Pac 12 Tournament Court May Be Most Confusing I've Ever Seen

The Pac 12 women's championship game is currently underway in Las Vegas. All I can say about the court design (which may or may not also be used for the conference's upcoming men's tourney) is that, unless you are intimately familiar with the Pac 12's logo, most of the court will leave you wondering "What is that?" Here's a screenshot from Twitter...

In the center-circle, you'll notice the rounded-triangular Pac 12 logo, which features an arched "PAC" across the top and a "12" below it. What would happen if you blew up the logo by about 100 times (so big the logo could not be contained by the court) and converted the blue and white to different shades of shellac? That's what you see to the left and right of the center-circle. 

Perhaps the Pac 12's inspiration was the SEC, with its shellac-based logo (below). I personally don't find the SEC's court all that attractive, but at least the full SEC logo is self-contained within the court and thus comprehensible to viewers. 

2022 NBA All-Star Game Court

Here is the court for this year's NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland (via Twitter)...

Tiger Stripes in the Key: Who Does it Best?

Frequent contributor Matt Rachmiel e-mailed the other day about the Idaho State Bengals featuring Tiger stripes in the keys of their court. I went and looked at Idaho State's design and it reminded me of Memphis's (albeit with different colors). I did some Google searching and found two additional courts with Tiger stripes in the paint: the University of the Pacific and Bandon High School in Oregon. After taking screen captures, we have the following array (clockwise from upper-right: Memphis, Bandon, Pacific, and Idaho State). You may click on the images to enlarge them.

Which do you like best? Take the poll below. I know of other teams called the Tigers (Mizzou, Auburn, LSU, Princeton, Towson), but they don't have stripes in the key. If you know of any other team with Tiger stripes in the key, please let me know in the Comments.

Mizzou Adopts "Diamond End Zone" Design

The University of Missouri likes to change the floor design at Mizzou Arena every few years, it seems. The latest one has a feature that I had not seen any school incorporate before. Namely, Mizzou has taken the "diamond end zone" theme from its football field and added to its basketball court (along with a shellac state outline). Here is a screenshot from this Columbia Missourian article...

Basketball Courts Blog Hits 200,000 Pageviews

I noticed last night that the old blog just went over 200,000 pageviews since we started in 2009. Here's a screenshot of the blog's hit statistics:

Who knew that seemingly obscure topics such as whether a team features a state outline at midcourt or paints in the keys or uses different shades of shellac to identify different zones of the court could attract this level of attention? I don't want to overstate things, as some websites probably get 200,000 or more pageviews per day. Still, it's nice to see these numbers.

I would, of course, like to thank New Jersey lawyer Matt Rachmiel, who started e-mailing me with court updates (basketball courts, that is) from the blog's inception and has never stopped! Also, thank you to everyone who has visited the blog.

Maui Invitational (Being Played in Vegas) Features Flowery Keys

Flowers are extremely popular in Hawai'i, including in the form of a lei. So even though this year's Maui Invitational is currently being played in Las Vegas due to COVID-19, the keys on the court will ensure that viewers are constantly thinking of flowers. Following is a screenshot from ESPN.com.

Asheville (NC) Championship College Tourney

Asheville, North Carolina, is well known as an artsy kind of town. Accordingly, the court for the inaugural Asheville Championship college basketball tournament features multicolor keys that look like they were designed by an artist.