Oregon’s New-Look Basketball Court

Grand Opening of a Different Style

In Oregon’s game on January 13 against USC the Ducks broke out their new basketball floor that has a interesting new design that has not been seen before. The floor, designed by Oregon alum Tinker Hatfield who is a vice president for Nike, is named after former Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny and is meant to pay tribute to the Pacific Northwest by surrounding center court with forrest firs. Much like Boise State’s blue football turf, the new floor is meant to be iconic and well noticed. Trying to be well noticed is
nothing new for Oregon, thanks to the school’s Nike connection they have a football team that has about as many combinations of uniforms as you can imagine.

An Eyesore of a Court

Such a lively court is bound to have dissenting opinions. As I’m sure there are many people, especially most University of Oregon students, who enjoy the court and the attention it is getting, I am not one of those people. I believe this court is just dreadful and looking at it from a bird’s eye view makes me shake my head is disapproval.

The dramatic change in colors from center court to the baseline is such a problem on many levels. First there is the fact of just how bad it looks staring at it. Then there is the problem the players encounter. Playing on such a court causes distractions while running up and down the floor. Although uniforms may not camouflage into the court as much as Boise State’s uniforms do on their blue field, the randomness of the color changes on the courts will draw the attention of players, especially opposing players, and take away the players’ attention to the play. This won’t make players happy if the court is taking away from their ability to fully perform on the court. But speaking of jerseys, since there are such dramatic changes in color that gives the illusion that the center court, the lighter part color-wise, seems brighter than it really is, which may cause the white home jerseys of Oregon to blend in a bit more than they would on a normal looking court.

Finally, and in my opinion most importantly, is the problem with the lines. This may be an easy change to make, but as of now the lines on the court at certain points on the floor are very difficult to see. The half court line is pretty much non-existent which gives the players and refs difficulties in predicting and calling both back court violations and 10-second half court violations. Then there is the 3-point line on top of the key. The men’s 3-point line is white and since it goes across the court, it passes through the dark and light colors which can cause problems in reading the line to determine whether a made field goal is a 2 or 3-pointer. Even though the refs can review such calls, the call on the court is important when the review is indeterminate and the call on the court can vary due to difficulty in seeing the lines and when such a problem effects the outcome of a game, there will be outrage, especially if it’s the away team that loses as a result.

Overall, not only does the court cause problems in gameplay, but it is just such a mess to look at.