Toronto Tempo Turn Over a New Leaf

While watching the CBS broadcast this afternoon of the Phoenix Mercury at Toronto Tempo WNBA game, I noticed what I think is an attractive shellac maple leaf filling in the area between the two three-point arcs (see following image from a social-media tweet).

It turns out, though, that this is not the expansion Tempo's full-time court. The team plays most of its home games at Toronto's 8,500-seat Coca-Cola Coliseum. The Coliseum court lacks the leaf and the areas between the three-point arcs and the keys are painted light blue.

The above-pictured design with the maple leaf and maroon arc-fills turns out to be for something called the Cross-Canada Series. As part of the series, the Tempo, as the WNBA's only current Canada-based team, will be playing two games each in Montreal and Vancouver. What we're seeing today is a special game played at Toronto's 19,800-seat Scotiabank Arena (home of the Raptors and Maple Leafs), at which the Cross-Canada floor apparently is being previewed. 

Big XII's Glass/LED Floor Unveiled at Women's Conference Tournament

The new, much-anticipated, glass/LED floor for the Big XII's conference tournaments is now on display for the women's games, with the men's to follow next week. Some players reported the court feeling "slick and slippery," according to this article, which also contains a photograph of the full court from high above. Another article contains a video showing how the floor can be lit up in color from below, showcasing different schools' logos. The design aspect with a huge number of little "XII" markings was introduced last year, although not on a glass/LED surface.

UPDATE (March 13, 2026): Due to players slipping and getting injured, the Big XII has announced it will cease use of the glass/LED floor immediately and use a hardwood floor for Friday's men's semifinals and Saturday's final.

Virginia State with Large Logo at Both Ends of Court Rather Than Midcourt

Frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel recently brought to my attention a unique court design at Virginia State University. As shown here, a large version of the school's Trojan logo appears in the key area at both ends of the court, rather than at midcourt, where most schools put their logo. I find the design a little distracting, as the white lines delineating the key and the semicircle behind the free-throw stripe are painted over the logo. Have any of you readers seen another court like this?

Arizona Tries to Blend Two Eras

After a fan-voting contest, the Arizona Wildcats have a new floor at McKale Center this season, which combines the cactus from the Lute Olson era (1983-2007) with the big "A" from the post-Olson era.

This video from 1987 shows the court with no center-circle decoration, but with the cactus-based logo diagonally above (to the upper-left) and below (to the lower-right) of the circle. The logo featured a cactus above a red, all-caps ARIZONA (with the cactus stem filling in the "I" in Arizona) and hints of mountains and the sun in the background. Later on, the center-circle was painted solid blue, with "LUTE & BOBBI OLSON COURT" painted in red letters with white outline.

The removal of the cacti and switch to the big "A" at center-court occurred in 2009, according to this scathing review of the change. Here's a video with the "A" court.

I like having the cacti back (this time sans ARIZONA underneath). In my view,  however, in the new combined design, the cactus and mountains are way too big, allowing very little space between them and the "A" above them. In fact, the "A" gets overwhelmed. With some resizing and repositioning, this court could have been much more attractive. For a different opinion, see this list of best courts at CBS Sports.

Noblesville Boom of G-League Have Court Design Befitting the Team's Name

The court of the Noblesville (Indiana) Boom, the Pacers' G-League affiliate, features an explosion emanating from the center circle (link).

2025 Conference Tourney Time: Big Ten in Indy Adopts Racing Theme, Big XII Adopts Lots of Little X's and I's

The Big Ten (B1G) women's tournament is underway and, in tribute to the host city's Indianapolis 500 auto race, the court prominently features a checkered-flag design. Next week's men's tourney will feature the same court. It's a nice design, in my view, but I wonder why the checkered squares in the keys have such little contrast between black and gray.

The B1G had in the past featured a pinwheel of the member schools' pennants. According to the Sports Logos site, however, "The pinwheel logo featured the color schemes of all 14 Big Ten institutions, but with the additions of Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington this season, it simply needed to be expanded or replaced."

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The Big XII, meanwhile, has a court covered with rows and rows of consecutive small "XII" letters. Further, all the X's are positioned so that, viewed from the sidelines, the court appears to have criss-crossing diagonal lines. It's hard to describe, so just take a close-up look here (thanks to Matt Rachmiel). 

Fordham Celebrates 100th Anniversary of Rose Hill Gym with New Floor for This Season

Frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel notified me of a new floor design for Fordham, which he saw on television. The new floor can be seen here. In further researching the matter, I learned that Fordham's Rose Hill Gym was college basketball's oldest on-campus arena still in use and that today, January 16, 2025, was the 100th anniversary of the facility. The Rams' men's team hosted a game at Rose Hill Gym last night, losing to UMass in triple overtime. The Fordham women will mark the centennial with a game this coming Saturday.

Timberwolves' "It's Cold" City Edition Court

City Edition uniforms (used in the NBA and MLB) and court designs (for the NBA) appear occasionally during the season to illustrate a connection between a team and the city in which it plays. Some teams' logos already incorporate aspects of the home city (for example, the Warriors' use of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges). Others do so to a lesser degree, if at all.

This season, the Minnesota Timberwolves are invoking a very basic idea in their City Edition imagery, namely that Minnesota is cold! As illustrated in this screenshot from the Wolves' website, especially in the court's keys, "The striking white and black aesthetic captures the contrast of winter landscapes, reflecting the elegance of snow-covered lakes under a moonlit sky."

I like this court. It's something different, without overwhelming the viewer.

New Courts for Second Annual NBA Cup

This Yahoo! Sports article presents illustrations of all 30 team courts for the second annual NBA Cup (in-season tournament). All the courts feature large, colorful concentric circles -- which kind of remind me of Olympic-style wrestling mats -- with large images of the NBA Cup trophy in the keys and at center-court. The only court I really like is Boston's, with its pretend parquet squares painted onto the court.

Oregon Tones Down the Forest, Adds Green Out-of-Bounds Area

I finally caught a telecast from the University of Oregon, featuring the Ducks' new court that Matt Rachmiel had e-mailed me about. This link shows the old and new courts side by side. The two main changes, in my view, are the toning down of the forest motif with fewer trees and the solid green out-of-bounds area. I like both of these changes, especially the greater emphasis given to UO's school colors (the added green area and the slogans "MIGHTY OREGON" and "FIGHTING DUCKS" in yellow, one slogan along each baseline). 

Jackson State's Double Parquet

Frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel writes in with an observation about the court at Jackson State University. Says Matt, "I don’t know how new its court is, but it’s very unusual, and I believe the only Division [I] court that has two different parquet shades: the parquet of most of the court is one shade, but the parquet of the 'two point' area (excluding the key) is a parquet of a different shade."

Full-game video of a recent game at Jackson State is available here.

What NBA Players and Observers Thought of the Special Courts for the In-Season Tournament

With the NBA just having completed its first In-Season Tournament (IST), ESPN.com examines which features of the IST might remain the same and which might change in future seasons. The ESPN.com article raises seven issues, one of which being "What about those new court designs?" (click here for background on the courts). 

Reactions to the courts were generally negative, according to the ESPN.com article. One concern was that the floors, covered entirely in paint with no natural wood showing, were more slippery than typical NBA courts. In addition, "Aesthetic issues were also present. Certain courts -- specifically those that heavily featured bright reds and blues -- were difficult to take in on television." Finally, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged the courts were "a bit cookie cutter." 

To me, the courts -- love them or hate them -- were just about the only noteworthy aspect of the In-Season Tournament. I suspect that once the real playoffs get underway next spring, the IST will be largely forgotten. After all, does anyone care about the NHL Presidents' Trophy, awarded to the team with the best regular-season record?

Courts for Inaugural NBA In-Season Tourney

Via frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel, the inaugural NBA in-season tournament will feature special court designs that follow the same general scheme for all 30 teams, but with colors and other features unique to each team. This ESPN.com article includes thumbnail images of all 30 courts, with larger images of several of them. 

The NBA's aim is to make it immediately clear to television viewers that they are watching an in-season tournament game rather than an ordinary regular-season game (although all tournament games except the final will count in the regular-season standings). I suspect the new floor designs will succeed spectacularly in that regard, as they are unlike any courts I've ever seen.

I created the following schematic to explain the design. First, the courts will consist entirely of solid colors, with no natural wood showing. Second, there will be a large stripe through the middle of the court, taking in the keys.

Some may find the design visually overwhelming, but for its limited purpose, I think it will work nicely.

Northern Illinois Unveils Color-Asymmetric Court

Via the usual sources, Northern Illinois University has a new court. As seen at this link, at one end of the court the key and most of the out-of-bounds area are painted red, whereas at the other end, the key and most of the out-of-bounds area are painted black. For lack of a better term, I'm calling this a "color-asymmetric" court. I've probably seen one or two of these on television over the years, but NIU's is the first I'm aware of for an NCAA Division I program. The court also features an Illinois state-shape and the initials NIU at center court, based on different shades of shellac. The different shades are very subtle -- perhaps too subtle -- however.

Nevada Nixes the State Shape

Via the usual sources, the University of Nevada (Reno) has a new court design, which no longer features the large blue-outlined, solid-gray Nevada shape at center court. In addition, the keys will now be dark blue, instead of gray. This article contains photos of the new and old designs.

New York Liberty's Seven-Spike Crown

 

The WNBA's New York Liberty have a new court that features a large display of the seven spikes of the Statue of Liberty crown. The spikes run along the lower sideline, spanning from one three-point arc to the other. The design can be seen in this highlights video.

McDonald's High School All-American Game (2023)

My first two reactions were that I felt I was back in the 1970s and that I could sure use some McDonald's French fries! Note all the "Golden Arches." As if there weren't enough going on with the court, the entire area inside the three-point line is blue on the other side of the court and there's a flaming center-court circle!

Screenshot from here.

LNB (France) All-Star Game With Artistic Court

The court for today's French LNB (Ligue Nationale de Basket) All-Star Game featured what might be considered an abstract art design. As shown here, the court was, for the most part, conventional, with black (or dark grey) keys and out-of-bounds areas, an unremarkable center-court logo, and different shades of shellac to distinguish the areas inside and outside the three-point arc. Painted on top of this basic "canvas," however, were swirls of yellow and red that seemed randomly located on the court and multicolor dot/mosaic patterns filling in the semicircles above the two free-throw lines.

Northwestern State (College) and Long Island Nets (NBA G League)

Frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel sends along two interesting court designs.

Northwestern State University (Louisiana) has joined the large-midcourt-logo club, with its shellac-shade Demon behind the blue "N" and state outline in the center circle (video clip). Just a little too busy for my tastes. Further, the out-of-bounds area is blue on one half of the court and orange on the other. The video also features the play of Hansel Enmanuel, who had his left arm amputated in his childhood. An amazing story!

The Long Island Nets of the NBA G (Development) League have a court that is unusual in at least two ways (video clip). One key is painted in blue and the other red. Also, each key has a solid white semicircle below the free-throw stripe.

Memphis Tigers Go From One Gaudy Court Design to Another

 From this to this.