ESPN Big Twelve Preview...

[CTHoya08]

included this,

"Texas also has arguably the finest locker rooms, practice facility and overall comfort of any Big 12 team...

Attractive city, good academic reputation, the best facility and Rick as a proven winner,"

The Longhorns don't waste time waiting for someone else to build something better. Texas was proactive in building one of the finest basketball facilities in the country, something we have illustrated here at ESPN.com a number of times.

That has helped get players to stay home."

sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2108758

I know facilities are a touchy issue with some people on this board, but this was too tempting to pass up

[Deleted]

Despite what other people on the board think, facilities play a role - major, minor, whatever - when kids are deciding where to go. On that we can all agree... I think.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

I'm not saying that Texas wasn't good at basketball previously, but their improvement in facilities has been paralleled by an improvement in their national competitiveness.

[DFW HOYA]

stpetersburghoya said:

I'm not saying that Texas wasn't good at basketball previously, but their improvement in facilities has been paralleled by an improvement in their national competitiveness.

Well, yes and no.

The Horns moved from 4,000 seat Gregory Gym (imagine a 4,000 seat gym for a school of 40,000?) to the 16,500 seat Erwin Center in 1977, and the Orangebloods still had some fairly bad teams in the 1980's. And while the attendance still isn't great (11,138 a game), Texas is keeping the kids in state by offering academic, training and gameday facilities second to none.

There are only 13 men's NCAA facilities older than McDonough Gym and 11 have seen significant renovations. In some ways, Georgetown of the late 2000's could look a lot like Fordham of the 1960's, a school known for regular post season finishes until the coaches and recruits looked around, saw a 40 year old gym, wondered why a school that had benefited so much from the sport had done so little to keep it up, and started looking elsewhere.

It's been 55 years since the cornerstone was dropped into the gym. In those years, Georgetown has built a science center, a library, an intercultural center, three dining halls, ten residential complexes, renovated a dozen more buildings inside and out..but not the gym.