Can a new court help fix Mississippi State basketball?

STARKVILLE - Nearly a year ago, Ben Howland stepped on campus as the new architect in the renovation of Mississippi State basketball.

He brought a resume that included eight conference championships and three Final Four appearances between his time at Northern Arizona, Pittsburgh and UCLA. To continue that trend of dominance he signed future pillars of the program like McDonald’s All-American Malik Newman and four-star forward Aric Holman to be Bulldogs. Next year’s class only builds on that with six four-star players as it's ranked the seventh-best class in the nation according to 247Sports.

But a critical flaw lingered within the program. One that Howland noticed the first time he stepped on the court at Humphrey Coliseum.

“Bottom line, it’s really a hard surface that doesn’t have a lot of give,” Howland told The Clarion-Ledger. “The No. 1 thing that’s important in flooring is to make sure that’s its good for your players in terms of their physical well-being. That thing is an older floor that sorely, in my opinion, needs to be replaced.”

A new floor costs approximately $130,000. Mississippi State is preparing to install a new permanent court by the start of the 2016-17 season that will replace the current portable flooring, which will be 15 years old when it is removed in July.

“It’s just going to be a better surface for them but not interfere with the other things that we need to have from commencement to concerts,” said Jay Logan, Mississippi State’s head of facilities and event management at Humphrey Coliseum. “We can still do that. That’s just the beauty of the technology of the floor construction.”

The new court is one of a number of ways Howland is using advanced technology to better prepare his players for the marathon of a basketball season. While no one is drawing a direct line between the outdated playing surface and seven knee injuries and two back surgeries since 2009, four of the knee injuries occurred inside Humphrey Coliseum. That’s a group that includes current Bulldogs Johnny Zuppardo (knee), I.J. Ready (pre-existing back condition) and Craig Sword (back). Those within the basketball offices believe a harder court can lead to fatigue, which then can result in being more susceptible to injuries.

Mississippi State already rarely practices on the Hump’s portable court. Instead, Howland prefers the Mize Complex’s permanent court that’s less than 5 years old.

“I think it’s better for our players,” Howland said.

Science backs Howland’s preference. Mississippi State is one of a handful of schools that uses force plates. The plates measure players’ strength in their lower body, core and posterior. They can also judge a player's fatigue.

“The fatigue, yes, being out there for three hours compared to being on the practice court, it can definitely show up,” said MSU’s director of basketball performance David Deets. “It can definitely make you more fatigued for sure.”

The floor was first used during the 2001-02 season, costing about $50,000. Technology at the time didn’t allow for the school to consider a permanent floor. Humphrey Coliseum houses commencement ceremonies and concerts, among other events. Forklifts and other heavy equipment often help construct the staging.

At the time, permanent floors would crack under the strain, so MSU opted for portable.

“Those floors aren’t performance-based,” said Gary Gray, who is the portable sales manager and NBA projects manage for Connor Sports. “They’re actually just for convenience. Let’s take it out, quick. Stack it. Then put it in.

“So the ironic thing is that the portable floor for most arenas, especially when you think about the NBA because they’re all playing on portable, is that they are the worst-performing floors for the athlete, but that’s the nature of the beast.”

The new floor, which will extend out to a 72-by-124 foot area, is expected to have a life span of up to 40 years, 25 more than a portable court, which would only cost $30,000 less. Mississippi State has not agreed to terms with a supplier for the permanent court but will recoup some of the cost by selling the old court.

New permanent courts offer layered bases that screw into the subfloor. Padding, foam and air lie between the layers offering less stress on players’ knees and backs.

“We’re looking for the best,” Howland said. “This will be one of the premier floors that you can get.”

There are four key areas when purchasing a court: shock absorbency, area of deflection, vertical deflection and ball rebound. Most permanent courts must pass the Deutsches Institute for Normalcy (DIN) testing, which focuses on the four major areas. None of this certification is available for portable floors.

In terms of shock absorption, the test demands at least 53 percent of the force return to the athlete. The court must also bend less than 2.3 mm in regards to vertical deflection. As far as area deflection, the player’s force can’t extend beyond 15 percent or about a shoulder length’s distance.

Gray compared area deflection to a trampoline.

“The first guy bounces really high,” Gray said. “But the next guy jumps down and doesn’t have that (height) because it went out too far. That’s why you want the area deflection to go no farther than the shoulder width of the player.”

Finally, a basketball is bounced on concrete and then the floor. The ball must rebound at least 90 percent of the height on the concrete.

“The technology of flooring in terms of having more give to it so it’s better for your knees, your lower back, your feet; it will be a big difference,” Howland said. “I think that no question the players and officials will notice.”

The Bulldogs were at their healthiest this season on Tuesday against Arkansas. With five seniors and three freshmen, MSU recorded its first 30-point victory against a Southeastern Conference opponent since 2005.

Part of the solution to keep those players healthy goes beyond the court.

“We got more production by playing guys less minutes,” Howland said. “That’s something that I’ve got to learn from here as we move forward.”

Force plates allow Mississippi State an unprecedented method of measuring a player’s fatigue.

At least once a week each player from the men’s and women’s basketball teams warm up with stretches for two minutes and then jump on the plates six times.

The six jumps equate to one scan within a computer system called SpartaTrac. The database holds more than 1.7 million scans. The data allows Deets to diagnose fatigue as well as high-risk areas for injuries.

“The reliability is very high, very, very high. Scary high,” Deets said. “Like we had an incident where somebody showed that they were susceptible to a hip or core injury and strained a (hip) muscle that day. So it’s very, very accurate.”

The scan measures three aspects of an athlete's jump. The “load” measures the beginning of the jump. “Explode” measures the second phase during the movement and transfer of force. “Drive” represents an athlete’s ability to finish the movements smoothly.

The three-pronged data is shown on a bar graph. Any number above 45 is good. The odds of an injury increase if one of the numbers is below 45 or is separated from the others by more than 15 points.

If all three stats are separated by more than 15 points and one or more fall below 45, the odds of an injury increase by 75 percent and is known as a “triple risk.”

According to Deets, Mississippi State has lowered more triple-risk athletes’ testing results without injury than any other user of the technology during the last two months.

“We design their programs to fix their signature and to make the variable that they are the lowest in, to increase it to close the gap to where that risk of injury goes down,” Deets said.

Less than five basketball programs in the country possess this technology. Three NBA teams used it last year, including Golden State and Cleveland. The first SEC football program is scheduled to receive the software next week. Each new member brings more data to the software, making the predictions more accurate.

“Every month they’re getting a new partner,” Deets said. “A professional or college team, every month; so they’re growing.”

In Howland’s last two stops his basketball teams experienced the best the game offered. At Pittsburgh, the school broke ground on the $119 million Peterson Events Center. It opened for the 2002-03 season, Howland’s final year with the Panthers. He engineered a $136 million renovation at Pauley Pavilion during his tenure at UCLA.

Those facilities played a role in the success of those teams, evident by the rows of NCAA Tournament trophies and coach of the year awards that line the shelves of his office. They act as blueprints for Howland’s next project.

“That’s always No. 1,” Howland said. “The health and well-being of your student-athletes.”

Contact Michael Bonner at mbonner@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @MikeBBonner on Twitter.