Florida International's New Beach-Like Court

Now that the college national championships are over, I wanted to share a new design for next season (originally brought to my attention by Matt Rachmiel). The Miami-based Florida International University will have a court that looks like a painting of the beach, as shown here.

2013 Women's Final Four in New Orleans

With the men's Division I NCAA tournament continuing to use a standard floor design, the women's Final Four is the only opportunity each season to anticipate a wild, unusual, and/or creative court scheme (Denver 2012, Indianapolis 2011, and others).

The latest women's Final Four court, unveiled just a couple of hours ago in New Orleans, is certainly more artistic than the typical court, but perhaps a little more subdued than women's Final Four courts of the last few years.

The New Orleans court has a pretty typical "Final Four" logo at center court. The novel design features are located along both baselines, reaching into the keys. Probably the best-known symbol of New Orleans is the fleur de lis (or lily flower in French). What's on the court looks like an elaborate system of curls, growing out of a fleur de lis. If you look at the reddish image in the upper-right corner of this montage, you'll have an idea of what the women's Final Four court looks like.

UPDATE: Here's an aerial shot of the court.

Conference Tournaments 2013

Some brief observations:

The Mountain West tournament, taking place in Las Vegas, is using the same mountain-themed court as was used for last year's NCAA women's Final Four in Denver. (Thanks to Matt Rachmiel for giving me a heads-up a while back.)

The Atlantic 10 is playing at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The whole midcourt area is saturated with advertisements.

I like the simplicity of the BOK Center court in Tulsa for the Conference USA tourney.

Midseason Modification to Ohio State's Court

Matt Rachmiel has brought to my attention a rare midseason change in court design, which is taking place at Ohio State. Here's an article I found on the matter.

UCLA Floor at Renovated Pauley Pavilion

Based on a Pac-12 Network video feed of tonight's Stanford at UCLA women's volleyball match, we can see that the center-court logo at the renovated Pauley Pavilion has been changed. Before closing for the 2011-12 academic year, Pauley's center-court area had always featured a traditional circular design, with angular "UC" and "LA" lettering facing viewers either behind press row or on the opposite side of the court.

As can be seen below, however, the school has switched to a cursive "Ucla" with underline, on which it says "BRUINS." You may click on the screen-captured photo to enlarge it.

New College-Court Designs

Uni Watch's college basketball preview reports some new court designs, along with changes in some schools' uniforms. Matt Rachmiel, who brought the Uni Watch column to my attention, highlights the new Long Beach State court as one warranting attention.

New NBA Court Designs for 2012-13

Paul Lukas's NBA preview of new uniforms and other designs provides links to new court images for many teams (thanks to Matt Rachmiel). Many of the changes seem fairly modest, although there are exceptions. The new court for the Phoenix Suns seems to be a pretty radical departure from their previous minimalist design. The Charlotte Bobcats also have a fairly extensive redesign, moving from orange and blue as their primary colors to dark and light blue (maybe a Duke/Carolina type of motif?).