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College basketball: New Oregon Coach Dana Altman talks new Oregon arena

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Opened in 1926, Oregon’s McArthur Court is one of the nation’s oldest standing basketball arenas and one of the most intimidating for visiting teams as the old-school, barn-type building was known to rumble with fans seated almost on top of the court.

This season will be the last for ‘Mac Court’ as the Ducks open play in their new $227-million Matthew Knight Arena on Jan. 13 against the USC men’s basketball team, but first-year Oregon Coach Dana Altman said the new building isn’t too different from the old one.

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‘I think the atmosphere in the new arena is going to be outstanding,’ Altman said. ‘When they designed the building, they did it to try to re-create Mac Court and to try to keep some of the tradition alive. There are no suites. The facility is 12,600 seats and everybody is really close to the court. The one sideline will be all students, under one basket will be all students. All the seats are very close.’

Mac Court, after its last alterations, carried a seating capacity of about 9,000.

-- Baxter Holmes

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