From Tree to Tipoff With no Final Four to play, the process of harvesting and producing this year's court had to be halted early, but the nearly five-month journey that trees take to become a Final Four court is worth another look. Photography by Ross Dettman

Harvesting Foresters selected 500 sugar maples from a 24,000-acre Michigan forest to convert into the 2017 Final Four court in Glendale, Arizona. The trees were sustainably harvested and chopped into as many 8-foot pieces as possible, using a tanklike machine with rollers and chainsaws.

Timber breakdown 500 Trees Harvested

418 Panels of Wood

10 Miles of Boards

Creating the Floor Panels In a Michigan mill, trees were debarked, cut to planks and dried. To create the strongest floor, boards were staggered, as if building an oversized floor at a home.

Labor and time spent 125 Workers

144 Days

207,360 Minutes

Layout, Painting & Staining Planks shipped to Idaho were sanded and measured. The floor became a giant paint-by-numbers picture. Every inch was stained and painted, using NCAA graphics as stencils.

Design specifications 9,800 Sq Ft of floor

14 Colors

13.25 gallons of stain

4.5 Gallons of Paint

80.5 Gallons of finish

Installation The floor arrived at University of Phoenix Stadium on two 18-wheelers. It was assembled using a pin-and-hole system, then altered to accommodate the sidelines and baselines.

Travel log

Tipoff The Final Four court's first game was a Gonzaga win over South Carolina. The Bulldogs finished as tournament runners-up to North Carolina.