When the NCAA introduced the three-point line for good in the 1986-87 season, the rules committee did it to open up the game and cut down on rough low-post play.
Smaller teams like Rick Pitino’s Providence Friars soon used it to their advantage.

The Friars led the nation with 280 3-pointers made in 34 games during that first season with the line, proving that those who mastered the long ball could win.
A team could now afford to lose the rebounding game and give up points inside, knowing it would be in the game as long as it shoot stellar from beyond the arch.

But then comes March, where the need for a dominant post player hasn’t lessened.
Even though having other aspects like a solid point guard or a dependable scoring wing player are beneficial to any championship run, coach Gary Williams, who led Maryland to the title in 2002, said the players at the power positions are what set championship teams apart from the rest of the field.

“The 3-point line has done some things to open up the game a little bit, but at the same time if you have to extend up on the 3-point line then the ability to penetrate is there,” Williams said. “If you have big people inside that can stop the dribble penetration and won’t give up a lot of easy shots, I think that’s your advantage.”

Williams’ 2002 team had the outstanding frontline of Chris Wilcox and Lonny Baxter, and other bigger bodies coming off the bench.

“Balance is very important for a championship team. Any team that gets to the Final Four has very good guards, you’re not going to get their without guards,” Williams said. “We might’ve been the biggest team in the country that year, I don’t know for sure but at least in the Final Four I thought we were the most physical inside and I thought that helped us.”

Several other recent national champions boasted players who could rebound, defend the low block and score with their backs to the basket.

North Carolina had Sean May in 2005. Connecticut had Emeka Okafor in 2003.
Florida rode the backs of Joakim Noah and Al Horford to back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007 and the list goes on.

“Obviously it helps,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “I don’t think there’s any one formula for winning the NCAA Tournament. So much of it has to do with match-ups. … If you have a good big man that helps you a lot but I don’t think you need to have a great big man to win the whole thing.”

The Blue Devils are one of those teams trying to reverse the trend this season. The team’s true post players, Lance Thomas, Brian Zoubek and David McClure, all average less than five points and four rebounds a game. Carlos Boozer or Christian Laettner they are not.

Thus far, the team has overcame the problem en route to 26 wins. But as the legs are getting heavier and the 3-pointers harder to come by, it remains to be seen whether Duke can reel off the enough games in a row relying solely on its perimeter game.

“We have to continue to play the disciplined way. When we take care of the ball and play good defense and shoot a good percentage we have a chance,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re going to shoot the three but we got to get to the foul line too. If we have a good March we’ll need a positive margin of turnovers, what we commit and the other team commits, that’s been a key stat for us.”

And North Carolina has good guards with Ty Lawson now healthy and also Wayne Ellington, it’s Tyler Hansbrough that separates Roy Williams’s team from the rest of the field.

“In the NCAA Tournament, that outside shot does get harder and the inside shots are still two-footers. I think you also have the opportunity to get fouled more on the inside, but you have to be balanced to be that good to win the NCAA championship game,” Roy Williams said.

“If I have to choose, give me the guy that can get the other team in foul trouble because at the end of the game you might not be playing against their best players, they may be sitting there over on the bench.”

When NCAA play begins next week, several teams will use the 3-point line as a guide as to where to launch a would-be game winner or use it to cause sizable leads to evaporate. But on the road to a national championship, college basketball is still a big man’s game.

“The big guys, the tough power guys inside, still dominate the game,” Gary Williams said. “That’s the game of basketball, you take up some room in the middle and it makes it more difficult on the other team.”