The NCSU Men’s Basketball Program this week unveiled a new paint job for their basketball courts in the PNC Arena as well as the Dail practice facility. The court features a two-toned stain, a large Wolfie head, and various small logos.

The design’s use of the school’s bright red color around the court boundary and a second stain tone inside the 3-point arc do an excellent job of marking the court’s important functional zones for the viewer.

Unfortunately, though, the second stain tone is not used in the free throw semicircle, and is inconsistent with the function of that zone. The zone’s function is actually consistent with the darker stained area, and thus, should be colored the same way. The current appearance may lead an official or viewer to incorrectly thinking a player is inside the 3-second zone when they are not.

Here is how the corrected court would look:

Taking this a bit further, let’s examine the free throw circle anyway. In 1981 college basketball instituted the Alternating Possession rule. Before this change, any simultaneous possession was settled with a jump ball at the closest of the court’s then three jump circles. Back then the free throw “circle” was completed with a dotted semicircle in the lane. Those dots disappeared in the ‘90s, but the vestigial arc inexplicably remains. Correcting the court for today’s rules, we see such a design:

While the rectangular lane with no arc shows a harsh 90-degree angle at the ends of the free throw lines, this design shows the zones of the court most clearly.