Nike picks out the Elite in college basketball

Nine college basketball teams will be debuting these platinum uniforms sometime in the next month. Photo courtesy of Kentucky Sports Radio

At least that is what they make it seem like with the new line of Nike Hyper Elite Platinum uniforms that were unveiled on Wednesday.

Nine teams (both men and women) will go to a new, sleek gray look for one game each this season. If you’re a fan of Arizona, the Baylor women’s team, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, Connecticut (men’s and women’s) or North Carolina, look out for some changes in your team’s look very soon.

The primary theme here is gray (or platinum, I guess.) Every team will feature that as their primary color for the select games. There is also a decent accent along the sides that runs all the way down to the socks and shoes for each team. The accent goes along with the color the school is primarily known for (orange for Syracuse, blue for Duke, etc.)

There will also be a change-up in the name displayed across the uniform for most teams (UConn, Kentucky and Baylor escaped that fate.) For example, Syracuse will have “Cuse” written across the front, while Duke will have “Blue Devils” broken across the numbers.

If these were going to be the permanent uniforms for any of these teams, I would definitely have a problem with it, but since from all indications, it will just be a one-time shot, they’re fine by me.

Here’s a more in-depth look at the Syracuse uniforms courtesy of  blogger Nunes Magician.

Here’s a schedule of when your team will be be donning these uniforms:

UConn vs. Notre Dame (1/29), Kentucky vs. Tennessee (1/31), Duke vs. Maryland (2/11), Baylor (women’s) vs. Texas A&M (2/11), Florida vs. Tennessee (2/11), Syracuse vs. USF (2/22), Arizona vs. UCLA (2/25), UConn (women’s) vs. Notre Dame (2/27) and UNC vs. Maryland (2/29).

Enjoy them if you choose to, but remember they will likely be a one-and-done experiment.