KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The experiment with the ASB GlassFloor at the Big 12 Tournament is over.
The conference announced after the quarterfinal games on Thursday that the new floor, which has received mixed reviews since it debuted last week during the Big 12 women’s tournament, will be replaced by a traditional hardwood floor for Friday’s semifinal games and Saturday’s championship game.
The conference also released a statement from Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark about the change.
“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. We look forward to a great Semifinals and Championship Game,” he said.
Big 12 Changes Out Court for Tournament
The court became a constant narrative during both tournaments. The glass floor was being used in a U.S. championship sporting event for the first time in history. The league announced the decision last month. While players seemed to enjoy the graphics and pre-game show that went along with the new LED court, there were complaints about slippage during the event.
Kansas State forward Taj Manning said to reporters after their first-round exit that the graphics used on the floor gave his teammate Khamari McGriff a migraine on Tuesday night. Both Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson and LeJuan Watts had feedback on the court after their loss to Iowa State. Both suffered minor injuries during the game.
After Texas Tech lost, KLBK’s Cole Banker caught up with Watts, who left the game with an injury after slipping on the floor. He said, “Let’s just do it on wood.”
Kansas coach Bill Self wasn’t aware of the change when he spoke to reporters after his Jayhawks defeated TCU in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals against Houston. He said he was seeing slipping during the games earlier in the day and that the switch was “the right thing to do” to put the focus back on basketball.
Other players expressed nothing more than needing an adjustment period to get use to the floor. Some, like Iowa State’s Justin Jefferson, changed shoes to get different traction and moved on. Some of this is personal preference. Some players adjusted quicker than others.
