Kansas City, Missouri — After nearly three dozen games, including 12 alone in the conference's men's tournament this week, the Big 12 Conference has seen enough.
The gimmicky glass court that featured LED lighting and an endless array of options for lighting and spicing up the playing floor, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark announced after Thurdsay's 78-73 win by 3rd-seeded Kansas over No. 6 seed TCU that the court would be replaced.
"After consultation with the coaches of our four semifinal teams, I have decided that in order to provide our student-athletes with the greatest level of comfort on a huge stage this weekend, we will transition to a hardwood court for the remainder of the tournament," Yormark said in a statement. "We look forward to a great semifinals and championship game."
After his team's hard-fought win, KU coach Bill Self said he was told the court was being replaced for Friday and Saturday and that he was in agreement with the decision.
"I think it's the right thing to do," Self said.
KU point guard Melvin Council Jr. found out about the change midway through the open locker room portion of Thursday's postgame media access and immediately stood up from his chair and yelled toward KU strength coach Ramsey Nijem in another room.
Nijem was actually the first one to tell some of the KU players that the hardwood was coming back, but both he and Council's reaction to the news said that they did not believe him.
As has been the case throughout the week, along with last week during the Big 12 women's tournament, there were a couple of instances of slipping and sliding on the floor that was the first of its kind to be used for official play in the United States.
The KU women who played two games on the floor last week said that their advice to the men would be to make sure their shoes were not slippery at all. The women, like the men, played the last game during both of their days at the tournament.
While some players said they didn't mind it and noticed little to no negative impact of the floor, which you could feel bouncing and moving beneath your feet while sitting courtside, Self said he was glad the Big 12 was going back to the more traditional playing surface for more than one reason.
"I didn't notice us slipping as much," Self said. "I personally didn't think it was as big a deal, but if you study it and watch the games throughout the day – and maybe even some tonight — seemed like to me there were a lot of steps that end up sliding one or two inches. It just didn't look quite as clean. It's cool-looking floor, but I'm excited that the talk tomorrow will be about the semifinals as opposed to the court."
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