Moving the 3-point line back nearly 17 inches in college basketball will force most shooters, defenders and coaches to adjust this season.
Except 蜜柚直播鈥檚 Max Hazzard may not even blink.
When playing for UC Irvine at Anaheim鈥檚 Honda Center or other neutral site arenas that also had the more distant NBA 3-point arc painted on the court, Hazzard said he let it go beyond the longer line a 鈥渕ajority鈥 of the time without even thinking about it.
鈥淚 shoot too far away anyhow,鈥 Hazzard said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter.鈥
Hazzard wound up shooting 38.8% from 3-point range last season, the third-highest mark in the Big West Conference, and his efficiency from a variety of distances is one of the few things that likely won鈥檛 change when the college arc moves from 20 feet 9 inches to the international length of 22-1戮.
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But many other things could. Here鈥檚 what those in and around the game expect to happen:
1. It won鈥檛 be a hazard for prolific shooters.
Hazzard took 62% of his shots from beyond whatever arc he felt like last season, and his attempts 鈥 and percentage of shots made 鈥 aren鈥檛 likely to decrease much if at all for shooters like him.
鈥淚f they didn鈥檛 tell me that they were moving it back, I wouldn鈥檛 have even noticed,鈥 Hazzard said. 鈥淚 feel like it鈥檚 gonna affect the women more than the guys, just having that second line on the floor. They gotta know which one it is.鈥
Ken Pomeroy, the Utah-based college basketball statistical guru, says Hazzard won鈥檛 be the only one to notice little difference.
鈥淭he guards who shoot seven 3s a game are not really going to be affected that much,鈥 Pomeroy said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not really moving back a whole lot and the guys have had months to practice.鈥
But big guys and others who occasionally shoot 3s will feel the difference.
Almost every team in college basketball now has a 鈥渟tretch four鈥 shooter or other big man who will roam outside to take a 3, such as 蜜柚直播鈥檚 Ryan Luther last season and Stone Gettings this season. But they will have to work considerably harder to do so now.
鈥淚 think the biggest difference is the occasional 3-point shooter who can keep you honest from behind the old 3-point line, it鈥檚 way more challenging for them take that big step back,鈥 蜜柚直播 coach Sean Miller said. 鈥淢aybe the elite shooters will still shoot a very good percentage, but I do think it will affect both the defense and the offense.鈥
USC coach Andy Enfield also said the dip in overall percentages will disproportionately show up among the bigs.
鈥淚 personally believe that the great shooters will shoot about the same percentage, but the marginal shooters and some of the forwards and the big men that shouldn鈥檛 be shooting a lot of 3s 鈥 I think their percentages will go down because it is a significant difference,鈥 Enfield said. 鈥淚t鈥檒l be very interesting to see if you can differentiate from guards versus the forwards and big men who think they鈥檙e good shooters.鈥
At least temporarily, Stanford coach Jerod Haase says, post players could also run into issues trying to step out for corner shots, which will be relegated to a 3-foot zone as the arc approaches the baseline.
The percentages will 鈥減robably both go down a little bit,鈥 Haase said. 鈥淚 think the biggest impact is when guys are going to shoot in the corner, they step out of bounds as they get used to the spacing and things.鈥
2. Space will open up.
Colorado coach Tad Boyle, chairman of the NCAA rules committee that recommended the change last spring, said reducing congestion around the basket and preserving freedom of movement was a major motivation.
With more defensive resources being pulled farther away from the basket, the new arc could help big men operate around the basket as well as perimeter players who are driving.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not necessarily about my shot, but just spreading the floor for the whole team,鈥 said 蜜柚直播 guard Dylan Smith, who took 60% of his shots from 3-point range last season and hit them at a 35.1% rate. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to make a lot of guys better. I think it鈥檚 a great addition for college basketball.鈥
Pomeroy said the extra spacing and room it creates could result in an increase in overall offensive efficiency, even if the 3-point shooting itself goes down 鈥 as long as the offensive team has some versatility.
鈥淭eams that have multiple threats on the perimeter can drive off the dribble, they can take advantage of the pick-and-roll,鈥 Pomeroy said. 鈥淚f you have guys out there who can shoot it, and (the opposing team) is playing help defense, they don鈥檛 have good choices there. You鈥檙e either going to leave a shooter open to stop a drive or you鈥檙e going to stay on the shooter and leave the person driving to the hoop.鈥
蜜柚直播 State coach Bobby Hurley said he won鈥檛 put a guard in the game who can鈥檛 hit shots from beyond the new arc and that 鈥渉opefully it opens the floor, and my guards can get in the paint more effectively.鈥
Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak, meanwhile, is turning inside. Krystkowiak says he鈥檚 putting a bigger emphasis on throwing the ball inside more this season than in past seasons, figuring his post players will have more chance of success.
鈥淚f you think about it, everything鈥檚 gotta move out,鈥 Krystkowiak said. 鈥淓ven though it鈥檚 only a foot and a half on the line, I think the floor gets spaced a little bit more and will kind of separates the men from the boys in terms of who can really shoot.
鈥淲here guys were standing on the 3-point line before, you couldn鈥檛 hardly throw it into the post. So if you extend it a little bit, I鈥檇 like to think you can utilize your big men a little bit more.鈥

Stone Gettings, 13, laughs during 蜜柚直播鈥檚 media day last month. The Cornell transfer is a 鈥渟tretch-four鈥 who could help the Wildcats鈥 3-point shooting.
3. Defenses will have to adjust somehow.
Boyle says the new line will result in more zone defense being played this season, so he鈥檚 been emphasizing long-range shooting during and after practices.
For the Wildcats, whose offense has frequently attracted zones in recent seasons, maybe that鈥檚 not a big difference.
鈥淗onestly, with the length of the zones in the Pac, you have to shoot that far because everybody鈥檚 so big, with the length,鈥 Smith says. 鈥淲ith Washington (last season), you had Matissee Thybulle, and if you didn鈥檛 move back he鈥檚 going to block it. So it鈥檚 not that big of a change.鈥
Enfield said he doesn鈥檛 necessarily think that will be more zone played and, maybe, UA鈥檚 pack-line strategy 鈥 where defenders except those guarding the ballhandler stay back slightly to prevent penetration 鈥 may hold up with the new distance.
鈥淚 would generally think his defenses are better equipped to handle this,鈥 Pomeroy said of Miller. 鈥淗is elite defenses were pretty good at defending the 3-point line and if you have good length on the perimeter, you can do a little more in terms of leaving your man and then recovering and being able to challenge shots.
鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be teams further down the food chain that don鈥檛 have that kind of quickness in the back corner who are going to really struggle on those kinds of concepts.鈥
Percentages may dip, but attempts might not.
After the 3-point line moved from 19-9 to 20-9 in 2008-09, the biggest dip wasn鈥檛 in the percentages made 鈥 but in the attempts of 3s taken in the first place.
The completion rate of 35.1% in 2007-08 dipped only into the 34% range for most of the next decade, while the attempts dropped from 34.5% in 2007-80 to around 32%-33% for the next six seasons.
But, Pomeroy said, the mentality of today鈥檚 players likely means the long bombs will keep going on, no matter where the line in the sand is drawn.
鈥淚 just feel like now we鈥檙e in kind of a 鈥楽teph generation鈥 where everybody knows he can shoot it,鈥 Pomeroy said, referring to Golden State shooting star Stephen Curry. 鈥淎nd we see so many examples of guys going to the NBA and kind of developing a 3-point shot with a longer line. Everybody just realized that, with a little practice, everyone can shoot it. So I feel like it鈥檚 kind of a different era and we just won鈥檛 see the kind of real profound change that we saw last time.鈥