Uni Watch, which reports on changes to playing surfaces as well as to uniforms, is out with its 2020-21 College Hoops Preview (thanks to Matt Rachmiel for notifying me). Some of the upcoming changes in court design -- such as Alabama's and Central Michigan's additions of state outlines -- were already reported in the summer (see earlier postings). I just noticed that Campbell (in North Carolina) will also be incorporating a state outline.
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Another Shellac State Outline: Georgia State
Via the usual sources, Georgia State University has added a subtle state shape in a lighter shade of shellac than the rest of the court.
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Alabama and Central Michigan Add Shapes of Their Respective States
Via the usual sources, Alabama and Central Michigan have added shapes of their respective states via a different shade of shellac.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Texas Tech Simplifies, Loses State Outline
The basketball court here at Texas Tech has undergone a pretty extreme makeover, as shown in the following time-lapse video...
As one of the commenters on Twitter said, the new design really brings out the scarlet in the Double-T logo.
A history of Texas Tech's floor designs over the roughly 20-year existence of the United Supermarkets Arena (formerly United Spirit Arena) is available here and here.
The Texas state outline remains a centerpiece of the courts at Texas A&M (latest version, older version) and the University of Texas, Austin (most recently via a subtle difference in shellac shading).
***
Via Matt Rachmiel, Lyon College (Arkansas) has a new court, on which half the out-of-bounds area is blue and the other half, red.
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) April 22, 2020
As one of the commenters on Twitter said, the new design really brings out the scarlet in the Double-T logo.
A history of Texas Tech's floor designs over the roughly 20-year existence of the United Supermarkets Arena (formerly United Spirit Arena) is available here and here.
The Texas state outline remains a centerpiece of the courts at Texas A&M (latest version, older version) and the University of Texas, Austin (most recently via a subtle difference in shellac shading).
***
Via Matt Rachmiel, Lyon College (Arkansas) has a new court, on which half the out-of-bounds area is blue and the other half, red.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
USA Today Article on Garish College Hoops Courts
Via Matt Rachmiel, yesterday's USA Today had an article on some of the more colorful college basketball court designs (link). The main theme of the article is schools' use of elaborate geographically based designs (e.g., UMass's state shape; UIC and Loyola's use of the Chicago flag) to market themselves to prospective students who watch basketball.
The article also revealed some interesting pieces of trivia. For example, the University of Memphis court with the blue tiger-striped rectangles for the keys originally also had the semi-circle behind the free-throw line shaded blue. That created a phallic-type image, so the semi-circles were redone sans shading!
The article also revealed some interesting pieces of trivia. For example, the University of Memphis court with the blue tiger-striped rectangles for the keys originally also had the semi-circle behind the free-throw line shaded blue. That created a phallic-type image, so the semi-circles were redone sans shading!
Saturday, February 15, 2020
NBA All-Star Game Floor in Chicago
The NBA's All-Star Weekend tipped-off last night in Chicago with the Rising Stars Game, revealing the floor design for the three-day extravaganza (skills competition and All-Star Game). The above screen-capture is from here. The court features a Chicago skyline -- not in itself terribly original -- but this skyline is larger and more detailed than other ones we've seen. The Hancock Building, the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, and other structures come to life. The light-blue and red Chicago flag theme also makes an appearance in the center-court logo.
Friday, February 14, 2020
CCNY Floor with New York City Skyline
Via the usual sources, City College of New York (CCNY) has the city skyline along the lower sideline of its court. CCNY is only the latest of many schools to adopt this theme (although some have already abandoned it; here and here). Ordinarily, I would not write much about a Division III school such as CCNY. However, as detailed here, CCNY has unique historical roles in college basketball, both good and bad.
On the positive side, CCNY is the only school to win both the NCAA and NIT championships in the same year (1950), while at the Division I level. However, the team was embroiled in the infamous New York City Point-Shaving Scandal. Not only did big-time college hoops end at CCNY. College basketball as a whole became moribund in New York City for several decades. In fact, other than some conference tournaments being held in the Big Apple in recent decades, some would argue college basketball has never fully recovered in the city.
On the positive side, CCNY is the only school to win both the NCAA and NIT championships in the same year (1950), while at the Division I level. However, the team was embroiled in the infamous New York City Point-Shaving Scandal. Not only did big-time college hoops end at CCNY. College basketball as a whole became moribund in New York City for several decades. In fact, other than some conference tournaments being held in the Big Apple in recent decades, some would argue college basketball has never fully recovered in the city.
Saturday, February 1, 2020
Major Re-Design at Cal State Northridge
Via Matt Rachmiel, there's a drastically new floor design at Cal State University Northridge, widely known as CSUN. The new court features a huge, red block-type C, with "SUN" in black within the open part of the C. The new court replaces this black-top theme with an embedded Matador, which had been in place for several seasons.
Saturday, January 18, 2020
St. Joe's Hawks Stretch Their Wings on New Court
The St. Joseph's University Hawks have a wild new court design that had flown under my radar, so to speak, until today. I just happened to notice the court on a CBS Sports Network broadcast of the Duquesne at St. Joe's women's game from Philadelphia.
The Hagan Arena floor is not painted in at all inside the three-point arcs. However, on the rest of the court, there's hardly any place that's unpainted. Occupying the vast middle of the court are two Hawk images, a giant gray one and a crimson one that's merely large. Here's an article (with photo) on the development of the new design concept.
Noted Associate AD Amanda Hall in the linked article, “I’m fully acknowledging that it’s polarizing... Some people are going to love it, some people are going to hate it, but everybody’s going to notice it, and everybody’s going to know it’s St. Joe’s.”
Another view of the court, this one more straightforward and detailed, is available here on this game-program cover.
The Hagan Arena floor is not painted in at all inside the three-point arcs. However, on the rest of the court, there's hardly any place that's unpainted. Occupying the vast middle of the court are two Hawk images, a giant gray one and a crimson one that's merely large. Here's an article (with photo) on the development of the new design concept.
Noted Associate AD Amanda Hall in the linked article, “I’m fully acknowledging that it’s polarizing... Some people are going to love it, some people are going to hate it, but everybody’s going to notice it, and everybody’s going to know it’s St. Joe’s.”
Another view of the court, this one more straightforward and detailed, is available here on this game-program cover.
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