[OCcardinal]

I have never been able to confirm this statistically, but my impression is that we very often start seasons with our greatest three point accuracy and often see that fall-off as the season wears on.  I presume this is because we encounter better and better perimeter defenses as we go along, but I also suspect it is because the positive effects of all the extra summer shot-practice wear off over time.  The team practices help players play better as a team, but once the season gets underway there is not a lot of time for individuals to work on their shots.  It could also be the unfamiliar sight-lines once we go on the road, and it could be fatigue.

In the last 15 seasons:
- 3 point shots made per game improved after the first 3 games in 6 seasons and worsened in 9 seasons
- The average decrease overall was 0.5 made threes per game.
- There were 4 seasons where we averaged more than ten 3PM through the first 3 games. On average we then dropped 2.7 3PM made for those seasons.
- There were 11 seasons where we averaged fewer than ten 3PM through the 1st 3 games. On average we then increased 0.4 3PM per game for those seasons.
- We've averaged 15 made threes per game so far (at a 57.7% rate).  The closest season to that was our 2018-19 season in which we averaged 12.3 made threes (at a 38% rate) per game through the first 3 games.  The made 3s per game did drop quite a bit (down to 8.9 for the season). But Kianna Williams, Alanna Smith and Lexie Hull all shot 3s at 36%+ for the season.  (Lacie Hull and Dijonai Carrington were both at 33%.) And that ended up being our best 3pt shooting season in the last 15 years. We made the Elite 8 that season. 2nd best, by a hair, was 2020-21 when we won the national championship.

The stats will undoubtedly go down substantially. The NCAA record for 3pm per game is 12.5 and for 3p% is 47.3% (both in years when the 3pt line was a lot closer) and we've got a lot of tough competition ahead.  But I'd argue there is more than the impact of summer practices going on here.  There are a lot of good 3pt shooters on the roster right now and Paye's offense this season is well-built to take advantage of that.  We'll see how it plays out from here.

[OCcardinal]

I have never been able to confirm this statistically, but my impression is that we very often start seasons with our greatest three point accuracy and often see that fall-off as the season wears on.  I presume this is because we encounter better and better perimeter defenses as we go along, but I also suspect it is because the positive effects of all the extra summer shot-practice wear off over time.  The team practices help players play better as a team, but once the season gets underway there is not a lot of time for individuals to work on their shots.  It could also be the unfamiliar sight-lines once we go on the road, and it could be fatigue.

In the last 15 seasons:
- 3 point shots made per game improved after the first 3 games in 6 seasons and worsened in 9 seasons
- The average decrease overall was 0.5 made threes per game.
- There were 4 seasons where we averaged more than ten 3PM through the first 3 games. On average we then dropped 2.7 3PM made for those seasons.
- There were 11 seasons where we averaged fewer than ten 3PM through the 1st 3 games. On average we then increased 0.4 3PM per game for those seasons.
- We've averaged 15 made threes per game so far (at a 57.7% rate).  The closest season to that was our 2018-19 season in which we averaged 12.3 made threes (at a 38% rate) per game through the first 3 games.  The made 3s per game did drop quite a bit (down to 8.9 for the season). But Kianna Williams, Alanna Smith and Lexie Hull all shot 3s at 36%+ for the season.  (Lacie Hull and Dijonai Carrington were both at 33%.) And that ended up being our best 3pt shooting season in the last 15 years. We made the Elite 8 that season. 2nd best, by a hair, was 2020-21 when we won the national championship.

The stats will undoubtedly go down substantially. The NCAA record for 3pm per game is 12.5 and for 3p% is 47.3% (both in years when the 3pt line was a lot closer) and we've got a lot of tough competition ahead.  But I'd argue there is more than the impact of summer practices going on here.  There are a lot of good 3pt shooters on the roster right now and Paye's offense this season is well-built to take advantage of that.  We'll see how it plays out from here.