Shooting the 3 is about to get harder

When's the last time you were on a college basketball court?

I don't mean played on it.

I mean just on it, as in walked on it, stood on it, talked to somebody on it. Because if it wasn't too long ago -- and if you aren't used to seeing it everyday -- you probably recognized the same thing most people recognize immediately, that the 3-point line is way closer than it appears on television.

At least graduates like Lee Humphrey won't have to deal with the changes. (US Presswire)

We sit on our couch and watch Chris Lofton make four consecutive 3-pointers, and we are amazed. But if you were at the game and somebody allowed you to stand in the exact spots from which those jumpers were hoisted, you'd realize a clean look at a college 3-pointer is fairly simple to make. Put another way, if I gave you 10 shots at Cameron Indoor Stadium and 10 shots at the local fair, you'd make a lower percentage at the local fair -- meaning it's easier to score three points in the ACC than it is to win your girlfriend a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal.

But it's about to get harder.

The NCAA men's basketball rules committee approved a measure Thursday to move the line from 19 feet, 9 inches to 20 feet, 9 inches beginning with the 2008-09 season. Assuming it's approved by the playing rules oversight committee on May 25 -- which is about as safe as assuming Britney Spears is lip syncing on stage -- it would mark the first major change to 3-pointers since their adoption 20 years ago.

And that, my friends, is mostly good news, though it still won't make Bob Knight happy. He was even unhappy last season when Texas Tech used five 3-pointers in the second half to upset Texas A&M because the legendary coach fundamentally hates 3-pointers, the 3-point line, the Three Musketeers, Three's Company, Three Amigos and all three steps you-know-who from that Lynyrd Skynyrd song wanted that man-with-a-gun-in-his-hand to give him, I'm guessing.

"That doesn't make me feel any better about 3-point shots," Knight said after beating A&M. "I don't like it, didn't like it, not going to like it."

So a 3-pointer a foot further from the basket won't be enough to change Knight's position because he despises 3-pointers regardless the distance. But all things considered, this is a positive move given how it will help separate the good shooters from the average shooters (think of it like high rough on a golf course) and create better spacing to in turn put more value on players with a solid in-between game -- meaning the two-dribble, pull-up jumper just might make a comeback.

I like the two-dribble, pull-up jumper.

So put me down as somebody who likes the change.

Which is not to suggest there aren't negatives attached.

One is how the move might encourage more teams to play a zone defense because if a zone is designed to force opponents to shoot 3-pointers, it's reasonable to think more teams will become favorable of zones considering 3-pointers should now by definition be more difficult to make. Meanwhile, the schools that already predominantly play zone will likely enjoy a larger degree of success.

Advantage: Syracuse.

"Jim Boeheim, right now, is very happy," UCLA coach Ben Howland told CBS SportsLine.com on Thursday afternoon. "In college basketball, you don't have the same skill level as you do in the NBA, so you're going to see a lot more zone."

And a lot less complimentary tuitions.

That's the other negative, of course, that it'll kill those students who shoot 3-pointers for free tuition at halftimes of games. Another foot might be enough to eliminate a reasonable chance at success for a 5-foot-7 biology major. So while Boeheim should benefit more than any other coach, the people at SallieMae are probably smiling, too.