New basketball court design for Northwestern

With an assist from voters on its Facebook fan page, Northwestern University unveiled the new design for its court at Welsh-Ryan Arena for the 2011-12 school year.

The design features the Ncat logo at midcourt, and the interior of the three-point arcs are purple with the exception of the lanes, which are the traditional wood color.

The new Big Ten Conference logo is located just below the top of the key inside the free throw semicircle, and the frame of the court is purple and features the word “Northwestern” along one baseline and “Wildcats” along the other in white lettering. Centered along one sideline is “NUsports.com”, while the opposite sideline features the phrase “Chicago’s Big Ten Team.”

The words “Welsh-Ryan Arena” appear twice on the playing floor, once on each half of the court.

Four prospective designs were unveiled to fans Aug. 1 on the Northwestern Athletics Facebook page as well as NUsports.com. The final design was chosen through a combination of fan feedback and Northwestern athletics department staff members. The chosen design received the most Facebook “Likes” of the four options.

The process of redesigning the court, from beginning of work until it able to be used again, is expected to last three weeks. Crews from Specialty Floors Inc., of Rockford, Ill., began work on the project Monday as they started with sanding the floor, eliminating the current design.

A unique feature of the new design is that it will be stained and not painted as is traditionally the case, allowing for the wood grain to be seen.