I'm not bragging. I'm just scratching my head and throwing this out there as one of those "I've never seen anything like this" sorts of things.

In Tark last night, my Shenandoah team took on North Carolina Wesleyan and attempted a whopping 41 3-point shots during a non-overtime game. Box score

Now here's the kicker...not a single player on that team was set at +2. I only had three guys set for +1. Everyone else was a mix of 0, -1 and -2 (after looking at the box score I immediately went and checked, assuming that somehow the settings I entered for the game had changed!!).

I've had teams that I specifically designed around the deep ball where guys were jacked to +2 on shooting tendency and VERY rarely see more than 30 attempts behind the arc. I've never sniffed the high 30s, much less 40s for attempts in a game. I'm glad I won the game and I'm sure my opponent's first-half -2 positioning probably factors in slightly, but even considering that, the shot selection just seems crazy, especially considering the player settings and the fact that 76 is my highest PER and only one other guy is above 70.

The fact that you played Motion offense against his -2 setting accounts for the 21 1st half attempts. Why you jacked up 20 more attempts after he switched to a 0 setting after halftime is most suprising though. I think the overall number of attempts was higher than normal because your opponent played uptempo which increased your number of possessions. Given your extremely high team IQ, I have to believe the engine generated the best shot selection based on your opponents defense. Apparently, those matchups indicated that 3-point attempts were the way to go. I do question what +/- setting you had for your backup Center Sweat because even he tossed up 3 attempts with his miniscule 2 Perimeter rating. The bottom line is that it was a very weird result given that you were not intentionally focusing on perimeter shooting.

motion offense doesn't take a higher-than-average amount of 3s, at least, ive never noticed it (does it?). and although ive often said the +/- settings have a bigger impact on 3pta than 3pt% itself, i still don't think the difference between -2 and 0 is THAT big. so i dont really think that -2 justifies the 21 3s. i mean, i think both halves were simply the product of hitting the high end of the bell curve, thats all im saying. obviously the -2 made it slightly less high end of the bell curve, and i agree uptempo greatly increases the chances of something like this happening. but still, 60% of fgs as 3pt shot is crazy, im not sure ive seen 50%, about the highest i think i see my teams go in the normal flow of things is maybe lower 40s.

Rumor has it on the Shenandoah campus, there was a competition between a few of the Shen teammates during this game on who could bury the most threes...  I guaranteed the source to stay unanimous...

There had to be something ldhmnh! I'm going to have to save that box score just to have it for the future.

Appreciate the insights Weena and billyg. Always nice to get some thoughts from folks I look up to in this game when something causes me to pause and go hrmm...

Posted by coach_billyg on 9/19/2012 1:14:00 PM (view original):
motion offense doesn't take a higher-than-average amount of 3s, at least, ive never noticed it (does it?). and although ive often said the +/- settings have a bigger impact on 3pta than 3pt% itself, i still don't think the difference between -2 and 0 is THAT big. so i dont really think that -2 justifies the 21 3s. i mean, i think both halves were simply the product of hitting the high end of the bell curve, thats all im saying. obviously the -2 made it slightly less high end of the bell curve, and i agree uptempo greatly increases the chances of something like this happening. but still, 60% of fgs as 3pt shot is crazy, im not sure ive seen 50%, about the highest i think i see my teams go in the normal flow of things is maybe lower 40s.

I was wondering about the Motion thing myself.  I haven't noticed any one offense that is more likely to shoot three's than another.  It's always dictated by the player's settings (at least I thought) that determine whether they shoot a bunch of threes or not.

i havent either, emy. there are offenses that favor high perimeter shooters taking more 3s, more so than others, but i dont think any offense inherently causes players to shoot notably more 3s than others. i would expect in general flex offenses to take more 3s than other offenses, but i think its a function of player settings, like you suggest, not the engine going "flex? hmm, must shoot more 3s".

?I guaranteed the source to stay unanimous...

There must be more than one source if it's unanimous.

How come you never attempt 41 three's against me, rednu? We're playing in a couple of days - I expect a barrage from downtown!

Posted by bhansalid00 on 9/19/2012 3:36:00 PM (view original):
How come you never attempt 41 three's against me, rednu? We're playing in a couple of days - I expect a barrage from downtown!

The way my Naismith team is underachieving, I'll probably have to unleash a barrage just in a desperate effort to make the final margin look decent.

bhansalid00 says: "he'll expect a barrage of 3's."  Trying to bait rednu into setting all his distribution into scoring from the paint.  rednu acknowledges this, however, he's really thinking: "I'm gonna let me Bigs score if he's gonna go +5 on me.  However, if they both read this, then who knows what they'll do.  Game of the Week!

Posted by ldhmnh on 9/19/2012 6:54:00 PM (view original):
bhansalid00 says: "he'll expect a barrage of 3's."  Trying to bait rednu into setting all his distribution into scoring from the paint.  rednu acknowledges this, however, he's really thinking: "I'm gonna let me Bigs score if he's gonna go +5 on me.  However, if they both read this, then who knows what they'll do.  Game of the Week!

Man, I'm not smart enough for that kind of triple psychology.

Me either...gotta keep my gameplanning simple for all the ineligible types that are suiting up for me. You. Ball. Score. Defend. Move.

why am I thinking The Princess Bride now?