Tech opens $21 million practice facility for basketball today

BLACKSBURG Virginia Tech has long been known as a football school. But starting this morning, Tech is increasing its profile in men's and women's basketball. Or at least dedicating significant resources to that effort.

The school's new basketball practice facility opens today, a $21-million testament to Tech's aspirations for a prominent spot in the ACC -- always one of the nation's best hoops conferences, regardless of gender.

Located next to Cassell Coliseum, where the Hokies play their basketball games, it will make scheduling practices easier, thanks to two full courts. The hoops teams previously shared Cassell's one floor with the volleyball team.

The two-story facility will provide amenities for players (hot and cold tubs in the training room, each large enough to fit at least half the roster) and coaches (a full kitchen is attached to the coaches' offices, so Seth Greenberg, the men's big whistle, no longer has to cram Diet Cokes into a mini fridge next to his desk).

But the practice facility's biggest potential payoff is in recruiting. Though prospects won't see the inside until fall visits begin, the facility should help the Hokies contend with ACC programs that boast similar buildings.

How that translates to NCAA tournament appearances is impossible to forecast. But a trip inside the practice facility leaves the impression that Tech is going to great lengths to house winners here.

Construction began in May 2008 and was on time and on budget. The building is 45,000 to 50,000 square feet, said Tom Gabbard, Tech's associate athletic director for internal affairs, who oversees athletic construction projects on campus.

Gabbard said Tech raised half the building costs from a donor campaign, and the school paid for the rest itself. For now, the place's name is the Virginia Tech Basketball Practice Facility. When a donor ponies up enough cash for naming rights, that will change.

The facility is modeled after Florida State's, because Greenberg and women's coach Beth Dunkenberger liked that building. But Tech added its own touches -- like the Hokie Stone on the outside, which, because of that gray dolomite limestone, looks similar to many other buildings on campus.

The first thing you see in the lobby are two photos, each about 20 feet high, printed on a pillar. One is of Utahya Drye, a senior on this year's women's team, taking a shot. The other shows former men's player Deron Washington leaping over Duke's Greg Paulus as he glides toward the basket.

Climb the stairs from the lobby, and you're in the coaches' offices, which overlook the practice floor. Downstairs, off the baseline of the courts and directly below the coaches' offices, is a 3,000-square-foot weight room. The basketball teams used to share the football weight room in the Merryman Center.

The courts can be separated by a curtain that hangs from the ceiling. Action shots of current men's and women's players are printed on the walls along the court, tracing each program's history.

So as Malcolm Delaney, Jeff Allen and J.T. Thompson practice this season, they can look up and see Washington, Jamon Gordon, Dell Curry, Bimbo Coles and Allan Bristow. Printed on the wall next to the photos, big enough to see from everywhere in the gym, is a quote from Greenberg: "Playing hard is a given, playing well is the goal. The hardest-playing, toughest team finds a way to win."