The 3-pointer changed college basketball. And attempts keep ticking up heading into March Madness

No team has made more 3-pointers, nor launched more, than Alabama in the past four seasons. And nothing will shake coach Nate Oats from believing they're at the core of building a winner in modern basketball. Teams might struggle to match the Crimson Tide’s sheer volume heading into March Madness , but they’re leaning into those long-distance shots, too.

“Finding efficient shots is at the top of what we do,” Oats said recently. “It’s at the top of what everybody in the NBA is looking at is generating efficient shots. And if you’re not thinking about how to get open catch-and-shoot 3s, I don’t think you’re thinking about creating efficient shots.

” This marks the 40th season with the 3-pointer fully integrated into college basketball, an advancement that has transformed the sport since its 1986-87 introduction. Years of pounding the ball inside to bigs have given way to skilled players stretching defenses to create space for shooters to take those matchup-tilting shots. In the NCAA Tournament , the 3 is an equalizer capable of igniting seismic upsets like Middle Tennessee's takedown of Michigan State in 2016 or the first-ever 16-vs-1 win with UMBC beating Virginia in 2018.

Going cold can just as easily mean an abrupt end to the season. So the question remains: How much should a team rely on the 3 in March? Division I teams fittingly have taken nearly 40% of their shots from behind the arc in this 40th season of the 3, yet a fraction of Final Four teams and NCAA champions in the 3-point era have utilized it to this year's levels with their seasons on the line.