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the game marches on, but a dwindling number of basketball cathedrals can still take us back to when it all began.PHOTOgraPHs by David Leventi

The brand of baskeTball played today by 344 division I schools barely resembles dr. naismith’s invention, the one that began 119 years ago with a peach basket nailed to a yMCa wall. and every time a college builds a bigger, if not better, basketball arena, some measure of history is lost. When oregon retired Mcarthur Court in the middle of last season, it left college basketball with only 13 gyms built before 1940.

The arenas pictured here stand as some of basketball’s oldest—each one spanning more than seven decades. They were designed in the early 20th century in Collegiate Gothic style, back when architects focused on how lofty clerestory windows and cathedral ceilings commanded natural light, before luxury boxes and hi-def JumboTrons became the order.

The contests played on these creaky courts are largely forgotten, but to walk through these gates and settle into these seats is to remember the game’s roots. because sometimes sports aren’t about results —they’re about beauty and style and being connected to something bigger than the game. —larue Cook

grand stands

the PalestraUniversity of Pennsylvania

location PhiladelPhiafirst game Jan. 1, 1927

capacity 8,722

Each of Philly’s Big 5— La Salle, Penn, St. Joe’s, Temple and Villanova—

has called the Cathedral of College Basketball home, and Kobe and Wilt won high school

titles here.

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HinkleFieldhousebUtler University

location indianaPolisfirst game March 7, 1928

capacity 10,000

Hinkle has hosted six U.S. presidents, four pro teams and, in 1965, the USSR on its first hoops

tour of America. It’s also where Bobby Plump’s

game-winning shot gave tiny Milan High

the 1954 Indiana state championship. You know, Hoosiers.

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rose Hill gymnasiumfordham University

location bronx, n.Y.first game Jan. 16, 1925capacity 3,470

D1’s oldest active basketball facility, Rose Hill hasn’t missed a season in 86 years, save for its stint as a World War II barracks. It’s the same stone building where in 1966 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.) played his final high school game.

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Payne Whitney gym,John J. Lee amphitheateryale University

location new haven, conn.first game dec. 10, 1932capacity 2,532

For the 110th straight year, Yale will face Princeton and Columbia in the two longest-running rivalries in D1. This 91/2-story multisport facility was designed by John Russell Pope, the architect of the Jefferson Memorial.

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