The Evolution of the Jump-Shot in Basketball

from Shawn Fury, The Wall Street Journal:
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It's impossible to name any one creator of the jump shot, but once it appeared, it brought chaos to a previously controlled game. In the early 20th century, basketball offenses featured weaves and passes until an open player could fire a set shot-- both feet firmly planted on the ground-- with two hands.

Consider the impact of the shot on college basketball. Starting in 1939, the first 11 NCAA national championship games featured an average score of 49.1–39.2. By the following decade (1950-59), scoring had increased by an order of magnitude, with the title game averaging 74.9–66.2.

Yet critics still ridiculed the tactic. Former Notre Dame coach Moose Krause advocated making the ball bigger to make shooting more difficult. He believed that basketball had become too easy by 1957 and "gets less and less interesting every year."
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The entire article can be read here.