Something really interesting about basketball is that the size of the court often varies depending on the level or league of play.
In football, a yard is always a yard and you need 10 of them for a first down. In hockey, most collegiate rinks are standard NHL size. In baseball, from high school to the majors, it’s 90 feet to first base.
But in basketball, particularly regarding the three-point line, things can vary greatly.
Current Distance of the College Three-Point Line
The NCAA three-point line is currently 22 feet, 1 ¾ inches. That distance is the same used in international formats, but it was a fairly new addition to the college game.
A 2019 rule change extended the three-point line from 20 feet, 9 inches, which had been the norm since 2007 when it was extended from 19 feet, 9 inches.
That mark was established for the 1986–87 season, when the NCAA first introduced the three-point line across all conferences.
Multiple conferences were using the three-point line before this, with the first being the Southern Conference. The Southern Conference used a 22-foot line for the 1980–81 season.
When the NCAA pushed the line back to 22 feet, 1 ¾ inches it changed the game. That season, three-point attempts (on average) fell by .76 (22.45 to 21.69) and makes fell by .49 (7.75 to 7.26).
Currently, there are 27 teams in Division I shooting at least 37% from three-point range and 32 teams average at least 28 three-point attempts.
How the College Three-Point Line Compares to the NBA
The collegiate three-point line is significantly shorter than the NBA’s.
While the NCAA’s line currently is 22 feet, 1 ¾ inches, the NBA’s three-point line is 23 feet, 9 inches. The NBA’s line is 22 feet from the corner, while the NCAA’s is 21 feet, 7 ⅞ inches.
Three-Point Game-Changers
The rise in popularity of the three-point shot can’t truly be assigned to any one person, but there are two players who certainly contributed more than any of the others.
First was Davidson point guard (and future four-time NBA champion) Stephen Curry.
Curry was a huge reason why kids across the country stopped caring so much about their dribble moves and started focusing on the deep ball.
Davidson wasn’t being seen by many people nationwide, so many were sleeping on Curry during his freshman campaign in 2006–07 despite him leading all freshmen in scoring with 21.5 points per night (while shooting 41% from three-point range).
Davidson made the NCAA tournament, but the Wildcats lost in the first round. However, this was the first time that America got to see Curry’s incredible skill set up close. He shot 57% from three-point range and dropped 30 against Maryland, scoring nearly half of Davidson’s points.
It was 2008 when Curry really started to change the basketball zeitgeist. He led Davidson to the Elite Eight after defeating Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament.
Curry averaged 32 points per game in the tournament, turning heads around the country with his deep scoring ability.
Second was Jimmer Fredette of BYU.
Fredette was a do-it-all scorer for the Cougars, with “in the gym” range and a greenlight from coaches to shoot it whenever, wherever and however he pleased. He left BYU in 2011 as a career 39.4% three-point shooter.
From Kevin Durant to Scott Van Pelt to Bill Simmons to Nelly, everyone was captivated by Fredette’s senior campaign with the Cougars.
He averaged 32.6 points per game in the 2011 NCAA tournament, leading BYU to the Sweet 16 while shooting 40% from the three-point line.
Curry and Fredette were not alone in their talent, but these two captivated college basketball fans around the country and inspired a generation of young hoopers to start focusing on the three-pointer.
History of the NBA’s Three-Point Line
The NBA instituted a three-point line for the 1979–80 season. It was the same distance as it is today and Boston Celtics guard Chris Ford became the first player to hit a three-pointer in an NBA game, doing so on October 12, 1979.
Celtics legend Larry Bird became the first player to hit one during the All-Star Game (1980) and won the league’s first three three-point contests (1986, 1987 and 1988). During this time in the late 1980s, the three-pointer started to become more popular.
However, it was still considered a gimmick, not something a team would work its entire offense around.
In 1994, the NBA wanted to increase scoring and make things more exciting. The league thought that more three-pointers would do that, so the three-point line was moved into a uniform 22 feet around the arc.
This was kept for three seasons, before the NBA moved it back to 23 feet, 9 inches.
In 1985, NBA teams attempted just 3.3 three-pointers per game. By 1995, that number had jumped to 16 per game. It remained around there until 2012, when teams averaged 20 attempted three-pointers per game. In 2025, NBA teams are shooting a whopping 37.5 per game.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Far Is the College Three-Point Line Compared to the NBA Line?.
