UPDATE
March 28, 2022 – The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments are almost down to the FInal Four. For the men, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels defeated St. Peter’s University, the first 15 seed team ever to make it to the Elite 8, Sunday to win the East Regional competition. The other three regional winners are: Duke University (West Regional winner); Villanova University (South Regional winner); and the Kansas Jayhawks (Midwest winner). For the women, two of the four teams have been decided: Stanford University and the University of South Carolina are in the Women’s Final Four. The remaining two teams will be decided in games tonight when North Carolina State plays UConn (the University of Connecticut) and Louisville plays Michigan. Stay tuned for updates!
March 29, 2022 – The NCAA Women’s Final Four will be played Friday, April 1 when UConn will play Louisville and Stanford will play South Carolina to determine who will play in the championship game on Sunday. The Men’s Final Four will be held Saturday with the national championship game played on Monday, April 4.
April 2, 2022 – In the NCAA Women’s Tournament, UConn will play South Carolina for the National Championship in Minneapolis on Sunday, April 3. The final two teams for the Men’s tournament will be decided tonight when Duke plays its archrival North Carolina and Villanova plays Kansas.
April 5, 2021 – March Madness was in full swing over the weekend. The magnificent madness will end tonight when the Gonzaga Bulldogs play the Baylor Bears to determine the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion. Stanford University won the Women’s title yesterday 54-53 in San Antonio in a game against the University of Arizona that came down to the last second. The ending was similar to the game Saturday when the UCLA Bruins and the Bulldogs met in the Men’s Final Four.
UCLA surprised everyone but their fans with an amazing run in March. The Bruins were one of the four “First Four” teams, teams that had to win one game to qualify for a line on the NCAA brackets. UCLA won their First Four game and then kept on winning beating the University of Michigan, the Number 1 seed in their region.
After Michigan, UCLA had to play Gonzaga, also a Number 1 seed in their region. Gonzaga is unbeaten this year. Millions of college hoops fans have predicted Gonzaga will win it all. UCLA was not fazed with their opponent on Saturday night. At first, it looked as though the Bulldogs would cruise to a win but UCLA never gave up. The game was tied at the end of regulation. In overtime, UCLA fought back to tie the game 90-90 with three seconds left to play. Then what is sure to be replayed thousands of times for many years to come, Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs, a freshmen, made a three-point shot giving Gonzaga the win 93-90. It was a buzzer beater beyond belief.
UCLA had made it from the First Four to the Final Four only to lose the game in the last three seconds of overtime.
In 2018, Redwood Learn attended media day at the Women’s Final Four in Columbus, Ohio. A representative from Connor Sports was there. Connor Sports is the company that makes the NCAA hardwood basketball courts.
Editor’s note: The following story was first published in 2018. It has been updated and edited for this publication.
March 28, 2018 – As a communications major in college, Lauren Gillian could not have predicted his career would one day have him traveling from court to court and continent to continent connecting with communities through sports. March is a busy month for him and his employer, Connor Sports. Connor Sports has been the Official Court Supplier of NCAA Men’s and Women’s March Madness since 2006.
There is no madness in the process of manufacturing a basketball court. It’s a methodical, multi-step process from harvesting sustainably-sourced timber (maple trees) in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP) to installing floors at March Madness venues across the country.
The teams then provide the madness. Final Four weekend is here!
Final Four Men’s and Women’s teams – and courts
Stats always tell a major portion of the story. In total, Connor Sports manufactured 12 new custom courts and a total of 21 courts for the NCAA in 2018.
For the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, new custom courts were manufactured for the regional and Final Four games.
The Men’s Final Four court measures 70′ x 140′ with 397 panels that are each 4′ x 7′ and weigh 188 pounds for a total weight of 37 tons. The four Men’s teams left standing after single elimination rounds of regional competitions are: Villanova, Kansas, Loyola, and Michigan. Final Four games will be played in San Antonio at The Alamodome with the championship game on Monday, April 2.
The Final Four Women’s court measures 60′ x 120′ with 262 panels that are each 4′ x 7′ for a total weight of about 24 tons. The actual playing area is the same as the Men’s but the perimeter is smaller and the basketball is slightly smaller. The four Women’s teams who will meet on that court, installed Monday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, are: UConn, Notre Dame, Mississippi State, and Louisville. The championship game will be played on Sunday.
“Connor Sports is proud to play such an important role in executing the Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships with the NCAA,” Andrew Campbell, Partnership & Events Director, Gerflor USA, the parent company of Connor Sports, said in a press release. “Manufacturing 12 new custom courts and delivering and installing in total 21 courts for the NCAA is a challenge that we welcome and strive to execute to the highest standards.”
The courts were manufactured and inspected at the Connor Sports mill in the small town of Amasa, Michigan in the fall of 2017. The floor panels were stacked and banded in January and then shipped to Connor’s finishing partners. These partners sanded, sealed, and pained the panels. The panels were then loaded and delivered to each Regional or Final Four venue.
At Monday’s dedication of the women’s court at Nationwide Arena, Lauren explained that the court was installed in about three and a half hours with 20 workers. Installation begins with panels being placed at the outer edges. As panels are placed from the outside in, the Final Four logo begins to appear. If everything goes as planned, the logo appears perfectly in the middle where the two teams will stand on the logo for tip off. The arena has a capacity of about 19,000 fans for basketball games.
Connor Sports is a “big, big fan of sustainability,” Lauren said.
Five highlights of Connor Sports adherence to environmental friendly practices – Connor Sports info
1. In 2009, an independent environmental engineering firm audited and designated Connor Sports a “Zero Waste Company.”
2. As a member of the Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association (MFMA), Connor adheres to the strict grading and quality standards of that organization.
3. Maple hardwood used in the courts is from a renewable resource. The United States grows six times more hardwood than is harvested each year.
4. Connor recycles 99 percent of its waste material and offers wood that is Forest Stewardship Council-certified. The FSC mark represents products from well-managed forests.
5. Connor was the first MFMA member to be certified by the Rainforest Alliance, and is the only independently certified Zero Waste sports flooring manufacturer.
Final Four economic impact
The economic impact of the Final Four for the city of Columbus is about $20 million from the many visitors who will travel to Columbus for the games and residents of the area, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said at Monday’s event. Hotels and restaurants are ready to accommodate thousands of fans who are all in for March Madness.
Final Four fan impact
Fans of the final eight teams in the Men’s and Women’s Final Four are eagerly anticipating the weekend. Can Mississippi State repeat its exciting win from last year when they won on a buzzer beater in overtime to beat the perennial favorite UConn? Will Sister Jean help Loyola be crowned the champion as a Cinderella team wearing tennis shoes instead of slippers? Will Michigan’s Jordan Poole repeat his buzzer beater performance defeating Houston in a West Region game in Wichita?
It is definitely madness – magnificent madness.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is the size of a basketball court for men and women?
2. What is the difference between the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball game?
3. What hardwood is used to make NCAA Final Four basketball courts?
INQUIRY QUESTIONS
1. What is sustainably harvested hardwood?
2. How are the NCAA Final Four basketball courts installed?
3. What is different about the 2021 Final Four March Madness from March Madness in 2018?
4. What is the area of a basketball court?