Latest New Unveilings: UTEP and Binghamton

Court changes for the upcoming college-basketball season are coming fast and furiously. Via the "usual" sources (Matt Rachmiel and Uni-Watch):

• The UTEP Miners feature large pick-axes in the background of their new court. Fans sitting along either sideline will get to see a pick-axe right-side-up, but that also means they see the other one upside-down. The two pick-axes together form a box-like shape, which I think might distract from the pick-axes.
• Binghamton University (in the State University of New York system) has a time-lapse video of the painting of its new court (see second video down on the new page that comes up).

New Court for James Madison University

Via Uni-Watch and Matt Rachmiel, a wild new design for James Madison University.

New LSU Court

Via Uni-Watch and Matt Rachmiel, LSU has a new court design. I think the Tiger face in the background at mid-court may be a little subtle and abstract, but I like the rest of it.

Boise State's New Court

Via Uni Watch and Matt Rachmiel, Boise State will have a new court this upcoming season. In the past, the Broncos have had pretty wild, colorful courts. The new one, however, is fairly conventional.

Summer Updates: ODU, Cal, and UConn

Frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel has brought news of two three new court designs to my attention:

• Old Dominion is now the second school to my knowledge to put a state shape (in this case, Virginia's) at center-court, filled in with a symbolic logo. ODU's nickname is the Monarchs, but it is a lion monarch (perhaps the king of the jungle?) that is embedded within the state of Virgina. A visual depiction of the court is available here. The previous school to embed a logo in a state shape is East Carolina, which features a Pirate design within the shape of North Carolina.
• Cal has now joined the huge-logo club (for other members, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). ESPN.com's Eamonn Brennan gives the new Golden Bears' floor high marks, but I think the logo is too big. Brennan's article also contains a time-lapse video of the old floor being sanded-down and repainted.
• UConn has a new Husky logo, plus changes have been made to the keys (from solid blue to empty) and area between the keys and three-point arcs (from nothing to dark shellac). Click here for a new/old comparison.

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.