[media-credit name=’AJ Maclean’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Despite the crooked lines painted on the Kohl Center basketball floor, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will not be slowed down for tonight’s game against the Iowa Hawkeyes, according to Associate Director of UW Athletics Steve Malchow.

“It’s not an issue in terms of the game,” Malchow said.

The offset lines outlining the basketball field of play, which are all approximately a couple inches off from each other, were discovered after the floor was repainted in the summer of 2004.

“Basically the feeling of our staff is that the floor was not tightly assembled when it was painted,” said Associate Athletic Director of Operations John Chadima.

Malchow agreed the crooked lines could be attributed to a mistake by the Milwaukee-stationed painting company ProStar.

However, the owner and president of ProStar, Greg Koller, said his company was not responsible for the mistake and the crooked lines are most likely due to the assembly and disassembly of the floor, according to a Capital Times article.

Malchow said the Kohl Center’s offset lines could also be due to the age of the floor, which is close to eight years old. The floor, which was bought in 1998 when the Kohl Center opened, was originally used in the 1997 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland.

Malchow added that the ice, which the floor lays over, could also have caused the floor to become warped.

According to Chadima, the basketball season will be complete before the lines are corrected. He said the cost of repainting the floor will be close to the $13,000 the university paid ProStar last summer.

“[The lines are] something we will address at the end of the season and most likely repaint [at that time],” Chadima said.

According to Malchow, the floor will most likely be replaced sometime after the 2005-06 season.

UW senior and women’s basketball team member Stephanie Rich said the incorrect lines have not been a problem for the team or to the flow of games. The lines are mostly unnoticeable and not something anyone has complained about, according to Rich.

“It’s not really a huge issue,” Rich said.