rexvol
The Minister of Defense
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glad to see Tennessee keeping pace...
Stroll through the lobby of the Florida basketball facility and one will find a celebration of its recent successful past.
Continue to 2nd paragraph
Doug Finger/The Gainesville Sun
The lobby of the University of Florida Basketball Facility.
Plasma television screens replay the "One Shining Moment" highlight videos from Florida NCAA Tournament title runs in 2006 and 2007. National Championship and Southeastern Conference Tournament championship trophies are encased in glass.
On the walls of practice court are jigsaw-puzzle pieces of the floors of Florida's Final Four appearances from 1994, 2000, 2006 and 2007.
The Florida practice facility underwent a $1.8 million face-lift over the summer, adding some cosmetic changes to the $10 million building that was constructed in 2001.
It appears to have been a worthwhile investment. Florida's men's and women's basketball programs have combined to appear in nine NCAA Tournaments since the facility was built, providing national exposure that has a positive affect on enrollment, attendance and merchandising.
It's also started a trend in the Southeastern Conference. More and more schools are pouring money into practice facilities for basketball and other winter sports.
Consider:
* Last February, Kentucky opened the Joe Craft Center, a $30 million facility with a 3,000 square-foot weight room and 3,500 square-foot training room. Of the $30 million, a $6 million donation came from Hazard, Ky., native Joe Craft, a friend of former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith
* Last August, Georgia opened a $31 million facility connected to Stegeman Coliseum that provides practice and weight facilities for men's basketball, women's basketball and its national-title winning gymnastics program.
* LSU has plans to break ground this spring on a $13 million facility for men's and women's basketball. "I might not be around to see it," joked LSU coach John Brady.
* Tennessee spent $35 million to renovate Thompson-Boling Arena and adjoining practice facilities for men's and women's basketball. The renovation reduced Thompson-Boling's capacity from 24,000 to 21,600 by adding 32 luxury suites.
* Auburn will break ground this June on a combination $95 million arena, state-of-the-art practice facility that's scheduled to open in 2010-11. Architect renderings of the building adorn the cover of this year's media guide.
"What happens is when the first one is built, everyone is looking at it and saying, 'How can we do better than this one?'," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "The next one gets built, so it gets into a process of people trying to invest more money into a practice facility and say OK, we have one of the best in the country.
"And I think for us, we were one of the first programs to have one of these and now I think everybody has kind of dumped a lot of money into it."
Trend-setters
Stroll through the lobby of the Florida basketball facility and one will find a celebration of its recent successful past.
Continue to 2nd paragraph
The lobby of the University of Florida Basketball Facility.
Plasma television screens replay the "One Shining Moment" highlight videos from Florida NCAA Tournament title runs in 2006 and 2007. National Championship and Southeastern Conference Tournament championship trophies are encased in glass.
On the walls of practice court are jigsaw-puzzle pieces of the floors of Florida's Final Four appearances from 1994, 2000, 2006 and 2007.
The Florida practice facility underwent a $1.8 million face-lift over the summer, adding some cosmetic changes to the $10 million building that was constructed in 2001.
It appears to have been a worthwhile investment. Florida's men's and women's basketball programs have combined to appear in nine NCAA Tournaments since the facility was built, providing national exposure that has a positive affect on enrollment, attendance and merchandising.
It's also started a trend in the Southeastern Conference. More and more schools are pouring money into practice facilities for basketball and other winter sports.
Consider:
* Last February, Kentucky opened the Joe Craft Center, a $30 million facility with a 3,000 square-foot weight room and 3,500 square-foot training room. Of the $30 million, a $6 million donation came from Hazard, Ky., native Joe Craft, a friend of former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith
* Last August, Georgia opened a $31 million facility connected to Stegeman Coliseum that provides practice and weight facilities for men's basketball, women's basketball and its national-title winning gymnastics program.
* LSU has plans to break ground this spring on a $13 million facility for men's and women's basketball. "I might not be around to see it," joked LSU coach John Brady.
* Tennessee spent $35 million to renovate Thompson-Boling Arena and adjoining practice facilities for men's and women's basketball. The renovation reduced Thompson-Boling's capacity from 24,000 to 21,600 by adding 32 luxury suites.
* Auburn will break ground this June on a combination $95 million arena, state-of-the-art practice facility that's scheduled to open in 2010-11. Architect renderings of the building adorn the cover of this year's media guide.
"What happens is when the first one is built, everyone is looking at it and saying, 'How can we do better than this one?'," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "The next one gets built, so it gets into a process of people trying to invest more money into a practice facility and say OK, we have one of the best in the country.
"And I think for us, we were one of the first programs to have one of these and now I think everybody has kind of dumped a lot of money into it."
Trend-setters
lol:
