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Understated new court at... Boise State?

photo courtesy Boise State

photo courtesy Boise State

New court surfaces are going in fast and furious throughout college basketball. Most of them are wild, eye-busting designs, with each program looking to top the last.

One school, however, put in a nice, modest new floor. Boise State’s Taco Bell Arena, of all places, is the home of a relatively mellow, mostly natural-wood-colored court.

You may remember that Boise State is the home of the famous blue football turf. Taco Bell Arena, in fact, was a bit of an eye-popper before. But the current powers that be in the basketball program are pretty proud of the less colorful new joint they’ll be playing in.

“I’m little bit more of a tradtionalist,’' men’s coach Leon Rice said. “You can look around the nation, a lot of pro teams are doing this, the NCAA Tournament, this is exactly the way they do it,’' Rice said. “For us, the way we play, with as many 3s as we like to take, it shows you where it is pretty clearly, and the key being colored, it will hopefully keep the (former UNLV star and No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick) Anthony Bennetts of the world from staying out there too long.’'

I’m not one to put down the colorful courts. College hoops are supposed to be fun, after all. But there’s something kind of cool about Rice and his program deciding to be famous for their style of play rather than the flamboyance of their playing surface.


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