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Oregon's big 'Mac' has been a Pit for basketball teams -- just ask UCLA and USC - House of horrors for the rest of the Pac-10 makes way for new Nike-funded facility

Eighty-three years playing home basketball games in one leaky, creaky facility can get a little old.

Mostly for the lanky, cranky opposing teams.

The University of Oregon's McArthur Court - aka, Mac Court, more notoriously referred to as "The Pit" - is on schedule to disappear as the Ducks' advantageous dungeon when the next season of Pac-10 play starts. It'll be replaced across campus by a sleek, $200-million all-purpose facility bankrolled primarily by Nike chief Phil Knight and named after his late son, Matthew.

The overtime loss UCLA suffered on the Mac Court's maple floor Thursday night, and the game USC will play there tonight, mark the last time either Southern California team has to step foot in the rickety relic again.

If one can be thankful and remorseful at the same time, here's a case.

"The place just reeks of tradition, like a Wrigley Field or Fenway Park of basketball venues," said former UCLA coach Steve Lavin, who suffered his share in indignity in the arena   Read Full Article...