Breaking ground, breaking bread and more
April 29th, 2008, 3:07 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Mark Heller
Tuesday was the official groundbreaking ceremony for Arizona State basketball’s Weatherup Center, which will be located between the soccer stadium and the band’s practice field.
The roughly $20 million facility for both hoops teams will house two practice courts (where both the men and women plan to do the vast majority of practices and shootarounds), locker rooms, video rooms, weight rooms, coaches’ offices, etc.
ASU plans to move lock, stock and barrel into this home in April 2009, and is short approximately $5 million in funding, a remarkably small figure given the school’s historic struggles to raise money for previous projects.
ASU will be the sixth Pac-10 school to have a second hoops facility.
The scheduling strains put on basketball and volleyball practice times (volleyball practice will stay at Wells Fargo Arena) will disappear with this facility, since separate courts and facilites mean Herb Sendek’s and Charli Turner Thorne’s teams can practice any time they want.
Remember two years ago, when the Sun Devils had to practice at the Glendale YMCA? Try selling that during a recruiting visit.
(Last season was an improvement: The Student Recreation Center on campus).
No, there won’t be individual plasma-screen TVs at every locker. Sendek and Turner Thorne had a lot of input in this building, but those tricked-out extras aren’t their style.
Speaking of scheduling, before the ceremony, Sendek held a casual luncheon with some East Valley media, and among the array of topics and small-talk was his nonconference schedule.
None of this (outside perhaps the Anaheim Classic to begin the season) is set in stone, but here are a few likely nonconference opponents:
The Anaheim tournament currently has ASU, Wake Forest, Texas-El Paso, Baylor, Providence, Cal State Fullerton and UNC-Charlotte on the docket (Arkansas has been wishy-washy on a commitment).
The Sun Devils will play Brigham Young in Glendale as part of the Stadium Shootout on Dec. 20 (Louisville and Minnesota will play the other game). It’s basically a rehearsal showcase in preparation for the 2009 NCAA Tournament regional which will be held at University of Phoenix Stadium.
(By the way, how about the 6 million webs you can weave between Sendek, Louisville coach Rick Pitino and former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, now at Minnesota).
If the regional goes smoothly, ASU will have basically made its case to host a Final Four in Glendale, as soon as 2012.
The Sun Devils also host Nebraska, face Pepperdine and start a two-year series with San Diego State.
How Sendek fills in the remaining few spots remains to be seen, but it won’t be easy.
