WSJ's "Daily Fix" Cites Our Blog

Today's installment of The Daily Fix, the Wall Street Journal's online "all-purpose sports report," features a lot of coverage of the weekend's March Madness NCAA basketball action. Included in the mix is a paragraph about the homogenized court design, which provides a shout-out and a link to our blog. Our thanks to the Fix!

Ole Miss Court Only Slightly Different Than NCAA's, But Much Better Looking

I watched some of tonight's NIT game between the school where I'm on the faculty, Texas Tech, and the University of Mississippi. One of the things that jumped out at me was how the keys on Ole Miss's court were only slightly different from those on the NCAA tournament's uniform court, but much better looking, in my view at least. Shown below are some screen captures I made, juxtaposing the NCAA court (above) and Ole Miss court (below). Both have unpainted keys and solid blue semi-circles. Maybe it's just me, but by having heavy, as opposed to thin, lines outlining the sides of the key, the Mississippi court just looks more complete.

NCAA, NIT, etc., Open Thread

It looks like another year of boring uniformity on the NCAA front...

UPDATE: Via Uni Watch Blog, here's a time-lapse video of the Energy Solutions Arena floor being converted from the Utah Jazz hardwood to the NCAA's.

Boxed-Off Ad at Vermont for AE Tourney

I thought Vermont's court, from which this year's America East men's tournament final today was televised, had some unusual features (see screen-capture below). Advertisements on courts are not uncommon. I don't recall, however, ever before seeing an ad set apart in its own box, the way the Vermont/America East court did for Newman's Own (the foundation of the late actor Paul Newman, which sells food products). The white America East logo against the wood of the key also looked interesting. Designers should just make sure a logo is visible, which it barely was in this case, I would say.

Mississippi State Spells it All Out at Center Court

While watching some of today's Tennessee at Mississippi State men's game on TV, I saw some feature's of Mississippi State's court that I didn't recall seeing before. I did a little research and indeed the Bulldogs have made a few changes this year. The top photo in the following montage is the current court (photo from the university's athletic website). Not only is there the big MISSISSIPPI STATE spell-out across the center of the court, but there's a Bulldog logo to the lower-right and upper-left of the wordmark. The logo shown in the montage below (obtained from here) appears to be the same one used on the court; if it's not that exact logo, it's something close. Finally, in the lower-right of the montage, we see the old M-STATE logo (source); note, however, that the court also included a Mississippi State spell-out (not in all capitals) just above the center-court M-STATE (I've added an arrow to show the location of the old spell-out).

Duquesne's Solid Red-Zone

The court at Duquesne University's Palumbo Center features the key and adjoining semi-circle all in solid red. One doesn't see that type of design much anymore. It reminds me a bit of the court the old Seattle Supersonics used to have at the Kingdome, as shown in this 1979 video from a playoff game against Phoenix.