J.J. the best shooter ... ever? It just doesn't add up

While watching college hoops Tuesday night, I thought Rick Majerus raving about the "soft, supple hands" of Boston College forward Craig Smith would be the most disturbing thing I'd see or hear for a long, long time.

And then I read Gregg Doyel's love letter to J.J. Redick.

J.J. Redick is ranked 68th in 3-point percentage. (Getty Images)

Gregg warned us at the outset to prepare to be sick. He's a man of his word. I was scurrying for the Pepto after three paragraphs. Which, for the record, was two paragraphs before Gregg declared that Redick might be the best shooter in college basketball history.

Et tu, Gregg? Et tu?

Remember, we're talking about pure shooting here. Not Redick's overall scoring ability. Not his defense or ball-handling, both of which were sub-par early in his career but have certainly improved. Not his passing or his overall athleticism, which are run-of-the-mill. Just shooting. If he's such a deadly marksman, there should be a wealth of statistical data to back it up, right?

So let's somewhat-arbitrarily examine Redick's 3-point proficiency in what is universally regarded as a stellar senior season (at least thus far). Among Division I players with at least 100 3-point attempts this season, Redick's shooting percentage ranks (drum roll, please) ... No. 68. The stats on the NCAA's website are a couple of days old, but among players who have made at least 2.5 3-pointers per game, Redick ranks somewhere around No. 26.

Now, I'm no statistician, but I would think that the greatest shooter ever would be higher on those lists. Then again, I would have also thought that the greatest shooter ever would have hit better than 39.9 percent of his 3s as a freshman, 39.5 percent as a sophomore and 40.3 percent as a junior.

Well, maybe he saves his best for the postseason. Let's see how he has fared in the ACC Tournament. From 3-point range, he was 10-of-21 as a freshman, 3- of-17 as a sophomore and 12-of-29 as a junior, for a total of 25-of-67 (37.3 percent).

Hmmmm.

Maybe the conference tourney isn't a big deal to him, and he turns into a cold-blooded assassin for the NCAA Tournament.

Oops.

In three trips to the Big Dance, he hit 6 of 21 trifectas, then 15 of 42, then 6 of 24 for a total of 27 of 87. If my math is correct -- which is a big "if" -- that's 31 percent.

OK, well, the best shooter ever would probably get better the deeper Duke goes in the postseason.