Fort Worth got a heaping helping of the NCAA basketball tournament this year, and it was delicious.
The TCU men’s basketball team thrilled us with its first victory in the acclaimed postseason event in 35 years, and we watched in angst as the Horned Frogs took No. 1 seed Arizona to the brink of elimination before falling in overtime.
We witnessed half of the Final Four in the first two rounds at Dickies Arena. Watching Kansas and North Carolina on the way to New Orleans was beer and skittles in an electric March Madness environment.
Let’s do that again, NCAA.
And now a Fort Worth-based creative design firm has advanced to the Final Four, too.
PytchBlack will unveil new brand marks it created for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s most prestigious awards in college basketball: the Oscar Robertson Trophy and Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, presented to the association's national players of the year; as well as logos representing the All-America and All-District teams for this year’s basketball season.
The winners will be announced on Friday in New Orleans.
The All-America and All-District Teams have been selected since the 1956-57 season. Those marks made their debut earlier this month with the announcement of this year’s recipients. Additional branding marks for other USBWA awards and entities are also in development.
“It was a privilege to work on awards with such legendary namesakes,” says Bryan Delgado, PytchBlack's group account director, in a statement. “We're honored to have played a role in recognizing the best in college basketball.”
PytchBlack boasts that its roots are "firmly planted in Fort Worth, Texas," an advertising agency serving clients locally, regionally, and nationally — from startups and small businesses to Fortune 500 companies.
The USBWA and PytchBlack are also in the final stages of development of a new website in partnership with the Football Writers Association of America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers.
“The partnership with PytchBlack has been terrific and we are excited about the direction and vision of the association's branding,” USBWA Executive Director Malcolm Moran says. “The new marks all reflect our desire to move forward as we continue to advocate for the media, our founding principal. Additionally, we are looking forward to having a redesigned and user-friendly website that will enable us to expand our membership and thus provide more benefits and services to our members.”