Uni-Watch's Annual College-Basketball Design Article (2017-18)

Uni-Watch has published its annual article detailing changes in college-basketball teams' uniforms and floor designs. There are a lot more photos of courts than I remember seeing in previous years. The change I'm most excited about is Cal getting rid of its ginormous Golden Bear logo, in favor of the traditional cursive "Cal" at center-court.

Also, if you click here and then scroll down to where it says "ESPN Reminders," you'll get an addendum to the new college uniform and floor designs.

Bucks Using Replica of "Mecca" Court in 50th Anniversary Throwback Game

The Bucks' throwback court has one player on the visiting Boston Celtics snapping photos of the interesting design and another expressing safety worries.

Xavier REMOVES City-Skyline Background

A few entries down, I wrote about DePaul becoming the latest school to feature a city-skyline background (in this case, of Chicago) on its court. Now, via Uni-Watch and Matt Rachmiel, comes word that Xavier will have a new floor that no longer includes the Cincinnati skyline. This is the first time, to my knowledge, that a university basketball court has removed a skyline.

Uni-Watch 2017-18 NBA Preview (Courts as Well as Uniforms)

Uni-Watch's annual NBA preview includes not just uniform changes, but also those to floor designs. In particular, the new courts for the Cavaliers (with a shield-type logo at center-court) and 76ers (with the "76" painted directly onto the hardwood rather than embedded inside a white basketball) look very sharp and distinctive to me.

Impromptu Court at U. of Minnesota for WNBA Lynx Postseason

If you didn't catch any of this season's WNBA playoff games hosted by the Minnesota Lynx, including last night's exciting championship-decider between the Lynx and the Los Angeles Sparks, then you missed an impromptu floor combining one team's color and design scheme for the main, in-bounds playing surface and another's for the surrounding out-of-bounds area.

According to this St. Paul Pioneer Press article, "The Lynx were... at [the University of Minnesota's] Williams Arena this postseason because Target Center’s renovations weren’t yet complete and Minnesota had to evacuate Xcel Energy Center – the team’s original home this summer – because the [National Hockey League's] Wild were set to start training camp."

As a result, you had solid-painted keys and the Golden Gophers' large angular midcourt "M" in maroon with yellow trim, framed by a bold rectangle in the Lynx's shade of blue. The court appears in the game highlights here. For an impromptu court, I don't think it looked too bad.

Sacramento Kings to Use Three Court Designs (Primary and Two Alternates)

Via Uni-Watch, the Sacramento Kings will have a different floor -- three in total -- to match whatever home uniform they're wearing in a particular game.

DePaul Joins Skyline Club, Wichita St. Spruces Up

Via the usual sources...

To mark DePaul basketball's return to the city of Chicago (although not the school's Lincoln Park neighborhood) after nearly 40 years at the Rosemont Horizon/Allstate Arena, the floor at the new Wintrust Arena will feature the Chicago skyline.

Other schools with the home city's skyline on their courts include:

• The Citadel (featuring Charleston, South Carolina's Ravenel Bridge)
• IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis). 
• University of Denver
• University of Memphis
• University of Missouri-Kansas City
• University of Washington (Seattle)
• Xavier (Cincinnati) 

The Sun Belt Conference's tournament court has included the New Orleans skyline.

The NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers used to sport the city's skyline on their court.

Am I missing any?

On a separate matter, here's a time-lapse video of Wichita State sprucing up its floor to recognize its new membership in the American Athletic Conference and put the title "Devlin Court" on the floor.

UCLA Brings Back Old Center-Circle Design

Via the usual sources, UCLA is bringing back its old "UC-LA" center-circle design. When Pauley Pavilion reopened in 2012 after a major renovation, the school switched to a cursive "Ucla" with an underline flourish, in which "BRUINS" was embedded.

Drexel Tones Down Its Dragon Logo

Via the usual sources, Drexel University's fire-breathing Dragon logo at midcourt is being toned down. A previous entry on this blog, depicting Drexel's logo at the time (and the University of Alabama-Birmingham's similar one), has long been one of my top-five most-viewed postings (see right-hand column). The new court will look like this.

Time-Lapse Video of Court Redo at Penn's Palestra

Via the usual sources, the legendary Palestra at Penn has modified its court in a couple of ways. As shown in this time-lapse video, the previous all-red out-of-bounds area has been switched to part-red and part-blue. Also, instead of just the iconic Penn "P" at center-court, the "P" is now within a shield-design. Pretty cool!

Big 3: Summer 3-on-3 Half-Court for Retired Pros

Most readers of this blog have probably come across a telecast or other reference to the new Big 3 league, featuring former pros such as Allen Iverson, Kenyon Martin, and Mike Bibby playing half-court games of 3-on-3. If you haven't already seen the court design, there are at least two things that will jump out at you: a professional-quality hardwood floor built specifically for half-court play (I've never seen one before), and the four-point shot area. OK, click here to take a look.

The Big 3's eight teams are not linked to cities, but rather have nicknames such as 3's Company, 3 Headed Monster, and Killer 3's. Each Sunday from late June to late August (except for the title game, to be held on Saturday, August 26), the league touches down in a different city, in barnstorming fashion. All eight teams appear on the same bill in a given city, playing a quadruple header.

Opening night in Brooklyn and Week 2 in Charlotte both used a court with the out-of-bounds area and key painted gray, so this may be the standard look for the whole season. It might have been nice to keep the design the same, for example, in terms of what is painted in and what is not, but use a different theme color in each city.

For further information, see the Big 3's Wikipedia page.

Kent State: Flash of Genius or Flash in the Pan

Via the usual sources, the Kent State Golden Flashes have added circular lightning bolts around the center-circle at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center. Here's the previous court, without the bolts. And here's a prototype Kent State court tweeted by a design firm, which the university did not adopt.

Watercolor Design Inside Three-Point Arcs in Women's ACC Tourney

I just came across the pink-green-light blue watercolor-type design inside the three-point arcs at the ACC women's tournament in Myrtle Beach/Conway, South Carolina. It turns out this floor goes back a year, to when the event was held in Greensboro, North Carolina. This article features a schematic of the court. Very colorful, but without overwhelming the visual sense!

Corporate Logos on NBA D-League Courts

I've recently started noticing corporate logos being used as the primary center-circle design for some NBA Development League courts. Apparently, I'm about two years late to the story, which was reported here in November 2014.

One of these courts is at Dr. Pepper Arena (Frisco, Texas), home of the Dallas Mavericks-affiliated Texas Legends. The midcourt logo here apparently has changed a few times, including one for Hewlett-Packard (circa 2010) and its present Dr. Pepper emblem.

The other arena is the Westchester County Center, home to the Westchester Knicks. Its floor features a Chase banking/finance logo (additional images here).

A third D-League venue I discovered with a corporate logo is the DeltaPlex Arena, home to the Grand Rapids Drive. The logo for Michigan's Chemical Bank adorns this hardwood.

Perhaps there are others. I certainly prefer to see team logos at the center-circle, but corporate imagery seems to have an inevitability in gaining greater exposure on basketball uniforms and courts.

New "Solid-State" Court at Nevada (Reno)

With schools such as Illinois, Nebraska, and Ohio State exemplifying the recent trend of depicting the shape of the home state through subtle shadings of shellac, there is at least one place that has implemented a new design with a state shape in solid color. It is the University of Nevada (Reno), whose home game today against Fresno State I caught a glimpse of on the CBS Sports Network (cable).

The court features a large grey shape of Nevada at midcourt, with a blue outline. Inside the shape appears an arched "NEVADA" wordmark, above a wolf logo (the team is known as the Wolfpack). An article containing visual images of the new court is available here.