St. John Arena has returned to its former glory.
With the volleyball teams moving to Covelli Arena, Ohio State has redone the hardwood in St. John Arena to mimic the days when the historic venue housed the Buckeye basketball teams full-time.
The new court features the familiar scarlet keys, "Ohio State" lettering and scarlet depiction of the state of Ohio at center court, replacing the volleyball lines that have been present since the basketball teams moved to the Schottenstein Center full-time in the fall of 1998.
@PhilHecken The former home of Ohio State basketball, St.John Arena, had the floor redone with volleyball moving out, returning the floor back to what it looked like before basketball moved to The Schott in fall of 98. Here is a before, recent, and after of the floor makeover. pic.twitter.com/zmadVhkvMu
— #WinForCookie #CookieStrong (@Believeland1994) August 16, 2019
Ohio State has embraced the historic arena of late.
Last season, Ohio State hosted Cleveland State in St. John Arena in front of a sold-out crowd while donning new scarlet throwback uniforms. The team is returning once again this season, hosting Kent State on Nov. 25.
Chris Holtmann told 97.1 The Fan recently that there have been talks about Ohio State playing a Big Ten game in St. John Arena in the future, and potentially playing "as many as two" games a season in the historic arena instead of just one.
But it won't just be the Buckeyes using the arena for basketball purposes in the near future as the OHSAA also announced it is moving the Ohio girls’ basketball tournament to St. John Arena in 2020 and the boys’ tournament there in 2021.
