he floor for this year’s Final Four, which more closely resembles an elaborate painting than a basketball court, is on tour this week. It stopped at Michigan’s state capitol and the University of Michigan before settling at Ford Field on Wednesday afternoon.

In less than two weeks, one school will celebrate on the floor and maybe even take it back home, like Florida did three years ago.

But this floor was born in Chattanooga.

John Prater, of Praters Incorporated in Chattanooga, led the making of the men’s and women’s Final Four floors this year. He said the two floors are the most complicated he’s ever produced, even topping last year’s NBA All-Star jam session floor.

The men’s floor consists of 12 different colors with airbrushing and paint fades. The inside of the 3-point line is completely bleached. The women’s floor includes the St. Louis Gateway Arch over the entire court with clouds around the border design.

“I don’t believe there’s ever been floors this complicated in our industry,” said Prater, a graduate of Notre Dame High School and the University of Tennessee, “and I’m talking about both floors. The amount of airbrushing and fades on the men’s floor is more than we’ve ever seen done.”

Basketball court productions used to be simple: A half-court line, the paint area, a free-throw line. The addition of the 3-point line more than 20 years ago was considered a major re-design.

But Prater sought to knock down lines and borders with unique court designs. His new approach helped his company earn the opportunity to produce the courts for UT-Chattanooga, the 2004 Olympics and the Atlanta Hawks. Prater said he’s most proud of providing the court for the hometown Mocs and he really likes the design for Tennessee Tech’s floor.

“We’re just trying to be different,” Prater said. “We want to be able to go to a school and make that school a showplace. We want cutting-edge designs.”

And his latest production, the men’s Final Four floor, is drawing crowds all over Michigan. Prater’s supplier, Connor Sports Flooring, is based out of Michigan.

“It’s about a floor, but it’s about manufacturing in our state and the fine manufacturing that goes into making a product like this,” Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell said at a ceremony this week.

A ceremony for a basketball court. A lot has changed for basketball floors since the 3-point line.