SU's F.G. Clark Activity Center floor is getting face lift

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The racket is so loud, you can hear it from Roman Banks’ office. Three doors and a hallway away inside the F.G. Clark Activity Center, a pair of floor sanders grind across Southern’s basketball court, stripping away the lines, logos, polyurethane coating and sealant to reveal bright, fresh wood.

“They’re tearing it up, but for a good reason,” said Banks, the Jaguars’ men’s basketball coach.  Banks gave SU a face lift last season with a 13-win turnaround and second-place finish in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Now, he and women’s coach Sandy Pugh are making sure the court gets one, too.

When work is complete in a few weeks, the court will sport a new design and surface, improvements Banks said will make his players feel like “a kid at Christmas with a new bike.” When they see that court after it’s been redone, it continues to give them meaning of moving to the next level,” Banks said. “Not only this basketball team, but the university as well.”

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