NCAA Basketball

University of Oregon’s New Basketball Court Will Leave You Speechless (Photo)

by Glenn Davis | 7:08 pm, November 6th, 2010

You’ve seen the University of Oregon’s crazy football uniforms, you’ve seen the black-on-black basketball uniforms, and the baseball uniforms with the words to the school’s fight song functioning as pinstripes. And even taking all those into account, the floor of the university’s new basketball arena will still probably shock you.

Here it is:

Yes, it’s a real thing. A few people love it, but most will probably hate it. And yes, of course it was Nike’s doing. The company’s excellently-named vice president for design and special projects, Tinker Hatfield, explained it as follows:

“We wanted to design the most iconic television presence possible for the University of Oregon by conjuring up a highly unique and visible basketball floor design. It’s inspired by our beautiful tree-covered region and the UO 1939 NCAA Championship basketball team nick-named the ‘Tall Firs.’”

And yes, Oregon has a lot of trees and the “Tall Firs” inspiration is clever, but…trees are for the outdoors. I’m not a rabid traditionalist, but this is too much. Innovation is nice, but like those uniforms we mentioned earlier, this feels a lot more like doing something just for the sake of doing it.

Filed Under:
oregon ducks

Dave Wilson

Terrible, absolutely terrible. So tacky. Oregon is the trendiest college in America. Enough already we get it. Stupid.
Phil Knight is stupid

seriously? this is AWFUL. GET RID OF IT NOW!!!!!
Chbender

This is what happens when you try to make something into a piece of art and forget what it’s function is. As a piece of art, it’s OK. Viewed directly from above, it reminds me of lying in a forest meadow and looking up at the sky, but no one watches a basketball game directly from above. The glare off the light center of the court is awful and the transition from the light to the darker trees is distracting when watching a game. When I first saw it on television I thought my screen was malfunctioning.
pilotThinksnow168

i have been to oregon, 70% of the state looks like southern idaho or nevada. only the cascade “strip” has serious forest, and a little bit called the blue mountains.
TA

Search as I may, I have never been able to see a center court line. Is there one, because it doesn’t show up on TV or in any of the photos I have seen. And if there ISN’T one, how is this a legal court for basketball? I think the illusionary distraction is not only unnecessary but a true disadvantage for any team not accustomed to playing on it. That is not in the fair eyes of the game. It is even more obnoxious than the Boise State field which I also dislike. I am an avid Duck fan, but this has gone too far!
Denisdobias

That a retarded court
richeerich7

Why are you people opposed to court change? So closed minded with “tunnel” vision? Are you also afraid of the dark? Have some fun and think outside of the box for once in your life!
jaysfan

this court cost the blue jays the cbi tournament i dont see a center line
FairPlay

OU earlier said they’d paint a real line if it became a problem. It is now officially a problem.
MrGeneric2007

Love the new floor. Fabulous. Way to go Oregon. Get out ahead of the tacky garbage that we see on most b-ball courts.
MrGeneric2007

There is a line there that if visible to players and officials on the court, just not to those watching on TV.
MrGeneric2007

There is a line there that is visible to players and officials on the court, just not to those watching on TV
Binky_says

when he said “iconic” i wonder if he really meant “ironic”… having your basketball court design of trees, which were cut down to make the court…
Charizard123

Let’s be honest here, it looks like shit.

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