Notre Dame Basketball Uniforms: Breaking Down Irish's New Neon Adidas Jerseys

With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish got a little carried away with their pride for their mascot and debuted new shockingly green Adidas uniforms for their Big East Tournament showdown with Marquette.

The Irish showed off the new neon jerseys in Madison Square Garden for all of the country’s fashion capital to see. ESPN’s SportsNation was clearly more amused than impressed with the uniforms:

As the Associated Press (via OregonLive.com) notes, a handful of major college programs are trying out the new Adidas look that features a camouflage print on the shorts. But not all the other schools have a color that makes their players look like they recently escaped from a nuclear power plant.

Georgetown, Louisville, UCLA, Baylor and Kansas are all also using the new style but were fortunate enough to have more muted colors. Only Baylor’s bright yellow can challenge the Irish in terms of being potentially blinding. 

Some of the teams opted to put sleeves on their jerseys, while others left them off. Notre Dame was one of the teams that stuck with the traditional tank-top style.

The uniforms have drawn a wide range of adjectives on social media, and they are certainly different and ambitious. 

Putting camouflage on a uniform that likely glows in the dark is an oxymoronic fashion statement, but if this was supposed to be clever, most people were likely too shocked and distracted to get it.

It is difficult to know exactly what Adidas was trying to accomplish with these jerseys. If the goal was to attract attention, then the mission has certainly been accomplished.

But if the sportswear giant is attempting to keep pace with Nike, who decks out Oregon’s football team with bright and fashionable football uniforms every season, then this is more of a setback than a step forward.