Final Four participants weigh in on depth perception at Lucas Oil Stadum

INDIANAPOLIS—Lucas Oil Stadium will welcome four excellent three-point shooting teams this weekend for the Final Four, but whichever squad is able to adjust to the challenges of shooting inside a football stadium may be the last team standing.

The NCAA is transitioning away from using football stadiums as tournament sites, with the exception of the Final Four. Host sites have been announced for the regionals for the 2016 through 2018 NCAA tournaments, and all of them are multi-purpose arenas, many of which serve as the home of a professional basketball or hockey team. This year, the South Region was the only regional hosted at a venue that does not normally host basketball.

Much was made of the set-up last weekend at Houston's NRG Stadium after the high-powered offenses of Duke, Gonzaga, Utah and UCLA combined to shoot 13-for-58 from behind the arc in the Sweet 16 matchups March 27. The Blue Devils seemed to solve the puzzle two days later against the Bulldogs, making eight triples, and maintained Friday that the onus of making shots continues to fall on the players.

"We like that it's in a dome because that means more people are here. I think it's good for the game. It's up to players and coaches to adjust," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "That's why I think giving us an opportunity to practice yesterday for each team, to practice today and shoot tomorrow during the day, that should be enough, really. If we don't shoot well, we're not going to be up here Saturday night saying it was the dome. It will be Michigan State, probably."

Lucas Oil Stadium hasn't seemed to cause as many problems for shooters in years past as NRG Stadium did last weekend, particularly for Blue Devils. Seth Curry poured in six 3-pointers—the most by an individual at Lucas Oil Stadium—to lead Duke to a win against Michigan State in the Sweet 16 in 2013, and Jon Scheyer netted five triples in the national semifinals against West Virginia in 2010.

Scheyer's Blue Devils connected on 13-of-25 attempts from behind the arc against the Mountaineers, the second-most makes and attempts in the history of NCAA tournament games played at the venue.

"There's been a couple of domes that I think have been tougher. But this hasn't been one," Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. "No matter how we shoot tomorrow, I think this is as good a setup as there is."

Duke and Michigan State each played in a football stadium for their respective regionals last weekend, as the Spartans made nine 3-pointers in each of their victories at the Carrier Dome, the home of both basketball and football for Syracuse. The Blue Devils went 7-of-15 from long range in their Feb. 14 road win against the Orange.

"Playing at Syracuse this year was good for us. Playing last week at the Houston Texans stadium was good for us," Duke senior Quinn Cook said. "It's all mental. If you come in the game doubting yourself, you're not going to shoot the ball well."

On the other side of the bracket, Wisconsin and Kentucky emerged victorious from regionals played at NBA arenas. Badger star Frank Kaminsky said Friday that the set-up at the Staples Center in Los Angeles had the opposite effect of a football stadium.

"At the Staples Center it felt like people were just surrounding the court," Kaminsky said. "This place, it's much further back, but we've had a couple games like this with elevated courts. We went to the Final Four last year, so we know what it's like."

Izzo pointed out that some of his players have had to deal with even more challenging shooting environments than the wide expanse of a football stadium. The Carrier Dome isn't even the most imposing carrier they've had to deal with.

Travis Trice and Branden Dawson played the first game of their college careers against North Carolina, and not at the cavernous Dean E. Smith Center. The Spartans and Tar Heels waged war on the deck of an aircraft carrier off the coast of Coronado, Calif., in the first-ever Carrier Classic.

"I remember my first game, there is no-back drop when you're playing on an aircraft carrier," said Trice, who was 1-for-8 shooting against the wind and with nothing behind the backboard. "Anytime you get familiar with an arena, you should be fine."

The 2014 Final Four, held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, provided a stiff challenge for the Badgers, who make a return trip to the Final Four this year as one of the nation's most efficient offenses.

"Last year and this year, especially in Dallas, the shooting background, when we first started our shooting drills, I saw more clangs, that's misses, than I have ever seen," Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said, partially attributing last year's cold shooting to nerves. "This one is not quite as deep, Lucas [Oil]. You don't actually hear echoes in this one."