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Basketball Practice Facility

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hotshot

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In reading the coverage of Kevin Willard's hiring by the Maryland Terps as their new HC, it was mentioned that Maryland will soon break ground on a $40M basketball-specific basketball facility. Said the Terps were among the only "major schools" not to have one of these and that it was a major sticking point with ex-HC Turgeon and in recruiting.

We practice where we play, right? Don't really get it. An IPF for football I can see but ...
 
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Playing facilities shared with women and a lot of schools volleyball. Even a lot of small schools have separate practice courts because of this.
 
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hotshot said:
In reading the coverage of Kevin Willard's hiring by the Maryland Terps as their new HC, it was mentioned that Maryland will soon break ground on a $40M basketball-specific basketball facility. Said the Terps were among the only "major schools" not to have one of these and that it was a major sticking point with ex-HC Turgeon and in recruiting.

We practice where we play, right? Don't really get it. An IPF for football I can see but ...
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Miami does not practice in the Watsco Center where they play. There is multi-court practice facility that is in a separate building adjacent to the Watsco Center. I think they refer to it as the Fieldhouse. Place was great when it first opened about 12 years ago. It is starting to age somewhat and an update to the facility would be nice to see. Oddly enough, uf and fsu have terrible home arenas but their practice facilities are some of the nicest I've seen.
 
King of Allapattah said:
Miami does not practice in the Watsco Center where they play. There is multi-court practice facility that is in a separate building adjacent to the Watsco Center. I think they refer to it as the Fieldhouse. Place was great when it first opened about 12 years ago. It is starting to age somewhat and an update to the facility would be nice to see. Oddly enough, uf and fsu have terrible home arenas but their practice facilities are some of the nicest I've seen.
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So ,... once again, I can see rivals braying about sub-standard facilities at UM.

Maryland's XFinity Center seats 18,000 and cost $125 million when it was built 20 yrs ago. The new Basketball practice facility in College Park will cost $10M more than our IPF did.
 
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hotshot said:
So ,... once again, I can see rivals braying about sub-standard facilities at UM.

Maryland's XFinity Center seats 18,000 and cost $125 million when it was built 20 yrs ago. The new Basketball practice facility in College Park will cost $10M more than our IPF did.
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And yet we're better than Maryland.

I don't get the point of this thread. We don't practice in Watsco. Miami built a separate practice facility for Mens/Womens basketball a little over a decade ago. During the off-season, it's good enough for about 25% of the NBA to use so I think it's good enough as is.

If anything, they could renovate Watsco some, i.e. the locker rooms. But we average less than 4K fans a game. I don't think we need a 18,000 seat, $125M stadium.

Also, we rarely recruit against our rivals. Under Coach L, most of our recruiting battles are against teams like Villanova and Georgetown
 
TheRichtShow said:
And yet we're better than Maryland.

I don't get the point of this thread. We don't practice in Watsco. Miami built a separate practice facility for Mens/Womens basketball a little over a decade ago. During the off-season, it's good enough for about 25% of the NBA to use so I think it's good enough as is.

If anything, they could renovate Watsco some, i.e. the locker rooms. But we average less than 4K fans a game. I don't think we need a 18,000 seat, $125M stadium.

Also, we rarely recruit against our rivals. Under Coach L, most of our recruiting battles are against teams like Villanova and Georgetown
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Our fans know little about the hoops program, so please forgive them for being utterly ignorant. Our practice facility is **** good, good enough for USA Basketball to use. We've had it for a decade as you noted and it's been a good addition. Yes, the player lounges and locker rooms could use a bit more flash, but they are solid. Hardly the dump our fans believe they are.

I'd rather Miami put more money into upgrading the fan experience at Watsco, because they need to find a way to get more people to show up. Improve the concessions, no more GA bleacher seats, that kind of stuff.
 
Canedude08 said:
Our fans know little about the hoops program, so please forgive them for being utterly ignorant. Our practice facility is **** good, good enough for USA Basketball to use. We've had it for a decade as you noted and it's been a good addition. Yes, the player lounges and locker rooms could use a bit more flash, but they are solid. Hardly the dump our fans believe they are.

I'd rather Miami put more money into upgrading the fan experience at Watsco, because they need to find a way to get more people to show up. Improve the concessions, no more GA bleacher seats, that kind of stuff.
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You really think the things you mention will affect attendance in any significant way? Also, since I live in the DMV and never get to Watsco, specifically in what way are the concessions currently letting us down?
 
hotshot said:
You really think the things you mention will affect attendance in any significant way? Also, since I live in the DMV and never get to Watsco, specifically in what way are the concessions currently letting us down?
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Remember going to ta them park or other attraction way back when. You had the same cold hamburger or hot dog, maybe chicken fingers and soggy fries. Then someone put two and two together and decided to improve the dining experience. Now people go for food and wine, bbq, and seafood festivals at the parks. It's like that with stadiums. They're discovering that the fan experience has to be more than just watching the game. People want amenities. And working urinals.
 
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MedleyCane said:
Maryland grad here...Turgeon's biggest problem wasn't facilities, it was that he wasn't a very good coach.
Period.
End of story.
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Agree on Turgeon. Led to Maryland having some Miami-size crowds this season. I went to the Iowa game and there couldn't have been more than 4000 people (generous estimate) in your 18,000 seat arena.

I still miss the old Cole Field House (which, of course, hosted many NCAA hoops events including the Texas Western win over Kentucky in the 1966 Final). When Cole was built in the 50s, that was THE premier on-campus facility in the US, and remained so for years.
 
hotshot said:
You really think the things you mention will affect attendance in any significant way? Also, since I live in the DMV and never get to Watsco, specifically in what way are the concessions currently letting us down?
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People want higher end stuff and are willing to pay for it. That's why Hard Rock is such an asset, provided the product is good. Fans, especially in Miami aren't paying good money to drink **** warm Presidente and **** in a trough. Miami basketball struggles with attendance, providing premium experiences may help fix that. The product is decent under L, the fan experience isn't as good as it could be.
 
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MedleyCane said:
Maryland grad here...Turgeon's biggest problem wasn't facilities, it was that he wasn't a very good coach.
Period.
End of story.
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Whats crazy is oneof my college classmates/homies was an assistant at MD recently got caught up with ah ooker though lol Obviously a great recruiter
 
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