Earlier this week, I had a Ticker item announding the Arizona Wildcats would be returning their (now) iconic “Cactus” logo to the floor of McKale Center, where the Wildcats play hoops.
The athletic department on Tuesday revealed a set of four court designs, showing the iconic cactus logo that was featured on the court starting in 1981. It was ultimately phased out altogether by the early 2010s. The logo has seen a surge in popularity of late, and in fact, this past fall, the football team added the logo to their helmets for a single game.
As I noted at the time, it’s an old logo that at one time appeared as the center logo on the team’s basketball court, and existed as a secondary logo until around 2010. The football team is reviving the old logo and wearing it as a decal on the sides of their helmets for this game.
You can get a good view of the helmet decal in the video below:
You've been asking and we've been listening pic.twitter.com/j7g05tt7pc
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) October 17, 2024
The logo includes the block letters “ARIZONA” with a green saguaro cactus rising out of the “I.”
Arizona also announced the cactus logo would be returning to the basketball court, and offered fans four different options for how it would appear.
Option No. 1:
This would have two cactus logos, fairly small in size, within the three point line.
Option No. 2:
This is almost itentical to the first option, except the court contains an additional outline of the state around the “A” center court logo.
Option No. 3:
Another similar option, but this would add a large, mono-color cactus logo to the floor.
Option No. 4
This would remove the two small cactus logos from inside the 3-point lines, and add a partial full-color version to the middle of the court.
If you were hoping the fourth option — which was chosen by fans — would be the one the team uses, you’re in luck. I was honestly hoping the fans would ultimately select it, and they didn’t let me down.
The new court will feature the cactus logo nearly from foul line to foul line, ultimately taking up about half of the court from the center jump circle to the sideline.
Arizona introduced the iconic cactus logo in 1987, coinciding with the rise of its basketball program under coach Lute Olson. As the team became a national powerhouse, the logo became a symbol of that success.
Arizona became a top program nationally with a 35-3 1987-88 season, and made its first Final Four appearance. That season began a streak through 2003 of 16 consecutive NCAA Tournaments with no lower than a five seed. The Wildcats are hoping the return of the logo will spur a similar resurgence.
The school announced the new design in a tweet, with some of the many calls for its return over the years highlighted.
we are SO back 🌵 pic.twitter.com/A0pwYnydRM
— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) May 21, 2025
I personally think the logo is tremendous, and I’m very pleased with its return. Hopefully success will follow for the schools hoops squads.
Did the fans pick the best version? What do you guys think of the cactus logo? For those of a certain vintage, who recall those standout Wildcat teams, how do you feel about the return?
the helmets and court look awesome! kind of gives a warm feeling
I get the nostalgia, and I like the concept of Arizona incorporating a cactus in their logo, but… this logo literally feels like a junior high art project where a student superimposed a cactus on top of a word in Microsoft Paint. Am I the only one that feels this way?
Fully agree and was going to comment something similar. A little refresh and polish on this design would go a long way. The concept is good, the execution is very dated.
Maybe high school or college, but yeah, I feel you.
Now they need to get rid of the ad on the side, ad for the medical center
on the court and stupid signature. Just too much with un-needed junk.
Have you noticed, that many teams, change beautiful, popular logos, only to go back to them later.
Here is a novel idea: Keep the beautiful, popular logo in the first place.
Seems like only yesterday I sat next to Steeve Kerr and Tom Tolbert in a Soc. 310 class, how did 38 years go by so fast? LOL. The A on the cactus logo was used on the football helmets from 1981-88
The old school block “A”!
I love it.