Duke basketball’s Sion James shares some insight on his evolution as a 3-point shooter
Few Duke basketball players inspired more confidence in the Cameron Crazies than Sion James this past season, and with the fifth-year senior connecting on 41.3% of his 3-point attempts, it was easy to see why. The 6-foot-6 transfer averaged 8.6 points despite only shooting 5.6 shots per game, making him one of the most efficient Blue Devils on the roster, and he finished with at least 15 points in three of his last nine games with the program.

That sentiment might have surprised some Tulane fans who remember James’s debut campaign in 2020-21.

The Georgia native signed with the Green Wave as a three-star prospect, 247Sports’ 59th-ranked point guard and 25th-best player from his home state. Despite his resume, he said on this week’s episode of The Brotherhood Podcast that he underestimated how much work he needed as a shooter.

I came into college not being able to shoot, but I didn’t really know that,” James said. “In high school, I could do whatever I wanted, figure it out, I was one of the best players in the county…I’m just not really hearing much negative about my game. I get to college and dudes are guarding me at the free-throw line, I said, ‘What the heck are y’all doing back there?'”

James made just 28.0% of his triples as a freshman despite averaging more than an attempt per game. The following offseason, James said he and Tulane assistant coach Claude Pardue worked on his shot for days on end.

“We spent like a week or two not even getting outside the 3-point line,” James said. “Just changing my form, working on my shot, and just getting more and more confidence over the years.

The work paid off slowly. James jumped to a 33.3% perimeter shooter as a sophomore, and by his final year with Tulane, he knocked down 38.1% of his 3-point looks while taking 3.6 attempts per game. It added up to a career-high 14.0 points per game, the kind of profile that caught Duke coach Jon Scheyer’s attention in the transfer portal.