I don’t understand why the ground can’t cause a fumble. I don’t understand how an NBA team can score 56 points in 48 minutes with a 24-second shot clock. And I never will understand why soccer doesn’t dump the offside penalty.
But what I really don’t understand is three-point shooting.
Take Kirk Hinrich, Kansas University’s sophomore point guard. Hinrich has made 20 of 31 three-point attempts through 10 games and his torrid .645 percentage tops the current NCAA weekly chart in that category.
Yet, through 10 games last year, Hinrich had made only 3 of 16 three-pointers. That’s 18.7 percent. That’s not a complete about-face, but it’s close.
Then there is Jeff Boschee who is generally regarded as the Jayhawks’ best three-point shooter. During the non-conference portion of KU’s 1999-2000 schedule, Boschee was shooting 51 percent from beyond the arc.
And what is Boschee shooting from three-point range so far this season? A paltry 27.3 percent (12 of 44).
Actually, Boschee is in a 13-game three-point shooting funk going back to last season.
Remember when the 6-0 junior guard made seven of nine treys against Kansas State in the Big 12 Conference tournament? In his next Big 12 tourney game, Boschee was 1-for-4 from long range, then 1-6 against DePaul and 2-for-8 against Duke in the NCAA Tournament.
So in the last 13 games, Boschee is shooting treys with piddling 25.8 percent accuracy.
Will Hinrich maintain his hot streak? Will Boschee continue to struggle? The answer to both questions is no. Over the long haul, statistics tend to settle into a player’s level of competence, sort of the Peter Principle of sports.
Case in point (although I’m mixing metaphors): Royals’ outfielder Johnny Damon.
Last season, Damon compiled career bests in batting average (.327), runs (136) and hits (214). But how many people remember he was hitting .267 before the All-Star break? Damon, now involved in a cat-and-mouse game with Royals management about his future, batted .386 after the All-Star Game.
In all games last year, Boschee was a 41.5 percent three-point shooter after his fast start while Hinrich wound up at 31.3 percent following his slow start. On form, Boschee is due to hit a hot streak soon while Hinrich will inevitably slump.
Boschee will have to heat up considerably to reach the coveted 40 percent plateau again, but it’s possible. I’ll be surprised, though, if Hinrich plunges into the lower-30 percent depths again. Hinrich isn’t the same player he was a year ago. Last year at this time he was a boy. Now he’s a man.
It’s early, but Texas Tech’s women are averaging 11,498 fans a game, or more than every Big 12 men’s team except Kansas and Iowa State. The Tech men are luring 8,973 per game. Meanwhile, nobody is going to Baylor’s games. The men are drawing average crowds of 2,438 while the women check in at 1,718.
Speaking of attendance, KU’s women’s crowds are down. Coach Marian Washington’s 1999-2000 edition averaged a school record 2,835 fans per game, but the average crowd so far this year has been 1,526.
Remember Tanner Hancock? The former all-state running back from Salina was converted to a wide receiver at Kansas, then transferred to Montana. The 5-foot-7 Hancock caught five passes in the Grizzlies’ 27-25 loss to Georgia Southern last Saturday in the NCAA Div. I-AA championship game.
