The host cities of many conference tournaments create special floors for the occasion. Below are a few of my favorites; these are from previous years, so you won't necessarily see the same designs this year. I encourage readers to submit, via the Comments system, links to photos of whatever conferences' tournament floors you can find!
Let's start out with the Big 12. Whichever year the following photo was taken, the conference came up with a design that showcased all 12 schools' logos, in what I would say is a crisp, elegant fashion that does not overwhelm (source).
Next, we have the Big 10. This screenshot from what is currently the front page of the conference website shows how a full set of school logos can be depicted in more of an "artsy" way, via a pinwheel motif at center-court.
Finally, for now, we have the Missouri Valley Conference. The MVC tournament earns my accolades not so much for visual aesthetics, but rather for its clever play on words in relation to its permanent St. Louis home: Arch Madness!!! (This is a screen capture from a freeze-frame of a YouTube video, so it's not all that clear. My apologies.)
Again, it would be great if our little online community of basketball-floor aficionados could document as many conference-tournament designs as possible. Thus, if you discover any good online photos, please post the links via the Comments.
I saw that MVC game this weekend. The first thing I noticed was that it had the two three-point lines like we've been seeing all year, but the two lines were NBA and men's NCAA, not the men's/women's combo that is just about everywhere. I wonder if that messed anyone up to think they had to shoot from the inside line for this game.
ReplyDeleteNot only was there an NBA three-point line on the court. There was also an NBA-type key (solid blue rectangle for the college key, with outlined extensions to denote the wider NBA key). See the video highlights at the following link.
ReplyDeletehttp://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=290672460
I know that the Scottrade (formerly Savvis and formerly Kiel) Center has hosted NBA exhibition games over the years, including a 2003 match-up between the Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz shown in the following linked document.
http://www.rssahoops.com/2003nbagame/2003nbagame001.html
Still, wouldn't there have been a way to remove the NBA lines for the MVC tournament?
Alan: Sorry I don't have a link, but the Big East Women's tourney has a huge center court logo. I believe that the title game is Tuesday night on either ESPN or ESPN2.
ReplyDeleteMatt R.