New Illinois Court

With college basketball practice getting started in a couple of weeks, reports of new court designs are trickling out. Once again via Matt Rachmiel, we learn that the University of Illinois will feature a new look in Assembly Hall. The state outline around the big "I" is so subtle, it's visible only in close-up shots.

New Mississippi Court

Via Matt Rachmiel and Uni Watch, the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) will have a new court this coming season (top). The old design is shown below the new one.

Cal State Bakersfield's Blue Court

Cal State Bakersfield has unveiled a nearly all-blue court for this coming season  (via Chris Level). Notice also the California state shape at midcourt in a somewhat lighter shade of blue than the main court, behind the yellow Roadrunner logo.

Call me "old school," but I hope this doesn't become a trend. As I blogged about in the entry immediately below, Northwestern may be considering an all-purple-and-white court. Don't do it! Wood looks good. That's why people have hardwood floors, wood ceiling beams, wood dining-room tables and other furniture, etc., in their homes.

Knock on wood, so that schools don't completely cover the wood on their basketball floors.

UPDATE: Reader Tim Kearney has also (independently) e-mailed me a link to photos of the Bakersfield blue court from the school's athletic website.