[McDunkin]

 

In addition to the most uniform combinations and the most luxurious locker rooms of any school in the nation, Oregon will soon be able to lay claim to the country’s most unique basketball floor.

Oregon officials unveiled the floor of newly built Matthew Knight Arena on Friday, and to say the least the design lives up to the school’s reputation for cutting-edge panache and flair. The court is framed on all sides by a forest of fir trees, an homage to the school’s picturesque Pacific Northwest setting and to Oregon’s 1939 national title team nicknamed "The Tall Firs."

Kilkenny Floor is named after Pat Kilkenny, a long-time supporter of Oregon athletics who served as the school’s athletic director from 2007 to 2009 and ran the recent coaching search to replace Ernie Kent. In the center of the floor is the slogan "Deep in the Woods," which is meant to intimidate opposing teams. (Yes, seriously)

Considering Oregon’s deep-rooted ties to Nike, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Tinker Hatfield is the designer of the floor. Hatfield, a former Oregon track and field star and vice president of design and special projects for Nike, designed many of the shoes from the famed Air Jordan line.  

"When I was asked to work on the new floor for Matthew Knight Arena, I really boiled it down to three things," Hatfield said. "I really wanted to pay tribute to Matthew Knight himself, to the Kilkenny family and lastly but maybe not least, I wanted to pay tribute to the Pacific Northwest and the Tall Firs, the original basketball team that won a national championship for the University of Oregon in 1939."

Like the famed blue "Smurf Turf" at Boise State’s football stadium, Oregon’s forest floor is meant to be an iconic design that will immediately be recognizable to TV viewers nationwide. The design has already created a buzz, generating stories in local and regional papers and coverage from a variety of blogs.

What has been the reaction from Oregon fans? Based on the comments section from a story on this Ducks-themed site, mostly positive thus far.

Wrote one Oregon fan, "In a word, awesome."

[TC_42Participant]

 I kinda like it.

[TC_42Participant]

 I kinda like it.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 It is totally awesome, shout out to the Tall Firs! McDunkin, I usually enjoy your postings of other peoples articles with sometimes witty additions, but man, you can not diss my Ducks! Just won 53-16 today baby, and it was an off day! I think it is kind of cool, I mean when I saw it on TV it looked pretty wack, but now that you posted the view, it looks awesome. First NCAA chip of all time! Totally rad court, hopefully we will win a game on it this year. GO DUCKS!!!!!

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 It is totally awesome, shout out to the Tall Firs! McDunkin, I usually enjoy your postings of other peoples articles with sometimes witty additions, but man, you can not diss my Ducks! Just won 53-16 today baby, and it was an off day! I think it is kind of cool, I mean when I saw it on TV it looked pretty wack, but now that you posted the view, it looks awesome. First NCAA chip of all time! Totally rad court, hopefully we will win a game on it this year. GO DUCKS!!!!!

[McDunkin]

You and the wizard of oz are just killing me today

[McDunkin]

You and the wizard of oz are just killing me today

[SubZeroParticipant]

That’s pretty tight man

[SubZeroParticipant]

That’s pretty tight man

[bkballerParticipant]

Oregon might be the coolest sports university in the country. From the countless amounts of ill football jerseys to crazy nice facilities to cool basketball courts.

[bkballerParticipant]

Oregon might be the coolest sports university in the country. From the countless amounts of ill football jerseys to crazy nice facilities to cool basketball courts.

[HaleParticipant]

How can you say their jerseys are ugly? They are amazing, the new court is just plain sick too.

[HaleParticipant]

How can you say their jerseys are ugly? They are amazing, the new court is just plain sick too.

[HaleParticipant]

double post

[HaleParticipant]

double post

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 Hey, somebody has to do it. I still gave you a +1, lol. Just trying to give some more props to my boys, because no one seems to be interested in my Heisman trophy thread in the off-topic forum, and I am not enough of an a-hole to put it on the NBA Draft board. In short, we freaking rule, and with in a year we will have some NBA draft prospects, but we do have a ton of former Ducks in the D-League, and of course AB and Rid tearing it up in the league. But, I have to say, one person had a sign that said "LaMichael is the real King James", and for all the LeBron haters out there (and for people like me who still like LeBron but have to go with my Duck breathren), you have to agree! GO DUCKS!!!!

PS Are other people getting these obnoxious CAPTCHA things on every post. What is the deal?

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 Hey, somebody has to do it. I still gave you a +1, lol. Just trying to give some more props to my boys, because no one seems to be interested in my Heisman trophy thread in the off-topic forum, and I am not enough of an a-hole to put it on the NBA Draft board. In short, we freaking rule, and with in a year we will have some NBA draft prospects, but we do have a ton of former Ducks in the D-League, and of course AB and Rid tearing it up in the league. But, I have to say, one person had a sign that said "LaMichael is the real King James", and for all the LeBron haters out there (and for people like me who still like LeBron but have to go with my Duck breathren), you have to agree! GO DUCKS!!!!

PS Are other people getting these obnoxious CAPTCHA things on every post. What is the deal?

[NbanflguyParticipant]

Thats awesome! Love oregon

[NbanflguyParticipant]

Thats awesome! Love oregon

[gregoden08Participant]

Jerseys are amazing, and so is the new court. It’s great to be an Oregon fan.

[gregoden08Participant]

Jerseys are amazing, and so is the new court. It’s great to be an Oregon fan.

[McDunkin]

Well i apologize if i offended the many Oregon fans…and if it costs me every point i have thats fine  but i just dont like their jerseys. Some of the green based ones are ok, but im not a fan of the bright/neon yellow based ones.

[McDunkin]

Well i apologize if i offended the many Oregon fans…and if it costs me every point i have thats fine  but i just dont like their jerseys. Some of the green based ones are ok, but im not a fan of the bright/neon yellow based ones.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 I am not really a fan of the Based God, but to me your love of our jerseys is irrelevant. They still rock (alright, sometimes they can be ugly), but I could care less what people think about them, because we rock the house. Our court on the other hand, it is just solid stuff.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 I am not really a fan of the Based God, but to me your love of our jerseys is irrelevant. They still rock (alright, sometimes they can be ugly), but I could care less what people think about them, because we rock the house. Our court on the other hand, it is just solid stuff.

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

like i said it looks like john bryant threw up a whole lot of henekein

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

like i said it looks like john bryant threw up a whole lot of henekein

[mj23mj23besteverParticipant]

totally lovin this court and thats the first time ive ever saw someone diss the oregon unis only heard how amazing they are their cool unis alone make me a fan of the ducks

[mj23mj23besteverParticipant]

totally lovin this court and thats the first time ive ever saw someone diss the oregon unis only heard how amazing they are their cool unis alone make me a fan of the ducks

[JNixonParticipant]

That court is CRAZILY amazing! Let’s hope the new coach they got can get them to be a respectable team.

[JNixonParticipant]

That court is CRAZILY amazing! Let’s hope the new coach they got can get them to be a respectable team.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 So far I like our recruiting class, so that is all he can do. I think he is very good coach, he was great for Creighton during his many years there, and with the recruits he has hit up, you have to like our 2011-12. Jabari Brown will be a legit first option guy, and we have our hat in the race for a couple other top prospects (Norvel Pelle and Amir Garrett). He will bring us back to respectability soon enough, Ernie just kind of wore out his welcome, he was not consistent when it came to recruiting. As you see by our football team, and our new arena, Oregon has incredible facilities, in particular for there athletes. There is no reason we should not get back to competing in both football and basketball. Uncle Phil hooks us up, I mean, that court is freaking tough. I kind of wonder what that symbol means (the kind of Pi symbols), it is some kind of encoded message. Totally rad.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 So far I like our recruiting class, so that is all he can do. I think he is very good coach, he was great for Creighton during his many years there, and with the recruits he has hit up, you have to like our 2011-12. Jabari Brown will be a legit first option guy, and we have our hat in the race for a couple other top prospects (Norvel Pelle and Amir Garrett). He will bring us back to respectability soon enough, Ernie just kind of wore out his welcome, he was not consistent when it came to recruiting. As you see by our football team, and our new arena, Oregon has incredible facilities, in particular for there athletes. There is no reason we should not get back to competing in both football and basketball. Uncle Phil hooks us up, I mean, that court is freaking tough. I kind of wonder what that symbol means (the kind of Pi symbols), it is some kind of encoded message. Totally rad.

[llperez]

i love it. oregon is off to a fresh start. New coach, brand new state of the art arena with a signature court. Unfortunately they have to pretty much start from scratch with players too becasue the current ducks do not look like a good team. I like amrstead and think he will be their leader. EJ Singler is solid and should improve as a sophomore. He has a great all around game but needs to put it together so he can become reliable. Joevan catron is a solid pf with toughness that redshirted last year.

But overall the ducks and dana altman are gona take some time. to get it together on the court.

[llperez]

i love it. oregon is off to a fresh start. New coach, brand new state of the art arena with a signature court. Unfortunately they have to pretty much start from scratch with players too becasue the current ducks do not look like a good team. I like amrstead and think he will be their leader. EJ Singler is solid and should improve as a sophomore. He has a great all around game but needs to put it together so he can become reliable. Joevan catron is a solid pf with toughness that redshirted last year.

But overall the ducks and dana altman are gona take some time. to get it together on the court.

[joecheck88Participant]

ya i get the captcha thing too. and too bad the oregon football team cant paint the field green. i know, bad joke. i think the court looks good. nothin like a fresh start for a program. hopefully they can bring in some good recruits because we will rarely see that court if they are a bad team.

[joecheck88Participant]

ya i get the captcha thing too. and too bad the oregon football team cant paint the field green. i know, bad joke. i think the court looks good. nothin like a fresh start for a program. hopefully they can bring in some good recruits because we will rarely see that court if they are a bad team.

[midwestbbscoutParticipant]

they are way ahead of the curve with whoever the f*ck they have doin their design…..best court, best football uniforms……

ps…..watch out for Michael Dunigan this year, could lead the Pac 10 in rebounding…..

[midwestbbscoutParticipant]

they are way ahead of the curve with whoever the f*ck they have doin their design…..best court, best football uniforms……

ps…..watch out for Michael Dunigan this year, could lead the Pac 10 in rebounding…..

[McDunkin]

Dunigan is on a all expense paid vacation in Isreal for the next 3 seasons

[McDunkin]

Dunigan is on a all expense paid vacation in Isreal for the next 3 seasons

[midwestbbscoutParticipant]

chi town boy…..the Israeli league seems like it should be pretty loaded….

[midwestbbscoutParticipant]

chi town boy…..the Israeli league seems like it should be pretty loaded….

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