When the University of Toledo men’s basketball team hits the hardwood this season, it won’t just be showing off a new team.

Dominique Buckley, left, and Reese Holliday in the new uniforms.

The Rockets will be outfitted in new jerseys for the 2011 season.

“I love the way these look; they are way better than the ones last year,” said junior guard and Iowa State transfer Dominique Buckley. “The ones last year were bigger and they seemed a little plain; these are official.”

The Rockets will no longer wear gold at home as they did in 2010, they will go back to white. The jerseys also use Nike’s Dri-FIT fabric, which UT head coach Tod Kowalczyk described as “the lightest jersey that Nike has ever made.”

“The new jerseys are a big upgrade from last year,” said sophomore forward Reese Holliday, one of only two returning scholarship players, along with Delino Dear. “They are Dri-FIT jerseys like the major schools wear so we will look elite this year.”

The process of changing to new jerseys started with Kowalczyk. The second-year coach at Toledo has a personal contract with Nike and used the website NikeTeam.com to build the uniforms from scratch.

“Nike has been very, very good to us, so everything we buy is Nike,”  Kowalczyk said. “Ultimately, it’s the players’ decision to pick the jerseys that they feel the most comfortable in.”

“I appreciate the coaches doing this for us, getting us better jerseys than last year,” Holliday said. “New jerseys, new look, new team.”

Tags: Dominique Buckley, Nike, Nike Dri-FIT, Reese Holliday, Rockets basketball, Tod Kowalczyk, University of Toledo

This entry was posted on Friday, October 14th, 2011 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Rocket Basketball, Sports.
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