Don’t Look Now, but Quadir Copeland is Pulling Off the Biggest 3-Point Leap in the Country

Quadir Copeland is nearly unguardable off the bounce.

He’s 6’6, athletic, great handles, great footwork, great finisher at the rim with either hand. He’s also extremely crafty. He rarely gives you a straight-line drive, but he can do that, too.

He might mix in a eurostep, he might slow his pace on his continuation steps, he might bump you, stop, and pivot.

There aren’t very many players who can do what he can do with the basketball. But most of that can be negated in the half-court if you just drop back and make him shoot.

In the past, this was the issue with Copeland. He shot 11% his first season at Syracuse. He shot 25% his next season, and he shot just 15% last year at McNeese. If the defender doesn’t have to come close to you on the perimeter, they can really take away most of the skillset that sets you apart.

But this year is different. Copeland worked all offseason on his 3pt shot. Understanding how much better his intangibles would play if he could just force opponents to come up and guard him.

Read this excerpt from his NBA Scouting Report by Draft Analyst Ersin Demir:

Shooting off the catch:

Copeland has been a low-volume shooter for his entire collegiate career. That’s making the 54.2% on the season not anywhere near sustainable. However, he’s consistently getting into the same process with good footwork to start with. The first play show the defense following the scouting report focused on taking away his creativity off the dribble. He pivots right, but not setting his feet at 180 degrees. That’s keeping the help defender alert, as he still keeps the threat of the pass alive. He’s not naturally rising up for the shot, as he wasn’t fully in balance. But I don’t see how this is a negative in his profile compared to so many shooting-focused wings and guards.

His value on the floor is the gravity as a wing-sized playmaker and creative scorer. He has tight handles and thus the only value of his three-point shot is to gain gravity for the rest of his game. He’s pivoting with his right on the second and third plays below. He’s bending his knees a bit too far, having to power out and take more time on his jumper. But the high-arcing point is promising, at least if it’s always high.

He just needs to follow up on his good feet in getting his mechanics to something he can consistently use. As of now, the issue is that he’s powering the ball of his hands, rather than a natural release. The fourth play below shows an example. He’s pushing the ball in his chest before he’s pushing the ball of his hands. The arching point was much lower this time. Therefore, the numbers have zero to no value and Copeland should be considered a raw shooter rather than that part of his game being ready to plug him into an NBA role.

This was written just 3 weeks ago, and I think everyone assumed Copeland’s percentage would drop, but it hasn’t. In fact, we’re about halfway through the season, and his improved form, coupled with better shot selection, has him still at 48.8%.

If you were wondering what that jump looks like nationally?

It’s the best from last year to this year. 15% to nearly 50%.

The players with the biggest increase in 3P% from last season:

(Minimum 25 threes attempted both seasons) pic.twitter.com/tu5FfXACrB

— CBB Analytics (@CBBAnalytics) January 23, 2026

If Q can keep this up, and keep his assist to turnover ration looking solid (he only had 1 TO vs Clemson and is averaging 6.1 assists per game) he becomes a very valuable NBA prospect.