Holy shit!!! This is so good.
Since the cat is out of the bag now, here's some pics. Still lots more to come. #CassellFloor #Hokies pic.twitter.com/qCnhJxoEPr— Damian Salas (@vthokie) July 28, 2017
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I don't typically like the designs outside of the 3 point arc, a la Oregon's migraine-inducing court, but this is sexy af
I like it too and it is pretty sweet looking. I also doubt this gets done without Buzz's approval and I'm looking forward to seeing the final product.
HOWEVER, in honor of Oregon's court and to attract more Nike dollars, I'm disappointed they didn't put Stadium Woods on the other side of the court in honor of its victory over the Beamer Barn /s.
I almost feel like torg and pylons should be opposite of burress instead of beside. Just looks a bit busy or encroaching on 3-point line. Just looks a bit off to me. Cool idea though.
I would have preferred just the pylons.
Agreed. An oversize pic of the pylons that gets overlaid with the three point arc and stops at the three point arc and leaves the gap between them for the half court circle.
Yeah... I hate to nitpick ... it was a good idea but it looks way too busy and crammed. Would've been better with either just Burruss or just the Pylons. You could then make the one image bigger since you had more real estate to work with.
Like this?
Yeah but put the Bridge at midcourt on the other side facing away and then use the pylons as the lanes under both baskets. And get rid of that maroon stripe that ugly
I think the maroon stripe is to make the lane and 3 point boundary into a large VT
Funny how a logo that was phased out a few years ago is coming back into such prominence.
I like it a lot
Basically, but then make Burrus a little bigger
I would make Burruss a little smaller, and have the Pylons on the other side of the court, if that is possible, or compliant with applicable regulations (NCAA, ACC). Then that would get the best of both worlds.
Agree on it looking too busy. I would only chose one "building" on each side.
Damn, you beat me to it.
Yeeeaaah that's gonna look great on TV next year. However, part of me wishes they had gone obnoxiously large with the Burruss Hall design. Still awesome.
Well I hope the VT is still at mid court right?
Logos and texts still have to be added. The ACC logo and something underneath the baskets. Looks great though
I'm not sure I like this yet. I'm a big fan of symmetry. I think I would've liked it if it were just Burruss. Maybe it'll grow on me.
Edit: I'm hoping the negative responses on Twitter/elsewhere will urge them to do some sanding Monday morning. Finished or not, it's still going to look busy at the bottom.
I would have liked it better if the paint and top of the key area didn't look as much like a big pEni$.
Otherwise, pretty cool!
^ this glad someone said it
Me too
We're adults here, you can just type wiener.
In the replies he said the maroon should darken once finished. Also missing some lines in the paint. I just hope it doesn't look like two big ol' dicks in the end.
And I'm thinking it's not completely finished yet with the design. HokieESQ was hinting at some Hokiestone I believe on Twitter.
Incoming Hokie Stone.
Money!
I want Hokie Stone incorporated but (I am likely in minority here) from that angle that doesn't look good/right to me. I hope it looks better once finished and from the TV angle. Just in that picture it doesn't jump out as Hokie Stone to me but just random shapes - I hope it's just the angle in the picture.
They're just taping it off getting it ready for paint
I wonder if they'll try to mimic how Nike replicated the pattern on the football uniforms last year
Gotcha! Thanks! Sorry I could not tell that it was taped off. That makes more sense.
Why would they paint the base maroon if they were going to paint over it? Also doesn't look like painters tape to me. Could be wrong! Would love to see the color mimic actual hokie stone.
It's painter's tape, per other posts on Twitter.
It'll be Hokie Stone color with maroon outline/filler. Probably easiest to just lay down a maroon base and tape where you want the filler to be when it's done.
I wonder if they'll just use a darker shade of maroon to fill in the pattern, like Nike did with the uniform last year
Though, I'm not fully sure how you could pull that off without using a seriously obnoxious level of tape.
That is a truly horrible jersey, I think.
Hmmm... those giant balls of painters tape on the side have me skeptical.
They're currently painting a darker maroon over the taped off area.
[Mod Edit: Embed actual tweet because the original host deletes its content regularly.]
Can't answer that. Maybe this is step 1 of taping it off, and there will be more to be done over the next couple days to work inside the stones? Also looks like they used a pattern for the design itself (you can see one folded on itself along the opposite baseline), so it might not necessarily be blue painter's tape. With that said, it looks like there is blue tape along some of the near design, so I'm guessing that's to mend sections that got damaged somehow.
This is promising, then...
I'm surprised none of y'all have commented on the reveal of the updated seats in these pics
The seats look real good. I do have to admit I'm a little worried how it'll look on television, as games in Cassell tend to broadcast dark and these seats are going to darken it down low. Almost wish they had gone with orange as well to help offset that.
Let's hope no one can see the seats on tv due to all the fans standing in front of them.
Zach approves.
Sorry but this is an awful floor design.
Hopefully the paint doesn't look purple on TV. You can tell at floor level it's right, but that high, TV angle isn't promising.
That is beautiful.
But it bothers me immensely that Torgersen Bridge, Burruss Hall, and the Pylons aren't in the right order.
I also don't know what the hell the maroon stripes on half the baseline are.
I'm going to reserve all judgment until it's all finished.
OMFG! I just had one...
I LOVE that we're doing something like this. As for the design itself, well...I think there's a lot of room for improvement. But it's the kind of trendy/non-traditionalist thing I never expected to see us to do, and when done right could be awesome.
Whether it is tshirt designs or Cassell floor designs, why do we feel the need to over-engineer everything?
More does not necessarily mean better.
Burruss by itself would look great, but we had to cram two other things onto the floor.
And not only that, the lack of symmetry is distracting to the eye and reminds me of an optical illusion.
What struck me when visiting Notre Dame was not only the tradition but a keen understanding of traditional simplicity.
If you wanted a basic shirt that simply said Notre Dame Football, you could find numerous classic versions minus all of the random gimmicky bullshit you find on VT merchandise.
This is coming from more than likely a 25-50 year old white dude. I also like traditional simplicity. But you don't hear youth (read recruits) talk about how awesome plain Notre Dame shirts are.
I'd like to say I resemble that remark, but I can only wish I were 50 again.
Reminds me of some of the Metro Conference graphics. Oh, the old days...
Blue Steel
I'm thinking Carilion gets the other side of the court. They paid a lot of money for it.
That said, the VT side is too busy as many have lamented.
I have heard alot of complaints about balance. Just got off the phone with Whit about it. He says the other side will have a graphic to fill in the space. Here it is.
I like it... because its in Blacksburg.
Starting to look real nice up in there.
[Mod Edit: Embed actual tweet because the original host deletes its content regularly.]
That should help improve the look of the floor in January/February when people start to track in rock salt. That maroon area was always the hardest to keep clean. Looks good too.
The most interesting part I see here is that they continued the improved seating into the student section. I don't believe that was in the original plans. It may also mean the HT's have to move back up to the regular band area unless they plan on building a better platform for their drummer.
I just hope it doesn't mean that the student section is getting moved up away from the court as far as possible
Same student seats. Looks like some just get a cushier spot for their tush
Really wish we would put the students in "The Paint", sections 7-13
Or let them circle the court like Duke and other schools.
I'm pretty sure they did that just so you can't see any of the old seats on TV. Especially during those winter break games.
It'll look much better seeing maroon instead of wooden seats. Might trick you into thinking more people are there.
Thanks, VTGM/Joe... Sure would be nice if Twitter let you embed from mobile.
Apparently you can switch to desktop mode and embed. But that wouldn't be from the app I guess.
Honestly I started using twitter just for #GameDay4Frank and quit shortly after.
I use my Twitter almost exclusively for sports. It's how I find articles about the team's I follow and find any news or updates about them.
Same. It's very efficient as a sports news consolidator if you have the right follows.
Easy work around is to open the tweet in the browser, request page as desktop, and then embed away.
EDIT: Realized they're still working on some lettering on the left hand side. So its still a work in progress but...
Honestly, its not all the great.
Having Burruss, the Pylons and Torg Bridge all on one side is way too busy. The maroon Hokie stone is meh.
Not impressed.
Agree to disagree. I think it's going to look great on television. They still need to put the school name on the baseline, the Carilion sponsor logo somewhere, and the ACCs in the paint, so it's not quite finished, yet.
As for the Hokiestone pattern, I'm not sure what else you were expecting. The black pattern was only for Bristol and actual stone color would look awful on broadcasts.
Keeping it straight maroon rather than the weird maroon hokie stone pattern would've been better (not to mention saved someone a lot of work). It looks kind of odd and blotchy from up high. Pretty sure nobody outside of Tech (and half the people from Tech) will be able to figure out what is going on with that design when watching on TV.
Commentators will be sure to point it out every game
I don't think I'd give broadcasters that much credit to think of explaining to viewers what the design is... they have enough trouble with players' names and going beyond repeating the same player fact you hear on every. single. game.
My larger point though is if you have to explain to someone what they are looking at, that's not a good design.
Maybe, but did you know that Jarrett Boykin wears 3xl gloves. The lady on the sidelines is holding a pair of gloves that size and they are much to big for her.
Have to build the brand/make people aware somehow. People probably thought Tennessees checkerboard was stupid at some point
Most people still think Tennessee's checkerboard is stupid.
I don't think you speak for most people. It's iconic and immediately identifiable by sports fans
Edit: wrong comment
I'd be in love if the buildings weren't on there.
Agree that it's way too busy. As I said upthread, needs to be just the Pylons.
Yep - people said wait for the final product (and I realize this still isn't the *final* product) but that baseline is way too busy with 3 buildings. Not sure what was wrong with doing just one centered. Feels like someone couldn't make up their mind so they just crammed them all in.
Mark snapped this photo after football practice last night.
I think it's made to be view from one direction only. I bet it looks pretty goofy from the far side. Maybe the geology department wanted burruss to look like a stalactite?
That said, it actually looks pretty sweet from this side.
They did a good job applying the buildings and Hokie Stone on there but holy hot mess batman is that a busy court design.
Agree with everyone else. would much prefer there only be one building element.
Also I would like the entire surrounding floor be maroon and the Hokie stone layer just be the ring closest. the light wood outside the Hokie stone layer REALLY bothers me. Not a big fan of the box being maroon with that wood color palette either. The cool factor is not there, but it will have talking heads pointing out all the elements which is one way to go.... I guess.
to whoever is in charge of graphics at VT: Less is more
One thing to keep in mind, the light wood behind each baseline will be covered up by the big donor seats, media, and cheerleaders, you won't see 10ft of plain floor there normally.
The buildings will still be busy AF though.
You're not wrong but that sounds like an excuse for the designers. It should have be done correctly.
Clark Ruhland designed it, and you can reach him at @Hokie20 on Twitter with any critiques you may have.
Not on twitter but if he is on tkp I welcome the discussion with him.
I'm not sure he's open to discussing. I saw him tell one guy who very openly didn't like it "I guess you won't be attending an event at Cassell for the next four years!" or something similar. Other than that, he hasn't really responded to any critiques that have been posted (a lot).
That "one guy" is his friend IRL.
According to this (pic is posted below) it was Damian Salas:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXd8sdblnAF/
It was a collaboration between Clark & Damian.
It started with the Hokie Stone concept and went from there:
Man that original concept looks so much nicer. I wish there could've been a vote or something.
Having seen it in person, it looks way better than any photo could make it (and I tried). They are still working on it some.
I understand the criticism of it being too busy with 3 buildings but I actually like it. It looks good to me and I am glad they fit all three of them in.
Will the paint be repainted? The two shades of maroon is not great, but I do like the Hokie Stone pattern. In fact VT Fencer should be really happy to see this on the basketball court. Asked for it 2 years ago.
You know me better than I do. I completely forgot about that post.
I was googling for a good picture of the maroon Hokie stone on the back of the jerseys and the best picture I found was on TKP from your post years ago
Would loved to have seen them add in the shooting victims memorial somewhere on the court.
Already too busy plus while it's important to students, I don't think we should tie our basketball program to the tragedy
I agree. I know it's a touchy subject but I really don't want it defining everything we do. It has a memorial for a reason, it doesn't need to be memorialized everywhere else on campus.
I feel like we are sort of copying the Cleveland Cavaliers court design with the city skyline being the same as Torg Bridge, Burruss, and the pylons. I think we will see the Carilion graphic orientated to be seen on the broadcast camera as well like the Quicken Loans Arena text.
Well....there it is.
It's still a work in progres... I hope
We're not copying any individual team, this is a trend across all levels of basketball. Did someone "copy" the Nuggets too? It has become a normal thing to do on a court, we could keep the old-style court design but we'll be one of the few that look boring in a few years.
I guess copying isn't the right word. Just looks similar to Cav's that's all. I personally like the design.
I would say copying and trending are synonymous in this instance, not that I find anything wrong with either. Its kind of like saying the NFL is a copycat league, which means teams trend toward what was recently successful.
Except it's not really a "skyline"... I would like it a lot more if it was.
This is just 3 separate building silhouettes bunched together. Not a great look.
^^This.
YES. Exactly.
Good call.
Note the full band of blue around the outside. This is how it should have been done with maroon.
I love it. All I ask is that they add the orange outline to the VT.
the pictures from yesterday had the lines taped off for it.
Love the court design actually. But couldn't they have picked better buildings? I was think Slusher in the middle with McBryde and Pritchard on either side would be better. /s
Like a giant middle finger! Nice.
Shouldn't TOTS be represented?
This gonna get a lot of downvotes, but TOTS is one of the worst bars in Blacksburg. Hokie House and Sharkeys were way better/more fun.
You, my friend, are correct as hell.
Completely agree. If you're going to be the only bar in town that charges a cover, you better provide me with a substantially better experience, and I personally did not feel like it got it there. Not a bad spot, but no better than the other no cover options in my opinion.
I believe Big Als at one point started a small cover on certain occasions as well.
Can confirm. Didn't agree with it, but had to do it anyway because it does what it's told if it wishes to remain employed.
Couldn't agree more. I think I went to Tots twice the whole time I was in Blacksburg. And once was because they were donating that night's cover to Relay For Life.
Okay. How about The Balcony?
Maybe Woody's? Preston's? Arnold's? Ton 80? The Library?
See it's not always a bad thing when you speak that dam truth
I agree, I think the only night I went there was when I turned 21, and that was it. It is however, somewhat iconic.
The bar that hosted the official Alumni Association watch parties in Denver last year put a Rail on the menu for the games, which, if I recall correctly, came in either shot or drink form.
I don't get all the hate. I loved TOTS Tuesdays.
Not everyone enjoys the frat crowd.
Just because one doesn't prefer it doesn't mean it is objectively bad.
It doesn't matter how great the bar, if you don't enjoy being in the company of 90% of the crowd.
You might not enjoy the crowd, but quite a few people do.
THIS JUST IN: Different people have different opinions regarding (insert subjective thing here)
That said, I also enjoyed TOTS back in the day, but haven't really enjoyed it as an alum
WHAAAAAT? NOOOOOO!!!!
Quite a few might enjoy it, but quite a few don't.
None of my comments negate that some people have a goddamned blast at TOTS. If you do, good on ya. But NOT EVERYONE does.
Now, shall we continue the back and forth into perpetuity?
not to be confused with the MotoGP sponsor
No, I appreciate your willingness to agree
No, no it shouldn't. I hate that place. IMHO, the worst bar in Blacksburg and every time someone suggests it, I cringe.
I always had bad experiences in Burruss...
Another update:
[ mod edit: embed ]
I think that looks better with the orange lettering over the maroon hokie stone. It's starting to grow on me.
I think it looks awesome
It looks sick.
Me no likey. Sometimes, bad is bad.
Seems to be finished minus the Carilion Court logo(s). Here's a picture of the whole thing.
Overall I think this is a major net positive. I looooove the baselines and the orange writing on them. I like the idea of the buildings, but I do feel they seem a little forced into the space. I think the new seats actually make the court seem brighter now, or something.
I also adore the baselines! I like the idea of the buildings, but not the execution. Should have picked one, IMO.
Is the scale off on these buildings? Burruss and the Pylons look about right relative to each other, but Torg bridge is much larger than depicted.
As someone in a design industry, I have a few thoughts on how this happened. It was designed in plan view. And it looks ok in that format. Looking straight on, centered, it's... ok. As others have said, three buildings are too many. It doesn't balance well.
The real failing, though, is how it looks from any other angle. The imbalance of the buildings is made worse by viewing from any point other than the center.
I don't know if they ever looked at it in perspective view, but it doesn't seem like they did. Maybe, once the design was done, they did, but were too enamored with their concept to admit that it might need some tweaking.
Edit: since I have had time to think about it, Torg bridge is a problem. Burrus and the pylons make fine silhouettes. The bridge just looks cartoony. As a structure, it doesn't stand alone. It connects two buildings. Here, it doesn't do well standing alone. Something about the windows is what makes it cartoony. Perhaps if they had put in the muntins and mullions, it could have broken things up a bit. As it is, the thing looks like a cartoon ghost with gapin, plain eyes.
Thank you for helping me figure out what I didn't like about it. If nothing else, just have Burress and replicate it on the other side of the court for symmetry. This, though, is a personal preference. It's like tatoos. I love a really cool tat, but when it becomes a full sleeve, neck, calf, etc., I lose interest and just see a messy blob. I don't expect anyone else to agree, just my take. I do like the rest of the design.
You are correct. Perspective will always be off unless it is either a single building image or a symmetrical set of buildings.
Positives:
-Big VT on center court always looks good
-Burruss looks cool
-Orange Virginia Tech (in new font) on the baselines looks great
Negatives:
-Buildings are way too crammed; should have stuck with one
-The maroon in the free throw lane doesn't seem like it's the same shade as the maroon around the court.
Mixed
-The hoke stone pattern is cool in the close-up shots. But that pattern in maroon is very subtle as you move further away. Once you get to the full court view, it's so subtle that in many spots you can't tell it's there at all. In other spots you can see some variance in the floor color but hard to discern what it is. I actually thought there were some dirty footprints below Burruss in that fullcourt pic, before realizing it must just be how the light is reflecting off the hokie stone pattern
So, some good and some bad. Probably looks better in person (and hopefully on TV in hi-def) than it does in the pics being shared. Hoping it will grow on me since I guess we'll be looking at it for several years.
I feel like a couple of big ACC wins and a season or two will have more people feeling it.
Yep... People haaaated the 2004 era football uniforms when they first debuted. Then we win the ACC 3 times in them, and now they are routinely talked about as one of our best ever looks.
One thing to note for all the criticism including mine is that the designers original intention may have been different than the end result. They may have been railroaded into adding more elements, changing things, etc that they originally didn't want to by people that have zero ability to design. And they had to make the best of it because, well, they want the paid work to continue in the future.
The best thing I can say is the application is well done and that goes to the strength of the original concept.
beyond that the buildings are a mess and the entire surrounding area should be mono-color. with those 2 elements fixed this court would be solid.
The unfortunate reality for every designer is that they are not the ones with the money, and 99% of us need to bend to the money's wishes no matter how stupid the money's requests are.
Sounds like it was intentional.
well, I just noticed the image above in the thread of the "original" concept which had no buildings at all. So it could be they were requested to include Burruss and the Pylons and they decided to use Torg as well.
Just offering a insiders point of view of how shit can go sideways when you are a designer with a dumb client. I obviously was not in those discussions but I have seen how previous planning and design decisions were made by the Athletic department and it was far from great. So I can see how Damian and Clark may have gotten burdened with additional ideas they didn't want.... or they did it themselves. we may never know.
That's definitely true. I could see the higher-ups requesting more change, since that original concept was somewhat similar to last year's design (apart from the two-tone stain and the stone border). I know some people have the "if you're going to make a change, really make a change" mentality.
Other than the building stuff, I do really like how it turned out.. I'm thinking/hoping it's going to look a little better on TV since you're only looking at ~1/3 of the court at a time. I guess we'll see.
I understand but don't really agree with the criticisms of "too busy/too many buildings" and "looks bad from different angles". It seems like a court designed (appropriately) with an eye to how it will look on TV during game play, and I think that's its major strength.
Right or Wrong, I think you are seeing the silhouette of Torg Bridge as an icon of VT. A very similar silhouette is used at the entry on much of the new construction/renovation
On Lane:
the new 460 Bridge:
Renovations to English Field:
It could be a focus on the renovations to Cassell in the future too. IDK.
When GameDay came to Tech back in 2005, they set up in front of the Torg Bridge twice for the GT and Miami games
The university playing that up as a major landmark on campus is nothing new and has been going on for quite a while.
Doesn't hurt that Alumni Mall is probably the easiest road to shut down and not interfere with gameday traffic. Plus it's wide enough to cram a ton of people.
At least they correctly have the gaps showing at the bottom of the arc of Torg bridge. Never understood why those gaps are there.
Torg Bridge is actually a vierendeel truss. The arch at the bottom serves zero structural purpose. As an architect, I've always thought the arch was asinine. But, at least they had the forethought to make it very evident the arch does nothing.
NERD
I've been called worse.
In this context I mean it as a compliment.
Seems like the maroon looks right to me.
Yeah, there are more lights focused on the playing surface of the court, making "the paint" appear slightly lighter than the baselines. It's the same though.
They are different, only because the stone pattern is made from a darker maroon on top of the same shade of maroon the paint is.
Damn you, you're right. The VT at center court looks like it is the same shade as the stones and "the paint" is the same shade as the mortar. ...I think.
I like it! Although, I can definitely understand the criticism that it seems busy.
Since VT is more recognizable for football, maybe they should have taken the "UNC approach" and just painted Lane Stadium at half court. Nothing says "football school" like your football stadium literally painted on the basketball court.
Obvious /s.
Where is the carillion logo?
Hahn Hurst got some upgrades as well:
Why is the NBA 3-point line painted on there?
Could be the men's arc and the women's arc?
No it's the NBA. I'm sure it's something that Buzz and or the players wanted
Now that NAW has started the trend of 5-star, One and Done, First Round NBA draft picks coming to VT every year, it'll be good to have
Has to do with the spacing they want on defense. They had gotten rid of it before Buzz came so his first year they had to use floor tape to mark it.