The Duke men's basketball team has three uniform colors—the home white, the away blue and the alternate black jerseys. But the Blue Devils' repertoire grew to four Wednesday when Nike unveiled a new line of gray jerseys specially designed for nine NCAA basketball programs that have won national championships wearing Nike apparel. The line is called Nike Hyper Elite Platinum, and Nike claims the uniforms are five percent lighter than the regular Hyper Elite jerseys that debuted during the 2010 season.
Platinum refers to the gray jerseys' color, which is the same for all nine programs for which they were designed. Reflective highlights are designed in the team's particular color scheme. Uniquely, the name on the back of the jersey is located beneath the uniform number, and in place of the name above the number, each program's national championship years are displayed within small stars. The team logos are also present from shoulder to shoulder on the back. The stars and logos on the back are sublimated into the jersey, meaning that the ink is bonded to the fabric before it is cut, for a smooth shadow effect. The uniforms are also part of an ongoing environmental consciousness initiative at Nike, and the company claims that the shorts are made from 100 percent recycled polyester and that the jerseys are 96 percent recycled.
The other eight designs were created for Arizona, Baylor (women), Connecticut (men and women), Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina and Syracuse. Duke will debut the jerseys on the court Feb. 11 against Maryland at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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