The Big 12’s ambitious experiment with high-tech basketball has hit a very physical wall. After three rounds of the men’s tournament at the T-Mobile Center, Commissioner Brett Yormark announced late Thursday night that the conference is scrapping the LED glass court in favor of traditional hardwood for the semifinals and championship game.
Safety Over Spectacle
The decision follows a mounting wave of "mixed reviews" from players and coaches that quickly shifted from aesthetic criticism to genuine safety concerns. While the ASB GlassFloor was touted as a revolutionary branding tool—allowing for real-time graphics and data-driven visuals—the reality on the ground was far more slippery.
The tipping point appeared to be Thursday’s quarterfinal action. Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson was forced to leave the game against Iowa State after a non-contact slip resulted in a groin injury. Throughout the week, players frequently struggled with their footing, with some describing the surface as "slick" and "unpredictable," especially when moisture from perspiration was present.
The Human Element
Beyond the slipping, some athletes reported that the floor's shifting LED patterns and intense brightness were a mental and physical distraction. Kansas State forward Taj Manning notably called the court an "eyesore" that contributed to teammate migraines.
In his official statement, Yormark emphasized that the move back to wood was made after consulting with the four remaining head coaches: Tommy Lloyd (Arizona), Bill Self (Kansas), Kelvin Sampson (Houston), and T.J. Otzelberger (Iowa State). The goal is to ensure the "greatest level of comfort" for the student-athletes on the league's biggest stage.
As workers swapped the glass for hardwood overnight, the narrative shifts back to the game itself. The flashy graphics were a bold attempt at innovation, but in the Big 12, where every possession is a street fight, traction is the only metric that truly matters.
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We did it.
Kill it with fire.
Bullying works.
The Ming-12 is taking its TV screen glass court and saying,
goodbye and putting in hardwood.
What a win for the boys.
This is an emergency locked on Big 12.
You are locked on Big 12.
Your daily podcast on the Big 12 conference.
Part of the locked on podcast network.
Your team every day.
Happy Friday, everybody.
Welcome to an emergency locked on Big 12.
I'm Drake Toll from America's number one Big 12 podcast locked on Big 12.
Thank you for making this show your first listen every single day.
Feels good, right?
The big 12 conference is officially announced.
It will not use the LED glass court for the semifinal and championship of its conference tournament in Kansas City.
You want to know the most embarrassing part of this whole thing is last night to save face.
The big 12 has been dealing with this since the women's tournament.
By the way, if you hit subscribe, you get to keep my job.
The big 12 has been dealing with this problem dilemma since the women's tournament,
where the women said, hey, maybe playing on glass isn't the best idea.
We're slipping.
We're sliding.
It's not going very well.
They did some revamps.
Remember the court malfunction.
Their first day of the court didn't have a half court line.
How do you forget a half court line?
How do you make a fake basketball court and forget a half court line?
Just bad.
And then last, I thought the crescendo of the the idiocy here.
And by the way, I'm a big 12 guy.
I want to support Brett Yormar.
But if we're going to catch the SEC in the big 10, this is not the way to do it.
Wasting money is not the way to do it.
And trying to save face, I have a PR degree.
It doesn't make me a PR expert.
I can tell you this is not what you do.
The big 12 posted nine hours ago, a graphic with a quote from Kingston Fleming's,
this Houston freshman star freshman,
because they've been the conference.
They've been trying to save face about the court.
They're adding new stuff.
They're trying to make it better for players.
Ultimately, one basketball coach said it's been way different for the men this week.
A women's basketball coach in the big 12 said that the women didn't get any of these graphics.
But now the men do.
Now you revamped it up the court for the men, but not the women.
You're getting backlash from both sides, men's and women's.
And the only thing you have to stand on is this graphic from Kingston Fleming's
that was posted nine hours ago as of eight o'clock central time Friday morning.
Kingston Fleming said both teams have to play on the floor.
So I mean, it wasn't the floor's fault that one team won, one team lost.
It was all about the players.
Honestly, I think the floor is pretty cool.
The pregame was pretty cool.
At halftime, we watched the last game.
It was pretty cool.
I mean, just trying to do what we can do to get the win.
So the only person in America who has come at a manual sharp.
Kingston Fleming's both gave like the floors, whatever.
I don't really care.
And the big 12 took it and ran.
Like, look at this.
Look, look, look.
The players love it now.
See?
The floor is a good thing.
And then genuinely four hours after these graphics are posted.
Where they're trying to show the public that the players are fine with the court.
The court's not a problem.
What happens?
They delete the court.
The four coaches remaining net in a room.
The four, the leaders of those four teams met in a room and said,
we do not want to play on the TV screen.
We are slipping.
We are falling.
It is glass.
You just saw Christian Anderson get hurt.
We don't want to do this anymore.
Yes.
Look, here's the deal.
If both teams have to walk through a pit of snakes to win the game.
Yeah.
You're right.
It was the same for both teams.
It doesn't make the pit of snakes necessary.
No one's asking you to walk through a pit of snakes as a part of a competition.
As a part of college basketball game.
And no one's asking you the big 12 to play on glass.
No one's saying the glass is necessary for the big 12 tournament to go off.
And you know what?
What's the best case scenario?
I'm sorry, BYU.
I'm sorry, Texas Tech.
I'm sorry, West Virginia.
I'm sorry, Cincinnati, that any of you had to play on glass.
I'm sorry to the women's teams to TCU and West Virginia who all complained as well.
Two players have said things that weren't even that great.
There was a guy that's pretty cool.
And the big 12 ran with it and then immediately took the court away.
You thought it was cool?
You can't have it anymore.
Sorry.
What is, what was the best case scenario?
That's what is dumbfounded to me.
Best case scenario is Brett, your mark in the conference, get the metal of freedom.
No belt piece prize.
What was the outcome here?
All of America is talking about how cool the big 12 is.
They want to do it too.
They want their own glass court.
If that would have happened, then guess what?
The SEC and the big 10 would have gotten their glass court for next year and the big 12 would have faded to the wayside.
Because what happens is it's not like it's not like Apple needs to have the big idea.
They just need to see your idea, repurpose it as their own and win with it.
That's what the SEC and big 10 would do is they would take the glass court if it worked.
The LED court, they'd use it on their own, they'd get the credit.
The big 12 would get no extra money, no crazy exposure.
That's like the very small, best case scenario.
Like, if things go perfect, that's what would happen.
As you would get credit one time from ESPN in one article that, oh, the big 12 popularized this.
And it would go nowhere further than that.
Or the million worst case scenarios, including players going, hey, there's no half court line.
Hey, I'm slipping everywhere.
Hey, the viewing experience is bad for the fans.
They can't even watch the game.
The players getting my grains because there's a TV screen at their feet.
I just, and this is a stream of I don't understand the big 12.
Can you let me do some PR for you for a week, please?
Or as good as Brett, your mark is it's so many things.
I love Brett, your mark.
He came to the podium and said the big 12 should get eight or nine teams in March madness.
No, 10 or 11 boss hog.
Why can you not be a mouthpiece for the league?
And tell America Greg Sankey does it all the time.
And you know what?
It works out for Greg Sankey and Brett, your mark refuses to do it.
Yeah, I get why BYU didn't get in.
I understand it.
What do you mean?
Why BYU didn't get into the college football playoff?
How do you get that?
It's not your job as a commissioner to get it.
It's your job to push back to sway public opinion in your direction.
What's happening right now?
Am I crazy?
You're cutting two teams short out of the NCAA tournament from your conference.
You should be upset.
That's how you should handle PR as a commissioner.
First and sufferable as Greg Sankey as it works.
But no.
The big 12 instead of wanting to be competitive.
Oh, how are we going to beat the SEC?
How are we going to beat the big 10?
We're going to broadcast our football game, our championship in time square.
New York City will love Iowa State.
Yeah.
They'll love Kenny Dillingham.
It's going to work.
We'll send our teams to Mexico.
We'll play games in Mexico.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're the big 12.
We're better than the SEC in the big 10.
We have a glass court.
We play at LED courts.
Do you?
Nope.
Some ideas are best left in the trash.
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Okay, I love you guys.
There's a video this morning about the games themselves.
Sorry, that's not the focus because we had to do the damn court thing.
Can you tell them frustrated by this?
It's a good day.
It's Friday.
I shouldn't be frustrated by the court.
I shouldn't be frustrated by the court.
I should be happy.
What you need to know when you walk into the office today.
And they say, hey, how stupid is the big 12 court thing?
You say, yep, it is stupid.
And they shouldn't have done it.
I'm glad they're walking it back.
There was one take.
I'll leave you with this.
There was one take that I didn't mind.
Pete Mondo from Heartland College Sports has brought your mark announced late last night.
They are stepping away from the LED glass court.
He said in an arrow where it's not in to admit you made a mistake amongst our political corporate leadership class credits your mark for taking a chance trying to be innovative, but realizing it was overshadowing his excellence on the court and that product.
It was not well received by coaches, players, fans.
It's the right move for the big 12.
Fullers overshadowing the games.
Your mark understood pivoted.
Let's go back to focusing on the excellent big 12 basketball.
Yeah, on one hand, good on you, Brett.
You'll mark for saying hand up on me.
My bad.
We'll fix it.
Don't have to do it the first place.
Don't have to waste money.
We need money right now.
We need money.
Don't have to.
Don't have to do that.
Damn, man.
It just.
I said it from day one.
Don't do.
You don't have to do this.
Please don't do the glass.
Don't play on glass.
And they did it anyway.
And then what are they doing now?
Not playing on glass.
Going back to Hardwood.
Because it was shut.
Because it failed.
Hopefully we fail forward as the big 12.
I love you.
Peace.
We'll be locked on.
Thanks for making it your first lesson every single day.
Go say Grande.
Hey, everyone.
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