In every game in Cameron Indoor Stadium now, Duke players and Cameron Crazies alike have to look carefully at shooters' feet. Is Jon Scheyer behind the back line? Is Abby Waner's foot on the closest line? The NCAA moved the men's 3-point line back to 20 feet, nine inches this year, but the women's line stayed at 19 feet, nine inches, creating a conundrum of confusion anyone launches a 3-pointer.
On Thursday and Friday in Madison Square Garden, though, the Blue Devils will deal with another sort of logjam of lines. The two arcs on the homecourt of the Knicks and St. John's are the college line and the NBA line. Whereas Greg Paulus may be used to shooting from behind the back line, he'll be OK from the front line in any professional arena.
It was a problem that Gerald Henderson overcame easily. The forward posted 20 second-half points in Duke's 83-58 win over Southern Illinois Thursday, including a career-high four 3-pointers--but that doesn't mean the new line didn't cross his mind.
"You know, I thought about that a little bit," Henderson said. "But no, it was good. Sometimes, that NBA line kind of messes you up, but it was fine."
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