Cal State Bakersfield installs college basketball’s first blue floor

In five weeks, Boise State's signature football field no longer will be the only blue playing surface in college athletics.

Cal State Bakersfield announced Wednesday that it will debut an all-blue court with an enormous Roadrunners logo in the middle at the 3,800-seat Icardo Center at a women's volleyball match against Fresno State on Oct. 19. The men's basketball team will christen the floor in a season-opening exhibition game against Whittier College on Nov. 9.

That Cal State Bakersfield is going all-blue is the latest sign that universities generating buzz for their programs with outlandish court designs is a trend with some staying power. Boise State football began the fad with its ubiquitous blue field, but the movement has infiltrated basketball the past 12 months.

Oregon received headlines nationwide last year when it unveiled a controversial orange and tan fir tree-lined floor with a barely visible mid-court line at newly built Matthew Knight Arena. Next came Towson University's decision this summer to give its basketball court some orange watermark tiger stripes. Then in August, Northwestern flirted with the idea of installing an all-purple court before deciding to go with something more basic instead.

For a publicity-starved program like Cal State Bakersfield, there is little to lose by going with a court design that will give its program an identity.* The Roadrunners finished 9-19 a year ago as a Division I independent, but they're unveiling a new floor, they're welcoming new coach Rod Barnes and they're hoping to someday soon find a conference to join.

Before this season, the men's basketball team's primary home was the off-campus 9,000-seat Rabobank Arena. Matchups with UNLV and San Diego will still be played there this year, but the remainder of Cal State Bakersfield's home schedule will be played on the sport's lone blue basketball floor.