This week, following a brief fan voting process, the Arizona men’s and women’s basketball programs unveiled a new court design that prominently displays the Wildcats’ iconic cactus logo.
“When fans are talking to us, they just remember about the great moments and history that the logo brings,” senior associate athletic director of revenue generation and engagement Tony Daniel told The Arizona Daily Star.
“We’re hoping to bring that mojo back at McKale (Center) this season and beyond now that the cactus logo is back. It was an easy choice to find a way to get this back on the court. It was just a matter of how and when.”
Fans were given two days and four different options to choose from, three of which featured the logo – which includes a red “Arizona” wordmark with a green saguaro cactus rising out of the “I,” blue mountains and a red sun with a gradient-like effect to replicate a desert sunset – inside the three-point line.
The winning design, meanwhile, placed the cactus, mountains and sun along the bottom baseline, beneath the Wildcats’ Block “A” logo at center court. That pushed the Lute Olson signature inside the three-point line, whereas the other options placed the signature of Arizona’s winningest coach along the bottom baseline.
The logo became synonymous with the Wildcats’ men’s basketball program, as it appeared on the court at McKale Center from 1987 until 2009, when it was replaced with Olson’s signature. He won 589 games in 24 season as head coach, with 23 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, four Final Four appearances and their only NCAA championship in 1997.
All four design options featured the Block “A” at center court, blue keys with a Big XII logo, a red “Arizona” wordmark inside the blue baselines and two Banner University Medical Center advertisements along the top sideline, which is also blue and includes advertisement for Desert Diamond Casinos.
They were all two-tone wood floors, as well, though two were darker in the middle of the floor and lighter inside the three-point lines where as the others – including the winning design – were lighter in the middle of the floor and darker inside of the three-point lines.
One of the dark floor options also had a sublimated Arizona state outline around the Block “A” while one of the lighter floor options had a sublimated version of the iconic cactus logo along the bottom sideline, in addition to inside the three-point lines.
“We went as crazy as painting the court all the way blue with the cactus logo ingrained somehow to something as simple as what you see today with the logo inside the three-point arc,” Daniel said, noting the Wildcats initially considered more than 20 different designs. “We ran the gamut of crazy and fun, but still preserving the history of what the cactus logo means to our fans.”
Discontinued because it didn’t fit Arizona’s brand standards, the iconic cactus logo made a triumphant return last fall when the Wildcats’ football team wore helmets with the design during its homecoming game against Colorado.
Photo courtesy of @AZATHLETICS on X/Twitter.
