[Cracked Sidewalks] 7 of 10 Would Give Howard Greatest 3-Pt% in History of College Basketball

[CrackedSidewalks]

7 of 10 Would Give Howard Greatest 3-Pt% in History of College Basketball

As I recorded Andrew Rowsey before the Creighton game asking a defender to come out and guard him at half court, dribbling, and then calmly sinking a 45-footer (see here and photo above), I dwelled on the fact that he might be only the third best three-pointer shooter in the Bradley Center. Steve Novak was sitting a few rows in front of me, and then there is Markus Howard.

If Markus Howard hits seven of his next 10 three-pointers he would be hitting at a 56.08 percent clip - giving him the greatest season in the history of college basketball. Of course, we do not now how many more three point attempts he will take between the Big East and NCAA tournament,

Howard can also become the greatest three-point shooter in the history of college basketball if he finishes the season 4 of 4, 13 of 20, 19 of 30 or 24 of 40, as shown on the table below. Howard is chasing only the 56.03 percent mark of Micah Mason of Duquesne a couple of years ago:

RANK	NAME	TEAM		3FG	3FGA	3FG%
1	Micah Mason	Duquesne	2013-14	65	116	56.03
2	Markus Howard	Marquette	2016-17	76	138	55.07
1?	Markus Howard (if 4 of 4)	Marquette	2016-17	80	142	56.34
1?	Markus Howard (if 7 of 10)	Marquette	2016-17	83	148	56.08
1?	Markus Howard (if 13 of 20)	Marquette	2016-17	89	158	56.33
1?	Markus Howard (if 19 of 30)	Marquette	2016-17	95	168	56.55
1?	Markus Howard (if 24 of 40)	Marquette	2016-17	100	178	56.18
3	Nick Masterson	Kennesaw St.	2016-17	88	161	54.66
4	Roosevelt Moore	Saint Peter's	1992-93			53.28
5	Travis Ford	Kentucky	1992-93			52.88
6	Royce Olney	New Mexico	1997-98			51.28
7	Troy Hudson	Southern Illinois	1996-97			51.15
8	Brad Lechtenberg	San Diego	2003-04			51.08
9	Ross Land	Northern Arizona	1998-99			50.92
10	Giddy Potts	Middle Tennessee	2015-16			50.64
11	Salim Stoudamire	Arizona	2004-05			50.42
12	Jon Diebler	Ohio State	2010-11			50.22
13	Josh Carter	Texas A&M	2006-07			50.00
14	Jeremy Crouch	Bradley	2006-07			50.00
15	Chris Westlake	Green Bay	1994-95			50.00

As long as Howard closes the season reasonably well he will finish as one of 15 players to ever shoot 50 percent from behind the arc for a season. Nick Masterson also matched the feat this season with Kennesaw State, a team that was eliminated from the ASun Tournament as the 252nd best team in the country, and played some non-Division 1 schools.

As a team, Marquette is now at 43 percent on three-pointers, a full 1.5 percent ahead of second place UCLA.

Source: 7 of 10 Would Give Howard Greatest 3-Pt% in History of College Basketball

[blikemike2]

What did he finish with ?

[auburnmarquette]

this is what he would need for the rest of the season to break the record. If we were to get in four more games, at almost 5 shots a game, then he would take about 20 more three-pointers and need to hit 13 of them to break the all-time record.

[BossplayaOtto]

For additional perspective, M2N could miss his next 62 3PA's and still have a higher 3pt% than Bronson Koenig (this season).

Not that he is going to! Only Vito Brown or Nigel Hayes could accomplish something like that.

[forgetful]

My fear is that he will be like DJO, who shot 47% his first year and never above 39% thereafter. 

It is hard to believe he will be able to match such insane shooting moving forward, my hope is that he at least continues to be amongst the NCAA leaders.

[NotAnAlum]

One thing odd about Markus.  He falls down after every attempt.  He seems to do this on his 2 pt follow through as well.  Its hard for me to believe you can have that great a shooting % (which requires consistency) and be so unsquare when you land that you fall down.  When a guy shoots that well you hate to change anything about his shot but long term it is not a good thing for him to end up on the court after each attempt.  Refs will get used to that and will never give him foul calls and he is susceptible to giving up fast break opportunities on long rebounds.  Novak was the best shooter I have ever seen but the key to has success what that he shot with the exact same form each time.  I guess whatever works.

[MUBigDance]

Interesting stats. Thanks "sidewalks".
Will watch for this.

[#UnleashSean]

One thing odd about Markus.  He falls down after every attempt.  He seems to do this on his 2 pt follow through as well.  Its hard for me to believe you can have that great a shooting % (which requires consistency) and be so unsquare when you land that you fall down.  When a guy shoots that well you hate to change anything about his shot but long term it is not a good thing for him to end up on the court after each attempt.  Refs will get used to that and will never give him foul calls and he is susceptible to giving up fast break opportunities on long rebounds.  Novak was the best shooter I have ever seen but the key to has success what that he shot with the exact same form each time.  I guess whatever works.

Hes falling because hes trying to draw fouls. Not that hes unbalanced. It worked early in the season, but after refs caught on they stopped giving him the call. He'll probably take it out of his moveset come his sophomore season

[MU82]

My fear is that he will be like DJO, who shot 47% his first year and never above 39% thereafter. 

It is hard to believe he will be able to match such insane shooting moving forward, my hope is that he at least continues to be amongst the NCAA leaders.

The guy whose record Markus is chasing, Micah Mason, got his 56% mark as a sophomore. He shot 45% as a junior and 42% as a senior - both respectable figures but nowhere near 56%. And I never heard of Mason - and probably few others here had either - because he is not playing in the NBA.

I expect great things from Markus. But this is a bit of a cautionary tale for those who think Markus will go through his college career shooting 55%-plus and then is guaranteed NBA stardom. None of us is guaranteed anything in life.

[brewcity77]

Personally, I expect Markus to shoot in the 40s next year. It'll be harder to get his shot as the likely top option, and without JJ and Reinhardt to draw attention. His progression will be interesting to watch. Honestly, if the rest of his seasons are all within 10 percentage points of this year, he'd likely go down as the best shooter in NCAA history.

[bilsu]

He shoots worse if he takes more shots. Also, if he keeps shooting when he is off like Rowsey does. Otherwise there is no reason for him to shoot less than 50%. He has a perfect shot with a quick release.

[brewcity77]

He shoots worse if he takes more shots. Also, if he keeps shooting when he is off like Rowsey does. Otherwise there is no reason for him to shoot less than 50%. He has a perfect shot with a quick release.

No. Just no. Flat out wrong.

In the past 14 years, including this season, there have been 57 times that a player averaged 16+ mpg and 2.0+ 3PA/g with a 3PFG% of 50% or better. On average, that's 4 players per season.

You know how many were able to hit 50+% twice in their entire career? One. Micah Mason is the only player in the last 14 years to do that twice.

55 players including Markus have hit 50% once in that span, one player has done it twice, none have done it three times. The odds are Markus never hits this mark again. Most of those players hit in the high 30s in most of their seasons. Years like this, even for great shooters, are an anomaly. Doug McDermott, Jimmer Fredette, Steph Curry, they never hit that mark.

Don't set yourself up for disappointment. He's a great shooter, but things like this don't just happen all the time. This season from Markus will likely be the best three point shooting season any Marquette fan sees on their entire lifetime. Enjoy it, but don't pretend it will be the norm.

[oldwarrior81]

Tony Bennett was a career 49.7% 3pt shooter at UWGB

shooting 53.3 and 51.1 his last two seasons.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/tony-bennett-1.html

[brewcity77]

25 years ago. How many tens of thousands of players have played since then? That should give you an idea how uncommon it is and how unlikely it is Markus will ever repeat the feat.

Again, if he's within 10 percentage points each of the next three years, he'll likely be remembered as the greatest shooter ever to play the collegiate game.

[Coleman]

Markus is a great shooter, but also a beneficiary of being on a team loaded with great shooters...Rowsey, Reinhardt, JJJ, and Hauser can all knock it down. We lose 2 of those guys next year, and Rowsey the year after that. Maybe we replace them with even more great shooters, but it will be hard for Markus to get the same kind of looks without that many great shooters on the team.

[GoldenDieners32]

Markus is a great shooter, but also a beneficiary of being on a team loaded with great shooters...Rowsey, Reinhardt, JJJ, and Hauser can all knock it down. We lose 2 of those guys next year, and Rowsey the year after that. Maybe we replace them with even more great shooters, but it will be hard for Markus to get the same kind of looks without that many great shooters on the team.

People have said that Sacar jumper has improved that will help