Big East Basketball: 3 bold predictions for 2020-21 season
3. Mitch Ballock will lead in three-point percentage
Granted this is an attention-seeking title to state that Mitch Ballock is going to lead the Big East in field goal percentage. Ray Allen’s best season from beyond the arc was 46.5% and just the seventh-best percentage in Big East history, but would anybody be impressed with the title Ballock will shoot better than Steve Novak ever did?
It will be argued that Ballock will come nowhere near the 247 attempts Allen had, as 227 is the highest amount he has ever attempted, and that was during a non-COVID shortened season.
Percentages are sensitive to the number of shots taken, but Ballock will average more than the 7.1 Allen did during the 1995-96 season. As well, Ballock will also increase his career 40 percent success rate to around 47% for the 2020-21 season.
Ballock was second in the Big East behind Villanova’s Saddiq Bey this past season from beyond the arc and the loss of Ty-Shon Alexander (who finished fourth in the Big East) will result in more shots for Ballock, but the defense’s attention will only be divided among him and Marcus Zegarowski this season.
Freshman Ryan Kalkbrenner and Jason Epperson, who played just nine games last season, will not be dominating the paint and drawing double teams regularly, but they are more of an offensive weapon than Creighton had last season.
All this will ultimately add up to Ballock not only leading the Big East in shooting percentage but having a top seven single-season shooting performances in the conference since the 1985-86 season.