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During the off-season there have been ongoing renovations to the State Farm Center (former Assembly Hall), home of the Illinois basketball team. While everyone was aware of the laundry list of renovations, including new seating, scoreboards, sound system and other amenities (like restrooms on the upper concourse!), it was announced earlier this week that the school will have a redesigned basketball court to go with the arena renovations.
Here’s what the new Illinois basketball court will look like (PHOTO) http://t.co/THQzy1Icet
— CollegeBasketbllTalk (@CBTonNBC) August 24, 2015
The school will also be naming the court after former head coach Lou Henson, with the coach's signature orange blazer and name being placed inside the perimeter on both sides of the court. Henson was the head coach at Illinois from 1975 to 1996 and is fifth all-time in total wins for Big Ten coaches (423) and conference wins (214). The former Illini coach will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in late November.
As for the Illini's new arena, that won't actually be ready until December, which means the team will be playing at the Prairie Capital Convention Center for it's home games the first month of the season. The first game that is set to place in the newly renovated arena will be at the beginning of December when Illinois hosts Notre Dame in the Big Ten / ACC Challenge.
Illinois has been allowing fans to keep up with the process on Twitter, with pictures being posted on social media of the progress:
Renovation is on schedule. Can't wait for Dec. 2! #Illini #B1GACC pic.twitter.com/biuRVqlufG
— State Farm Center (@StateFarmCenter) August 19, 2015
It's hard to believe that the renovation of @StateFarmCenter is already over 60% complete! Looking good! pic.twitter.com/Zyp0DD5rkB
— State Farm Center (@StateFarmCenter) August 20, 2015
Anyway, thoughts on the new court design? Like it, hate it or mixed reactions?