Purdue to Get New Court

Purdue University will be getting a new court design (via Uni Watch). You can see the old Boilermaker court here.

Court for Connecticut Sun Shines

Frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel has notified me that the WNBA's Connecticut Sun has a new court this year. Matt describes the floor as having a "very unique design with sunrays in the 2 point area but not in the paint." An announcement about the new court, including pictures of it from various perspectives (below the fact sheet), is available here.

Tiger Stripes at Towson

Frequent correspondent Matt Rachmiel informs me that the Tigers of Towson University (Maryland) will be introducing what the school calls a "watermark" Tiger stripe design on its basketball court. This Washington Post article provides photos of the floor design. Further details are also available, of course, at Towson's athletic website. The new floor apparently will be used both in the school's current arena beginning next season and in a new arena where play will begin in 2013-14.

76ers Have a Classy Court

I haven't gotten excited about too many NBA courts in recent years. Now that it's playoff time, I wanted to comment on NBA floors, and I'll start by saying the Philadelphia 76ers have a nice court. This is the second season, I believe, since the Sixers went back to the traditional red, white, and blue motif of their glory days, following several years when the team's colors were black, blue, and gold. I definitely welcome the return back to red, white, and blue as the team colors, plus the logo with the circle of stars above the 7 in 76ers. In an era when several NBA teams sport two-tone courts (for inside and outside the three-point arc) and other looks that are becoming cliched, the Sixers' court is basic, yet colorful and engaging. Good views of the Sixers' court at Philly's Wells Fargo Center are available here and here.

Women's Final Four in Indy Narrows the Key

The women's Final Four in Indianapolis has keys that are a throwback to when the lane was much narrower (a thin maroon lane within a larger open key). At midcourt is a more modern, yet still conventional, Final Four logo.

UPDATE: In response to an inquiry in the Comments, I went ahead and drew the following picture in PowerPoint as an approximation, rather than trying to make a screen capture.

Here's a link to a Yahoo Sports article on the court (thanks to Brian in the Comments).

Here's a link to a video showing the old narrow key, circa 1953 (Wilt Chamberlain was born in 1936 and is described in the video as being 17).

Countdown to Houston's Final Four Men's Court

As the first game of the Final Four in Houston's Reliant Stadium approaches, here's an article/photo essay on the conversion of the stadium surface to a basketball court. Here's a video of the same. The out-of-bounds areas are definitely blue, in the NCAA's boring format. I'm assuming Houston's space-based Final Four logo (almost like the baseball Astros' old design) will be at center court, with the standard open key and blue top-of-the-key semicircle. Here's an article on the manufacturing of the men's and women's Final Four floors.

UPDATE: The court looks pretty much as I expected, except the dominant color appears to be a darker shade of blue than in the earlier rounds. In a few areas of the out-of-bounds area, the blue fades to a lighter shade to form a backdrop for white lettering ("FINAL FOUR" in the out-of-bounds areas behind the baskets, "NCAA" by the check-in point at the scorer's table, and the phrase "AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE" on the opposite side of the court from the scorer's table).

NCAA, NIT, etc., Open Thread

Another year of the same, boring, standardized NCAA court.

We'll have to look to the NIT and other tournaments (CBI, CIT, NAIA) for more exciting courts...

Click here for a history of Wichita State's Wheat Shocker mascot.