When the women's basketball team opens its season next Tuesday night, it will do so on a brand new surface.
Dust.
That's not fair. When I played in a 3-on-3 charity basketball tournament last Friday, I felt a little like Paul Simon - slip, slidin' away.
The new court was slippery and a little dirty, but that is easily taken care of, which means that by Tuesday evening, the women will really be playing on a brand new surface.
For the first time in Tufts' history, a varsity basketball team will jog out onto the only surface basketball was meant to be played on - hardwood.
Over the summer, the Athletic Department oversaw a project that gutted Cousens Gym. To the dump heap - or wherever old basketball surfaces go to die - went the old rubber floor, and in came shiny, new, glistening wood.
To add to the aesthetics, blue padding was put on the walls, new baskets were installed, the walls were painted off white, and a gallery of Tufts athletic photos was begun.
You may not think this is a big deal. You would be wrong. Playing basketball on a rubber surface is like playing hockey in the street or football on green cement. Okay, so they do both of those, but street hockey and astroturf are the ugly, drunk cousins of ice hockey and football on grass. In the same light, basketball was meant to be played on hardwood.
The modest renovation of Cousens gives it a traditional, yet unique feel that is important for a structure of such importance.
"Cousens Gym is an important facility," Athletic Director Bill Gehling said. "In addition to being the court for the basketball teams, it's the heart of the indoor facility."
While Gehling might not have ordered a heart transplant, he's made it healthier and more aesthetically pleasing.
It used to be an unbearable place to watch a game. A dreary brown color was omnipresent, the seats were seemingly designed by a torture expert, and the players ran around on a court middle schoolers would be embarrassed to call home.
But now, it's white, bright, and wide open in there and even Red Auerbach would be pleased with the new surface, which is decorated simply with a large "T," lending a more traditional look to the court. There are still the uncomfortable brown benches, but I'll sacrifice my knees and back for the sake of an historic look.
In other words, it's now a facility fit to host two top-flight basketball programs.
Plus, it's a safer place to play.
"I can exit practice without my back hurting," women's basketball coach Janice Savitz said. Her male counterpart, Bob Sheldon, agreed.
"The court will help in an injury way," he said. "It will keep the players healthy."
In fact, the whole project was done because of injury. Though the concept of renovating the gym was part of a general indoor athletic renovation plan 12 years ago, it had lost steam in the last half of the 1990's.
Then, renovating the cage area became the top priority.
"We wanted to put a new floor in there," Gehling said. "Plus new netting and intramural basketball courts. We're still planning on doing that in the future."
That was until the rubber floor got so hard that injuries became commonplace. It was even used as an excuse for out of shape former players when they came back and injured themselves in alumni games. One of them, Danny Doherty, knew it was time for a new floor, and as a member of the Board of Overseers of Athletics, contributed and raised the funds for a new floor.
What type of cash are we talking about?
Surprisingly little. For the new floor, new baskets and padding, Tufts spent around $100,000 dollars. The Building and Grounds committee used part of its budget to pay for the paint job.
If that sounds like a lot, listen to the alternatives that most students were asking for. There were two, large-scale projects in consideration, but the likelihood of having them approved was in the "not likely" category.
So Gehling made the prudent decision to take what he could get - a modest renovation - and hope for bigger projects in the future.
"It made much more sense to take the short-term action," Gehling said. "This will benefit the athletes the most right now."
Don't get me wrong, the alternatives do sound nice. It would be nice to have a state of the art field house with a huge floor, cushioned seats, and maybe an elevated track around it. But what we have is pretty good, too. Our gym says tradition, it just says it in an eclectic way. Plus, keeping our gym a little small, and keeping the bleachers extremely uncomfortable costs a lot less.
To turn the floor 90 degrees, taking out the bleachers, and making the court regulation 94 feet (it's 90 now, which prohibits Tufts from hosting an NCAA tournament games): $2 million.
To elevate the court to the same level as Chase gym and the fitness center, and use the room underneath for more athletic facilities: $5 million.
To keep one of the most unique, traditional gyms in the northeast: priceless.
