If Wisconsin Hits Its Threes, Can the Badgers Be Stopped?

Wisconsin is one of the half dozen or so best teams in the country, and the Badgers do just about everything well. Their biggest flaw, though, has been their outside shooting. Could that be turning around? Mark Stewart seems to think so in today's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The Badgers, whose struggles from three-point range have been well-documented, used the long ball plus a couple of three-point plays to pull away from Penn State for a 71-58 victory Wednesday in front of a crowd of 7,615 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Wisconsin has made a very respectable 13 of its last 30 threes. That's a big improvement, but there's one aspect of this that needs to be addressed: Alando Tucker, as great as he is, just isn't an outside shooter. He's attempted 66 three-pointers this season, though, second-most on the team. Tucker's 28.8 percent three-point rate drags down the team average. When Tucker penetrates he makes things happen offensively, and that's what the Badgers need him to do. It's Kammron Taylor (pictured) who should be taking the threes.

Tucker is a great player, but great players need to recognize their limitations, and if Tucker stops shooting from downtown so often, the Badgers are real national championship contenders.