoot hoops indoors and outdoors and on any surface hard or flat enough to bounce a ball.

Indoor courts are usually made from hardwood, though other, more easily-maintained surfaces are gaining in popularity. Outdoor courts can be either asphalt or concrete. You can put a permanent basketball court just about anywhere you would like. Don’t have the room for a full-length court? Fitting just a half court into your driveway, backyard, or commercial gym would be just as useful.

So, have a space in mind and wondering “What are the dimensions of a basketball court?” Let’s take a look at the standard sizes for every level of basketball, from high school all the way up through international competition.

The National Basketball Association, better known as the NBA, boasts the largest court dimensions of any level of basketball — domestic or international. The outer dimensions are 94 feet long by 50 feet wide. The half court line is, as the name would suggest, halfway between each end line. In the middle of the half court line is a tip-off circle with a six-foot radius, which often sports the home team’s logo.

The key is 16 feet wide and 19 feet from the baseline to the foul line. A semicircle with a six-foot radius extends from the foul line. Some courts have the other side of the half-circle drawn in a dotted line inside the key to complete the circle and create a clear boundary for any jump balls.

The backboard protrudes four feet out from the baseline, and the rim of the basket hangs 10 feet off the ground. Subtracting the four feet overhang from the 19-foot length of the key, we get the familiar 15-foot distance from the foul line to the front of the backboard. It’s a misconception that the foul line is 15 feet from the center of the basket. The backboard itself measures six feet wide and 42 inches high.

Inside the key, a four-foot arc is aligned with the center of the basket to designate the restricted arc. If a defender is inside this semicircle, he cannot draw a charging foul. Along both sides of the key, lines are drawn three feet apart to create the standing positions for other players during a free throw attempt, starting with a box that is seven feet from the baseline and one foot wide.

Outside the key, the three-point line forms an imperfect arc stretching one side of the baseline to the other. The arc isn’t a perfect circle because it would run out of bounds on the sides of the court.

Instead, the three-point line runs in a straight line from the baseline out 16 feet, nine inches, at which point the line begins to curve. The straight lines are an even 22 feet from the center of the basket, and on the arc, the distance is 23 feet and nine inches.

Starting at the baseline and running 28 feet toward the center of the court, a line bounds the team bench area. The line also acts as the starting place for inbounds passes after timeouts and fouls.

The Women’s National Basketball Association or WNBA’s court dimensions are identical to the NBA court in every way except the three-point line. Instead, the distance is equal to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) at 22.15 feet from the center of the hoop. WNBA teams share arenas and playing surfaces with the NBA, which is why it’s no wonder the court dimensions are so similar.

National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA basketball courts have similar dimensions to the NBA and WNBA, which include the:

• Court
• Foul line
• Backboard
• Basket height
• Tip-off circle

That said, there are a few significant differences in the dimensions of the NCAA court. For starters, the key is only 12 feet wide, rather than 16. The first box on the side of the key is only six feet from the baseline, not seven. The restricted area under the basket is also one foot smaller, at three feet in diameter rather than the NBA’s four.

However, the most recognizable difference between the NBA’s court dimensions and the NCAA’s is the distance of the three-point line. The NCAA three-point line is only 20 feet, nine inches from the center of the basket. Because of the smaller diameter, it is a continuous arc from one side of the baseline to the other, with no straight lines necessary to create space on the sidelines.

The difference in three-point line distances is the biggest adjustment for shooters to make as they begin their professional careers, and also why it’s so difficult to project how well a player will shoot in the pros.

High school basketball courts are a little different from their college and professional counterparts. The most noticeable difference is that the court is a full 10 feet shorter, measuring only 84 feet. However, there are some similarities. The court is still 50 feet wide. The basket is also 10 feet off the ground.

The tip-off circle has a six-foot radius, just like the big kid courts, and while the high school landscape isn’t as standardized as college and professional basketball, the backboard is supposed to have the same measurements as the NCAA and NBA.

Just as in college and professional basketball, the foul line is 15 feet from the backboard, and the key is 19 feet long. It’s also the same 12 feet wide as the NCAA — four feet narrower than the NBA and WNBA.

The other visible difference is the distance from the three-point line. Shorter than either the NCAA or NBA, the high school free throw line is just 19 feet, nine inches from the center of the basket. Additionally, high school basketball courts do not have any restricted area under the basket, since that rule doesn’t exist in high school basketball.

FIBA governs international basketball courts. The measurements for FIBA basketball courts differ from U.S. courts because of the difference between our Imperial measurements — feet and inches — and the more standard metric system.

FIBA courts are an even 28 meters long, which converts to almost 92 feet. The 15-meter width converts to just over 49 feet. The tip-off circle is a bit smaller as well, at 3.5 meters in diameter. This difference translates to a radius of about five feet, seven inches.

The key is almost the same size at 5.8 meters long and 4.8 meters wide. These numbers convert to within a few inches of 19 and 16 feet. The basket is 1.2 meters, or almost four feet, in from the baseline, which puts the foul line at 4.6 meters — 15 feet — away. The restricted area under the basket is 1.25 meters or just a shade more than four feet in radius.

The basket is still 10 feet off the ground, which means the biggest difference is the three-point line. At the top of the arc, the three-point line is 6.75 meters from the center of the basket or 22.15 feet. This measurement works out to about 22 feet, two inches. The FIBA three-point line, which has also been adopted by the WNBA, is over a foot and a half closer than the NBA line.

Since its invention in 1891, basketball’s court dimensions have varied. Let’s look at some of its historical changes, as well as answering that nagging question — “Why are basketball hoops 10 feet high?” — below:

The Story Behind the 10-Foot High Hoop

It would appear the 10-foot basketball hoop is the result of a careful calculation that considers the human anatomy and mechanics of the game. After all, even the tallest players today have to jump to dunk a ball, and a ten-foot high rim gives a comfortable target to shoot for at a distance. But as we see so often in history, the truth is much more mundane.

When James Naismith dreamed up the game in Springfield, MA in 1891, the railing he chose to hang the baskets on was ten feet off the ground. So, while everything else about the sport has changed since that first game, the baskets are still right where Dr. Naismith hung them.

The History of the Three-Point Line

The three-point line is arguably the most recognizable aspect of a basketball court’s dimensions and part of the reason why is attributed to the history surrounding this semicircle.

The first instance of the three-point line appeared in the American Basketball League in 1961, a full 70 years after Dr. Naismith invented the game. The line was added to increase excitement, but the league folded in just one and a half seasons, so the idea never had a chance.

In 1967, the next competitor to the NBA arrived. The American Basketball Association, or ABA, instituted the three-point line from the very start, and it was a huge success. The ABA had many exciting innovations that produced a better product for the fans. But ultimately, there was not enough room for two professional basketball organizations, so the NBA and ABA merged in 1976.

The three-point line, however, was not included in the merger! The decision-makers in the NBA at the time were too stubborn to adopt such a radical change. They held out for three years before implementing the three-point line in the 1979-1980 season. The NCAA didn’t integrate it until 1986, and it didn’t arrive on high school basketball courts until 1987.

That isn’t the end of the story, however. The line was moved closer for three seasons in the ‘90s to try to boost scoring, but it was quickly moved back to its original place. Taking the idea to the extreme, the NBA has even admitted to having discussions about a four-point line. Ultimately, we’ll believe it when we see it.

The Original Cage Matches

In the early days of professional basketball, the game was played inside an actual cage. The reasons were more about practicality than about safety. The rule for who got to inbound a ball that left the court was “whoever got to it first,” so organizers took to putting up a cage so the ball could never go out of bounds in the first place.

Those first basketball courts were about a third smaller than they are today, and the cages provided a physical boundary and an extra immovable for savvy teams. Could you imagine how much different the game of basketball would be today if those cages had stuck around?

The Alternative Key Designs

Today, basketball courts at all levels share a common design for the key — a rectangle measuring either 19 feet by 16 feet or 19 feet by 12 feet. However, this was not always the case. From the creation of FIBA in 1956 until 2010, the key was a trapezoidal design that was significantly wider at the baseline.

Another design of this feature is responsible for the name “key.” Have you ever thought about how a rectangular area under a basket got such a random name?

The reason is that the original area was much narrower, while the circle surrounding the free throw line was the same size. These two factors combined to create a shape that resembled an old-fashioned key. In 1951, the key was widened to 12 feet and later to the 16 feet we see now in the NBA and FIBA.

While the term lives on, time has erased any record of its design and original reference. And for the record, the official name for this feature is “free throw lane,” which isn’t a phrase many of us hear often.

And that’s a wrap on the history of basketball’s court dimensions.

Perhaps you don’t have 94 feet of flat asphalt or indoor floor space. Don’t worry, because residential half court setups can be just as fun. And whether you are looking to paint your court or apply a pre-made solution, sticking to the official dimensions will take your pickup games to the next level.

Take a look at our selection of goals, nets and accessories to bring your home’s court together. You’ll have a hard time dragging your kids off the court as they spend hours posting up like Boogie, slashing like LeBron and launching it from deep like Steph.

The emergence of professional leagues.

Big basketball will come to Ufa for the weekend

The Student Basketball Association (ASB) is the largest student sports league in Europe. It unites 800 teams from 70 regions of Russia, holds more than 5,000 matches annually, about a third of the country's professional basketball players have experience playing in the ASB championship.

ASB All-Star Game in Ufa - the main exhibition event of the Association and one of the central events of student sports in Russia. A spectacular show match will be held in Ufa with the participation of the best basketball players of the ASB: the game of the East vs. West team, a three-point shot contest and a slam dunk contest, entertainment for spectators, a fan zone. A special guest is the popular hip-hop artist Thomas Mraz, who will perform on the stage of the arena in the pre-match program.

The ASB All-Star Game is held with the support of the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan. ASB's partners in holding the All-Star Game are the Basketball Federation of Bashkortostan and the professional basketball club Ufimets. On the eve of the ASB All-Star Game, Ufa Arena will host a Super League 1 match between BC Ufimets and CSKA-2.

ASB All-Star Games have been held since 2008. It will be held in Ufa for the first time. The event will be hosted by the Ufa Arena, a sports and concert complex that can accommodate 8,000 spectators. It hosts the KHL club Salavat Yulaev. Especially for the All-Star Game and the previous game, BC Ufimets has transformed the arena: a basketball court with all the necessary equipment has been installed on top of the ice rink. Previously, Ufa-Arena has never hosted basketball matches of this level.

The participants of the game will be the most valuable players (MVP) of the ASB championship in October, November and December 2019 according to the results of fan polls, the best in terms of sports performance in the current season, as well as the winners of SMS voting. 36 players represent 30 universities from 24 regions of Russia. One of the main principles of the Association is that all participants of the championship are current full-time students.

In the application of each of the teams, 12 men and 6 women. Only boys will be in the starting five. The girls will get separate time on the floor, and will also play in mixed teams. Among them is one professional player - Polina Matushkina from the Perm KOR PK, who during the season received an invitation to the Superleague 1 club Nika Syktyvkar.

Several participants of the ASB 2020 All-Star Game performed at the 2019 World Universiade in Naples as part of the Russian Student Team: Polina Matushkina (KOR PC, Perm), Maria Panfilova (Sirens, NSU, St. Petersburg), Konstantin Grekov (MGAFK) , Malakhovka, Moscow region).

In past years, many would-be professional players have become ASB All-Stars while still students and playing in the ASB Championship. Among them: active UNICS player Andrey Koshcheev, ex-MBA player Stanislav Krainov, 3x3 World Youth Cup winner Stanislav Sharov, Superleague 2 silver medalist Nikita Ivanov, Spanish championship player Maria-Margarita Davydova and other professional basketball players.

There are many famous basketball players and coaches among the guests of honor of the upcoming ASB All-Star Game: 1972 Olympic champion Ivan Edeshko, Honored Coach of the USSR, member of the FIBA ​​Hall of Fame Yevgeny Gomelsky, 1992 Olympic champion Irina Sumnikova, 1988 Olympic champion Sergei Tarakanov, Olympic bronze medalist 2008 Games Svetlana Abrosimova, two-time Olympic silver medalist Sergei Panov and other Soviet and Russian basketball stars.

ASB 2020 All-Star Game in Ufa focuses on creating a trend from the cultural heritage and national traditions of the region, adapted to a modern sporting event.

Concert starts at 16:20, pre-match show starts at 16:20, games - at 17:00. The live broadcast will take place on the TV channel “Match! Arena".

On the eve of the games, a press conference was held in the news agency Bashinform. It was attended by Kryukov Sergey Vladimirovich - Executive Director of the Student Basketball Association, member of the executive committee of the Russian Student Sports Union; Medvedev Sergey Vladimirovich - director of the Basketball Federation of the Republic of Bashkortostan, general director of the basketball club "Ufimets"; Romanova Anna Yuryevna - player of the Western team and SPbPU (St.

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