There had been rumors in recent weeks that the Maryland basketball team would be getting new "Pride" uniforms for next season in the likeness of their now infamous football uniforms. Mark Turgeon added to the intrigue by saying about the jerseys: "They are out my comfort zone."
Well the folks at Testudo Times were provided an exclusive first look at the new unis, and they are...
If we're being honest, it's not as bad as I was expecting. Testudo Times agrees.
Some design cues are clear and will all-but-certainly show up in the uniforms. Aside from the obvious flag sections, you can see they're going full "Terrafont" here, sporting the same numbers and "Maryland" typeface as the football and lacrosse uniforms. The Terrafont will replace the current typeface and numbers, which have been around since the late '90s (and, of course, won a championship). Again jibing with the football version, the numbers are overlaid with a flag pattern Under Armour is calling Baltiflage. Interestingly, the same pattern is overlaid on the entire shirt in the red strip, though that doesn't appear to be the case in the other three versions.
I expect the flag patterns on the shoulder to be converted into Terraprint - the turtle shell pattern - in the "regular" look, which happened with the football uniforms. (Which would appear to mean no side panels.) But with four different colors of the Pride variant, perhaps these will be a more regular occasion than the twice-a-year proposition for football. An interesting touch is the contrasting waistband - jersey color in front, red in back. I'd almost prefer it to be contrasting all the way around, but this adds a nice bit of style without being overpowering, and I imagine will be present in the standard issue version as well. And the flag on the front of the shorts instead of the back (and no word mark!) is a certain, if admittedly minor, upgrade.
In the world of "jerseys that look like state flags," this is pretty tame.
Although it's still a jersey that looks like a state flag.
UPDATE: The Maryland athletic department is claiming that these renderings are merely drafts.
MBB: Renderings leaked of potential uniforms aredrafts only. Our fans will know when Terps, UA launch Pride for basketball.
— Maryland Athletics (@umterps) June 20, 2012