Silva Sportz: New B-ball Uni's

Last night Syracuse debuted their new Nike uniforms against UConn. They are new form-fitting tops, kinda like Under-Armour with extra baggy shorts. You can see a video clip of Syracuse rockin' the uni's here. Along with the Orangemen, Nike is also redesigning the uniforms of Florida, Arizona, and Ohio St. Florida supposedly has already worn theirs and the other schools should debut them sometime this week. Here is Nike's explanation of what they were trying to do.

"Basketball works in lock step with the music and entertainment culture, specifically hiphop," said Hans George, Nike's general manager of global basketball apparel. "Hip-hop is growing up. It's becoming more businesslike." Patricia Mears, deputy director of the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, said Nike's look might be more old school than futuristic. "It's probably true that the pants take their cue from the hip-hop look," she said, "but the overall silhouette also reminds me of men's casual sportswear from the midcentury. Often, American men donned sleek tops and tucked them into pleated full-cut trousers." But beyond style, the new outfits are supposed to be more functional. George and some of the athletes say that because the jersey is body-fitting and made of two synthetics, Sphere and Dri-FIT, it will better wick away moisture. And by eliminating 10 inches of fabric from the waist, where it bunches up, players have a cleaner look, said David Egelhoff, the director of men's basketball operations at Ohio State. Yet Daryl Gross, the athletic director at Syracuse, said its greater effect might be on the game. "You can't grab the jersey," he said.

Personally, I've never seen anybody in hip-hop rockin' skin-tight shirts but what do I know. Here are some sample pics of the different uniforms.