Check Out NC State’s New Homecourt

What has the Pack given fans this time?

Our take on court re-designs is that you can either go for class or flash.

For schools like Duke, Kentucky, UCLA and a handful of others, there’s no need for flashy graphics. The programs are iconic.

If you’re a program like, say, Oregon or Memphis, and a bit insecure, you, uh, project - at least until some muckety muck notices and points out you’re making a fool out of the university and get that thing off the hardwoody like yesterday. Maybe Penny Hardaway is jealous of Dollar Bill Bradley? Who knows. Bad idea fixed quickly.

So what about NC State’s new design?

Well it’s sort of a hybrid. The wolf in the red Dixie Cup is iconic. When State tried to bring in various wolf-ish icons from the Sendek era on, no one cared. It’s old, it’s outdated maybe, but people love the Mr. Tuffy.

The whole State mascot thing gets confusing. Mr. Tuffy is the wolf on the court but there is also Mrs. and Mrs. Wuf, who actually got married by the Demon Deacon in 1981. On the court.

Anyway, back to the redesign.

Some schools do icons like that. UNC has the state of North Carolina while Clemson has made the Tiger paw iconic.

So that’s basically class over flash. It’s established a permanent niche.

The sideline stuff is...ok....it’s not as busy as Oregon’s or Memphis’s disasters but it’s more than they need, and it would be better if they didn’t fall for the painted areas which don’t look that great and basically just reverse the previous design. Maybe next time they’ll be confident enough to get that right. Grade: Solid B.