Hypothetical Court for "The U" (of Miami)

Building upon this Bleacher Report slideshow of hypothetical college-basketball court designs for a variety of teams, including the University of Miami, I would like to offer my own artistic vision for the Hurricanes' court. Probably the phrase most closely associated with Miami athletics is "The U" or "It's all about the U" (here and here). These expressions recognize the orange-and-green U that appears on the school's football helmet, on the current basketball center-court, and as a new statue on campus.

It occurred to me that the area in between the three-point arc and the key forms what might be considered a sideways U. I was also, I'm sure, influenced by a former University of Florida court design, in which the area between the three-point arc and the key was painted blue on one side and orange on the other. The upshot of all this is a design in which the University of Miami "U" fills most of the area between the arc and the key, as shown in the following image.

Note that the bottom of the U is much flatter than the curvature of the three-point arc. Therefore, the bottom of the U protrudes beyond the arc. I've used lighter shades of orange and green to illustrate the parts of the U that are behind the arc. Also, the straight parts of the U do not completely fill the area between the arc and key; to preserve the actual proportions of the U, there is some open space along the lengths of the key. Finally, painting the traditional outline of a circle at the top of the key would entail breaking the continuity of the U. Therefore, I opted for a filled-in circle of lighter wood, which minimally overlaps with the base of the U.

For center-court, I went with the university's "miami" wordmark. Perhaps some fans of the school would prefer "canes" instead. What do people think?

George Washington U. Latest to Unveil Floor with Local Geographic/Cultural Motif

Via frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel, George Washington University's basketball court will feature DC landmarks in the background. A visual depiction is available here.

GW's court thus joins the beach motifs of Miami-based Florida International University and California's Long Beach State, and the forest imagery of the University of Oregon, in paying tribute to the local geography and culture. Though it's only used for a conference tournament and not for an entire slate of home games, the Mountain West Conference's mountain-themed court should also be included in this discussion.

UPDATE: I also found a slideshow of hypothetical court designs of this type for several schools.

Nebraska Redesigns Floor for New Arena

With Nebraska getting ready to move into its new Pinnacle Bank Arena, the Huskers have decided to revamp their floor design. An artist's rendering is available here via the Lincoln Journal Star. The signature feature is the use of different shades of shellac to create the state shape at center-court. Also, it appears that the "N" at center-court won't be as ginormous as it was in the Huskers' previous facility. (I hope Nebraska's move away from a huge logo starts a trend!) Thanks to frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel for this discovery.

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.