In-Ground Basketball Hoops

Putting an inground basketball system in your driveway can make or break your summer. Creating an incentive for both kids and adults to put down the electronics and get some exercise can be done in your own driveway. But, which size of inground system is ideal? We get many customers who ask us if they should go with regulation size 72 inch backboards, or whether they should stick with the portable 44 inch backboard system.

A lot of that comes down to preference, but mostly it comes down to budget. The smaller the backboard, the less expensive the price. Regulation size in high school, NBA, and college is 72 inches. Most driveways; however, have up to 54 inches which is a really good size for any bank shot.

Inground basketball systems with 54 inch backboards generally give you the option of glass, acrylic, or poly carbonate. Glass is what is used in the NBA in high school. Glass is also a little bit more expensive than the other materials as it is more expensive to manufacture.

We recommend not going below 48 inches on an inground basketball system. Really, you do need all 48 inches of about word to make a decent bank shot. These inground basketball systems we carry are made by several companies including Escalade sports, Goal Setter, Lifetime Products, Spalding and Huffy, and other smaller outfits. They are all adjustable and depending on the model they generally go from 7 1/2 at the lowest height up to 10 feet at the highest height. 10 feet is regulation height. Some of them, including the Mammoth can accommodate a padlock to prevent adjusting if you are using this in an area where you want to regulate whether it is being raised or lowered.

The higher end inground basketball systems we carry actually bolts into the concrete. You bury the bolts in concrete with the threads sticking up in the bottom of the pole has a receiving plate with holes that line up. That makes assembly easier and makes the pole more rigid. The lower end inground basketball systems have their pole buried directly into the concrete or offer the option of a ground sleeve that you would cement instead of the pole itself-the pole simply gets inserted into the ground sleeve.

We also carry replacement backboards as many customers already have an inground pole, but need to figure out a solution to mount a backboard and rim to their existing pole. If you're pole is 3.5 inches round or 4 inches square, then we have a solution for you.