North Carolina Basketball: UNC will play on a beach, sort of

As we all know North Carolina basketball will be part of this year’s Maui Invitational, but what you might not know is that the Tar Heels will be playing on a court that will resemble the aloha state before the team makes the flight to the 50th state. Just before head coach Roy Williams and his squad head to play in the tournament they will stop in California to play against Long Beach State, and there they will play on the wild looking court that is shown above.

Not too sure how I feel about this court, but one thing is certain, the squad will not play on a wilder looking court this season (or maybe ever), and that alone makes this whole thing intriguing or weird or both. To be noted I am not a fan of courts that have lines for other sports, like this one has for volleyball, but that is another story for another day. As most that follow North Carolina basketball know coach Williams has never been a fan of the “NCAA” signs placed on the basketball courts during March Madness, but that is because he feels the players can slip and get hurt. This is not the case for these hardwoods, but you have to wonder if for teams that only play on it once one of their players could get confused by the design (to go along with the other lines). Guess the good thing is that this game has nothing to do with “Harry Potter” or those palm trees might just stand up and set picks for the home team or trip one of the opponents as they have a break away basket.

I will end with this, after having looked at the court it took me a bit to see that the baskets were not shown in the picture and that there is some sort of animal on it, which tells you that the tree really do catch your eye. I have heard/read many times that some players have a hard time playing in domes, and as much I have to wonder if anyone will have a hard time with this court. Of course course the comparison between a dome and how a court looks is a bit like apples and oranges, except for one thing, most so called experts also say that players have a hard time shooting in those venues cause they do not do it often. I doubt, with the exception of Long Beach State, any team will play on a court like this one often either.

In a season where both the fan base and the ABC’ers/haters are waiting to see what the 2012-13 campaign will bring for North Carolina basketball having to play a game on this court is going to be just another story line. I can not wait for this game to hear what both coach Williams and the players will have to say about it, and of course because it will mean that the hardwoods season is back in Chapel Hill. For all Carolina basketball and/or football information make sure you come back often to isportsweb!