The Final Four matchups have not been finalized yet, but the floor it will be played on is.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!At the venue State Farm Stadium, basketball court manufacturer Connor Sports has pieced together one of the biggest stages of all of college athletics.
Managing Director of Connor Sports and ASU alum Doug Grove spoke on the company he works for and what it means to craft such a masterpiece for March Madness.
“We have been providing the floors for 15 years now and it has really been a part of the nature of who we are,” Grove said. “The planning starts the day after the event ends and we look forward to the next year. We got a lot of support from the people at the mill in Amasa, Michigan and it’s always an exciting time to get to this point where we are on the big stage.”
Sent to their mill in Michigan, Connor Sports receives sustainably harvested wood from trees and turns it into court panels. After the sanding, painting, finishing, sealing and curing processes, the freight traveled 1,968 miles for the men’s basketball court and 701 for the women’s to the Valley.
The Final Four court consists of 381 total hardwood panels for men’s basketball and 262 for women’s. The dimensions are 4 feet by 7 feet each, 70 feet by 140 feet overall. Panel by panel, Connor Sports technicians and a labor crew both contributed as they put the massive puzzle together in about a four-hour span.
Hard Work Pays Off
Giving credit to the hard work his company has done for the Final Four, Grove is proud of how this year’s project turned out.
“We got a really strong crew of committed employees in Amasa, Michigan,” Grove said. “There are about 120 employees who work hard every day to produce the maple-strip flooring that a lot of the NBA and Div. I colleges play on. This offers a great moment of pride for all of them, and the efforts they put in throughout the year and to see this on tv, on this stage, is exciting for everybody.”
Echoing the same sentiment, Gerflor USA/Connor Sports CEO Benjamin Bachman stated via a press release just how professional the whole process is.
“Each member of the Connor Sports team has played a pivotal role in ensuring that an optimum playing experience will be had by the student-athletes competing and the fans cheering on both the men’s and women’s tournaments,” Bachman said.
Currently, the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Div. I Basketball Tournaments, aka March Madness, is in the Sweet 16 stage. Following the final games of that round, the tournament will shift to the Elite 8 before the Final Four commences.
The women’s Final Four begins on April 5 before the men play on April 6. At the time of reporting, the time of each game are all unavailable.
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers Phoenix Sports News for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
