In 2025, the Big 12 drew plenty of criticism for its basketball court at the conference tournaments. The court was definitely not easy on the eyes, with the conference’s “XII” logo all over the court in a repeated pattern. It would’ve mesmerized “Magic Eye” poster fan Mr. Pitt in Seinfeld, but it’s not what viewers want to see on a college basketball broadcast, especially a high-stress tournament with seasons on the line.
The criticism was so rampant that Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark even had to defend it in media sessions.
Not to sound like an old grandpa yelling at the clouds but we need to stop these obnoxious basketball court designs.
The NBA Cup and now the Big 12 have taken it way too far. It’s brutal on the eyes.
Bring back basketball courts that actually look like hardwood flooring. pic.twitter.com/bqOgXqrlhY
— Brandon Koretz (@BrandonKoretz) March 11, 2025
Fast-forward to March 2026, and the Big 12 has doubled down on the court design for the latest conference tournaments.
But there’s more- it’s also a digital court!
The glass digital court, from ASB GlassFloor, is the first of its kind “for official competition in the United States,” as the Big 12 bragged about Wednesday on X.
With the opening tipoff of the 2026 Phillips 66 Big 12 Basketball Tournaments, we have made history.
Today marks the first time @asbglassfloor has been utilized for official competition in the United States. pic.twitter.com/dwyU5uaKil
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 4, 2026
And that Big 12 social media post is a test in the “Is all publicity good publicity?” debate, as it was met with a whole lot of mocking and criticism.
Here’s a look at the reactions on social media, which even includes Terry McAulay, the NFL rules analyst for NBC, disgusted by the court.
The Big 12 has a digital court for their conference basketball tournaments, and could have made it look like whatever they wanted.
They chose the ugliest most distracting court imaginable.
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) March 4, 2026
This is horrific. https://t.co/xdUbE3yf6g
— Terry McAulay (@tjmcaulay) March 4, 2026
Oh splendid. It’s great to know that they could change the look of the court but are instead, actually choosing to keep it like that. https://t.co/riuZYv1Qv7
— Connor Ferguson (@cfchangs9) March 4, 2026
The Big 12 getting a new LED court only to run back last year’s court design: pic.twitter.com/Plevkt1zu3
— College Sports Only (@CSOonX) March 4, 2026
Playing on a state of the art digital court but just keeping it the same design as last year is the equivalent of having Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback and him only handing the ball off https://t.co/0tYoLyA4r1
— Jackson Payne (@jackson5payne) March 4, 2026
They talked all week on how it can display any court imaginable… and somehow landed on this design. https://t.co/X1s8QOgEc9
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) March 4, 2026
The Big 12 women’s tournament takes place over the rest of the week in Kansas City, while the men’s tournament will be March 10-14. So, college basketball fans will see a lot of this ugly design over the next two weeks on ESPN broadcasts, unless the Big 12 wants to actually take better advantage of the digital court capabilities.
