ROCK HILL, SC—College basketball is observing  the 25^th anniversary this season of the 3-point shot that was implemented in 1986-87 and changed the game forever. For programs like Winthrop it has become the “great equalizer” in that it has given mid-major teams hope that they can compete with and sometimes defeat the powerhouse schools. 
 
Recent history has demonstrated that hope.  Just look at Butler University and VCU over the past two NCAA men's basketball championship tournaments.   The 3-point shot has become Cinderella's slipper for the mid-majors.
 
Today's players weren't even born when the 3-pointer was implemented, but Winthrop men's head coach Randy Peele and Lady Eagle head coach Marlene Stollings have their own memories and thoughts about the rule.

Peele, who was serving as an assistant coach at Tennessee-Martin when the 3-point shot was ushered in for the 1986-87 season, has seen how the rule has changed the game.  He has seen how the 3-point arc distance has changed over the years and he says when the 3-point shot was first introduced to the game, he was against it.

“When the rule was first put in, I wasn't in favor of it because I thought the distance was too close, but it has proven to be a great thing for college basketball.  Ideally, I would like to see it moved a little bit farther back, maybe to the international line,” he says.  “The 3-point rule and the shot clock have changed the game tremendously because it means that it's not as hard to come back from a huge deficit early in the game.  You are never out of the game because of the 3-point shot and because of the shot clock.”

Peele says a good example of that is the Winthrop game against Charleston Southern back on Feb. 24, 2009 when the Eagles were trailing by 26 at halftime and rallied to win.  “If you are down by let's say 13 points into the second half, you're not out of the game, and so I think that's the biggest thing that the rule has done,” said Peele. 

When the rule was first implemented, its' intent was to create more working space in the paint or free throw lane for post players.  Peele believes the rule accomplished that goal.  “The intent is to create more one on ones inside and it has done that.  The 3-point shot has really stretched the defense out across the floor.”  He says the 3-point line has also opened up the floor for more dribble penetration.  “That to me is where the game has changed.  It is not a post-driven game anymore, but now it is a game that is played off the ball screen and dribble penetration,” he says. 

For Stollings, who  was in the seventh grade when the rule was adopted and went on to become the all-time scoring leader in the history of Ohio high school basketball , she remembers walking into the gym when they were painting the lines and getting so excited about having another avenue to score.

“It became an immediate challenge to see how accurate I could become from long distance,” she says. “I spent countless hours in the gym perfecting my shot from behind the arc.  In the long run, it helped pave the way for me to earn a D-I scholarship to The Ohio State University and become the state's all-time leading scorer with hundreds of those points coming from behind the arc.”

Besides the impact it had on her own game, Stollings says the 3-point shot has provided the opportunity for more scoring and as a result fan excitement.  “From a strategic standpoint, the shot has changed offenses and defenses alike because you must account for it on both ends of the court.  Games are more competitive because you always have a chance.”
Both coaches agree that the advent of the 3-pointer has impacted the individual skill set and the mid-range game.  Stollings says, “I don't believe players work on the mid-range game as much.  We see more players shooting threes or taking the ball all the way to the basket.”

So, what is the biggest 3-pointer by a Winthrop player over the past 25 years?  Winthrop Assistant Athletic Director Jack Frost has gone back in his memory bank to come up with the “biggest” three-pointer in the school history.  Frost, who has worked 639 men's basketball games in the past 22 years, and has seen thousands of 3-pointers launched.  He has witnessed many memorable 3-point shots some of which he recalls went against the Eagles. “Among the 3-pointers that I remember most is the 3-pointer by Michael Jenkins at Wisconsin on Dec. 4, 2006 that gave Winthrop the lead with 10 seconds left in regulation, a 3-point buzzer beater by James Shuler on Feb. 18, 2006 against Northern Illinois in the ESPN BracketBusters game, and the final 3-pointer of Chris Gaynor's illustrious career on Mar. 20, 2008 NCAA tournament game against Washington State that gave him an even 1,000 points as an Eagle, and a buzzer beater three by Charles Corbin that gave Winthrop a 60-57 victory at Gardner-Webb last February.”
 
But the biggest and undoubtedly the most important three in Frost's opinion came during the 2001 Big South Conference semi-finals against Liberty in the Roanoke (VA) Coliseum.
 
Tywan Harris, a reserve shooting guard for the Eagles, hit the shot at the buzzer and Winthrop went on to defeat the Flames in double overtime and advance to the championship game.  “I can still see that shot and remember how fortunate he was to even have a chance to shoot it,” says Frost. 

“Liberty had taken a 3-point lead, but we had the ball in the final seconds with a chance to tie the game.  We had to have a 3-pointer to tie the game, but Roger Toxey drove the left baseline and took a 15-footer with about two seconds left that bounced off the rim.  A two-point bucket would have done us no good.  But rather than grab the rebound, the Liberty center slapped the ball out toward center court thinking that the clock would expire.  Harris, however, was standing near the top of the key and just behind the 3-point arc and caught the ball.  The shot was out of his hand just as the shot hit zero and the ball hit the bottom of the net.   We won that game and then defeated a very good Radford team in overtime the next night to earn our third straight automatic bid to the Big Dance.”
Without that shot, Winthrop would have just eight NCAA trips rather than nine.

While the Harris shot proved big for Winthrop, Frost also remembers two 3-pointers that handed losses to the Eagles.  “The 3-pointer by Tennessee's Chris Lofton that beat us in the first round of the 2006 NCAA tournament in Greensboro (NC) still hurts,” says Frost.  “To get that close to winning our first game in the NCAA tournament and losing that way is one of my worst memories of the 3-point shot.  The other one I remember was a 35-foot desperation hook shot by UNC Greensboro on Dec. 21, 1999 ended an 11-game home court winning streak.”