2021 NBA All-Star Game Court

The NBA has released an image of what the court will look like at Sunday's annual All-Star Game (link). This year's game, taking place in Atlanta, pays tribute to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). As you can see in the linked article, the court is very vivid. Yet, for the most part, the playing area avoids too busy of a design, in my view. I particularly like the background of stars in a different shade of shellac from the main floor. The out-of-bounds area has more going on, though. 

Uni-Watch 2020-21 College Hoops Preview

Uni Watch, which reports on changes to playing surfaces as well as to uniforms, is out with its 2020-21 College Hoops Preview (thanks to Matt Rachmiel for notifying me). Some of the upcoming changes in court design -- such as Alabama's and Central Michigan's additions of state outlines -- were already reported in the summer (see earlier postings). I just noticed that Campbell (in North Carolina) will also be incorporating a state outline.

Another Shellac State Outline: Georgia State

Via the usual sources, Georgia State University has added a subtle state shape in a lighter shade of shellac than the rest of the court.

Alabama and Central Michigan Add Shapes of Their Respective States

Via the usual sources, Alabama and Central Michigan have added shapes of their respective states via a different shade of shellac.

Texas Tech Simplifies, Loses State Outline

The basketball court here at Texas Tech has undergone a pretty extreme makeover, as shown in the following time-lapse video...

Wait for it... 👀

🔴#4To1 | #WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/sroJmZHv8c

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) April 22, 2020

As one of the commenters on Twitter said, the new design really brings out the scarlet in the Double-T logo.

A history of Texas Tech's floor designs over the roughly 20-year existence of the United Supermarkets Arena (formerly United Spirit Arena) is available here and here.

The Texas state outline remains a centerpiece of the courts at Texas A&M (latest version, older version) and the University of Texas, Austin (most recently via a subtle difference in shellac shading).

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Via Matt Rachmiel, Lyon College (Arkansas) has a new court, on which half the out-of-bounds area is blue and the other half, red.

USA Today Article on Garish College Hoops Courts

Via Matt Rachmiel, yesterday's USA Today had an article on some of the more colorful college basketball court designs (link). The main theme of the article is schools' use of elaborate geographically based designs (e.g., UMass's state shape; UIC and Loyola's use of the Chicago flag) to market themselves to prospective students who watch basketball.

The article also revealed some interesting pieces of trivia. For example, the University of Memphis court with the blue tiger-striped rectangles for the keys originally also had the semi-circle behind the free-throw line shaded blue. That created a phallic-type image, so the semi-circles were redone sans shading!

NBA All-Star Game Floor in Chicago

The NBA's All-Star Weekend tipped-off last night in Chicago with the Rising Stars Game, revealing the floor design for the three-day extravaganza (skills competition and All-Star Game). The above screen-capture is from here. The court features a Chicago skyline -- not in itself terribly original -- but this skyline is larger and more detailed than other ones we've seen. The Hancock Building, the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, and other structures come to life. The light-blue and red Chicago flag theme also makes an appearance in the center-court logo.