Big 12 Tournament court controversy: ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg weighs in

The Big 12 Conference announced late Thursday night that they are transitioning to using a hardwood court at the conference tournament ahead of the final four games of the week. The conference had been using an LED glass floor for games, which resulted in complaints that the surface was slippery.

The LED glass court was used for the entirety of last week’s Women’s Big 12 Tournament, and the first three days of the Men’s Big 12 Tournament. A few women’s players complained about the court being ‘slippery’ last week, but no change was made. Heading into the Semifinals of the Men’s Big 12 Tournament, however, a change will be made.

“After consultation with the coaches of our four semifinal teams, I have decided that in order to provide our student-athletes with the greatest level of comfort on a huge stage this weekend, we will transition to a hardwood court for the remainder of the tournament,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said in a statement. “We look forward to a great semifinals and championship game.”

Heading into Friday’s action in Kansas City, ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg commended Yormark on the decision.

“I thought the commissioner made a great decision,” Greenberg said. “Look, I love Brett Yormark. He thinks outside the box. He’s trying to bring attention to his conference, and his floor did that. But, in the biggest games on the biggest stage, you want to put your players in position where safety isn’t a concern and they can be at their very best.

“This court was dynamic and bold and made a statement, but, when you’re talking about Final Fours and potential injuries to players, you have to make that decision. Love Brett Yormark. Love the risk he took in using this floor. But, the decision to go back to a traditional floor is the right decision.”

Bill Self: Big 12 did ‘the right thing’ by shifting to hardwood court

Shortly after the Big 12 made its announcement, Kansas head coach Bill Self said he agreed with the decision. While he didn’t notice any issues during the Jayhawks’ 78-73 win over TCU on Thursday, he also noticed some players slipping throughout the tournament.

“I personally didn’t have any involvement in any decision that goes on,” Self said. “If the other coaches are doing it and have juice, then they’ve got more than I got because I didn’t have any involvement with that at all. I think it’s the right thing to do, though. … I, personally, didn’t think it was as big a deal.

“But if you study it and watch the games throughout the day, and maybe some tonight, it seemed like, to me, there was a lot of steps that end up sliding one or two inches. It just didn’t look quite as clean. It’s a cool-looking floor, but I’m excited that the talk tomorrow will be about the semifinals as opposed to the court.”

Last month, the Big 12 announced both the men’s and women’s conference tournaments would take place on the LED court, designed by Germany-based ASB GlassFloor. It was part of a new innovation for the league and marked the first time LED court technology was used for an official sporting event in the United States.

While cool as a concept, it looks to still be a work in progress to truly be a viable option to be used in big-time competition.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.