Rick Pitino gathered his players during a preseason practice, and on a blackboard he scribbled an equation that Providence would follow to the Final Four.
It was October of 1986, and college basketball was introducing a new variable: the 3-point shot.
The numbers were fairly straightforward. Pitino explained that shooting 33% from 3-point range would yield the same amount of points as shooting 50% on 2-pointers. Pitino wanted the Friars to take 25 3-pointers per game.
Ryan Ford, then a walk-on sophomore, will never forget that message.
“He convinced us it was the best way for us to play,” Ford said.