After Oregon Mimics Boise State, Other Basketball Programs Follow Suit

(Now featured on Yahoo! Sports: Eight Oregon-style court designs that may make you go blind )

Have you seen the recently unveiled Matthew Knight Arena, bequeathed to the University of Oregon by their sugar daddy, Uncle Phil? Some basketball naturalists have cried foul, claiming the Ducks’ new floor is a home field advantage worse even than Boise State. Others praise its storied roots in the history of Oregon.

Home field advantage, indeed!

But others (like yours truly) are still on the fence. Yeah, the court looks awesome, but is that worth completely hiding the half-court line? However, the shiny alpine tree line is a great alternative to the dismal court that dwells inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

So, only time will tell how Oregon fares.

That being said, if imitation is truly the sincerest form of flattery, then consider Oregon buttered up! While we wait to see how other teams handle the Ducks’ new pond, I wanted to see how other schools might achieve the same sort of “advantage.” If Oregon can grace its fans with visions of the neighboring landscape, then what’s to stop, say, the University of Miami, Louisiana State, Hawaii, Nebraska or even Arizona?

Nike, take note: I’ve done your homework for you.

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UPDATE #1 (02/09 11:00 p.m.): NOW ADDED: Louisville and Colorado.

UPDATE #2 (02/10 1:47 p.m.): NOW ADDED: UNLV

I’ve received some awesome feedback from friends today as to what looks good and what doesn’t. I find that incredibly humorous as I created all these designs to look as gaudy and ugly as I could. After all, isn’t that what Nike did for Oregon? So when some people tell me that the Hawaii court looks hideous, I just laugh and say, “Duh!” They’re all supposed to look bad. That is why I started this project, to see how other schools might screw up their own basketball courts.

But the best part is that I’ve heard people actually LIKE some of the courts. I did not see that one coming, especially since these were made in jest. So there you go.

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UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI  |  Coral Gables, Florida

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LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY  |  Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII  |  Mānoa, Hawaii

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UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA |  Lincoln, Nebraska

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UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA  |  Tucson, Arizona

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LOUISVILLE UNIVERSITY  |  Louisville, Kentucky

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UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO |  Boulder, Colorado

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UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA – LAS VEGAS |  Las Vegas, Nevada