The Big 12 made the decision to quickly replace a new glass LED court with a hardwood court at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. on March 12, the night before the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinals. After multiple players slipped and complained of traction issues, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormak made the call late Thursday night to make the switch, according to CBS Sports.
"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 after the quarterfinals concluded Thursday night. "We look forward to a great Semifinals and Championship Game."
Designed by German company ASB GlassFloor, the glass floor has the ability to display changing graphics with the swipe of a tablet or smartphone app. The glass surface was meant to have more give and flexibility than hardwood due to a spring-action design to the aluminum and steel framing under the LED panels, ASB GlassFloor’s managing director of the Americas division Chris Thornton told AP News.
A ceramic coating with dots etched into the glass was meant to offer traction; however, players and coaches claimed it wasn’t enough.
K-State forward Taj Manning took issue with both the slippery surface and the bright lights, according to a post on X:
“It’s pretty bad,” Manning said. “It’s a bad floor. They shouldn’t bring it back.”
CBS reported that Texas Tech star player Christian Anderson was injured in the second half of a loss to Iowa State, the game in which slippage was an issue. "Obviously the floor is a bit slippery, so I think I just kind of misstepped or did a movement that caused me to slip and kind of ended up in a little unnatural position," Anderson said. He said afterward that the injury wasn’t serious and he expects to recover soon.
The floor made its debut for the Women’s Big 12 Basketball Tournament on March 4 without any major incident.
The decision to replace the floor midway through the men’s tournament was met with consent from all four coaches participating in Friday’s semifinal games.
Logistical challenges of the quick switch were minimal; the Big 12 had a backup plan with a crew on-call to install the hardwood court in case of emergency.
