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Freeman Williams and the three-pointer

ONE OF THE BENEFITS (and occasional drawbacks) to being Portland State’s media director for Athletics is you get to hear everyone’s opinion on our programs, athletes, and coaches. Fans and media are quick to offer me their thoughts on everything Viking. Often, I am asked for my opinions on the state of things as well. Make no mistake, sometimes I have to toe the company line, and sometimes I can say what I really think.

A question that I have gotten more often than perhaps any other during my 23 years at Portland State is this: How many points do I think basketball legend Freeman Williams would have scored if he had played in the era of the three-point line?

After years of saying, “I have no idea,” I finally decided to sit down and try to work out an answer. Keep in mind that this is completely unscientific.

For historical perspective, let’s note that Williams played basketball at Portland State from 1974 to 1978. 

It was not until 1986 that the NCAA adopted the three-point field goal, which gave players an extra point for sinking a ball behind the 19 foot, 9 inch line. (Today it’s 20 feet, 9 inches.)

As a PSU Viking, Williams scored 3,249 points in 106 career games He once scored 81 points in a game, and he made 35 points or more on 41 occasions. Williams ranks second in NCAA basketball history in total points scored behind Louisiana State’s Pete Maravich.

The 6-foot-4-inch Williams was a first team All-American in 1978 along with the likes of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. He went on to play six seasons in the NBA.

I have to say I never saw Williams play in college, but I have probably witnessed, in person, more than 2,000 basketball games on the college and professional level.

FIRST, I HAD TO FIGURE out how many three-point shots Williams might have taken. Everyone says he could really shoot it from downtown, virtually unguarded territory. Today, the three-point rule would mean more outside defense, so I decided to convert half of his total attempts to three-pointers rather than more.

The toughest analysis for me is figuring out the percentage Williams would have shot from three-point range.

Defenses weren’t as sophisticated in Williams’s days and players overall weren’t as athletic, meaning he would likely get more shots that he wanted (open three-pointers) than most players can get these days. And, Williams definitely had a shoot-first, ask-questions-later mentality on the court. In addition, he was playing teams on a remarkably large sliding scale of talent, from George Fox University to University of Southern California. I think Williams would have loaded up on threes against weaker opponents—in an era when stars did not sit down during blowouts.

So, let’s give Williams the benefit of the doubt on percentage and go with 40 percent.

But, we aren’t done yet. If Williams took that many three-point shots, he certainly would have been fouled less and gotten to the free-throw line less often. It’s likely that Williams would have fallen in love with the three-pointer, and hit seven or eight per game. So I am going to assume a completely random—but likely close—average of five free-throw attempts per game. 

That brings us to our total and the answer to the oft-asked question, how many points would Williams have scored at Portland State with a three-point line: 3,543 in 106 games or 294 more points than his actual career numbers.

Photo: Freeman Williams touting a 71-point game against Southern Oregon in 1977.