WVU Hoops Team to Practice in 2010

Word on the street (and by street, I mean the information superhighway) is that work on the WVU basketball practice facility may be moving along faster than the BOG and Athletic Director Ed Pastilong have been letting on.  If this poster on BGN.com is to be believed, WVU has already begun soliciting bids for the electric, water, sewage, storm, and HVAC materials to begin construction sometime in June or July of this year. 

So, either the men's and women's basketball teams are going to have their very own place to practice by this time next year, or president-elect James P. Clements is planning a safe and secure fallout shelter when North Korea and/or Iran attempt to bomb us back to the stone age (I kid, I kid.  They wouldn't get around to bombing Morgantown until at least 2012, and by that time LSU fans will have already pillaged the entire I-79 corridor in retribution for what WVU fans are going to do to Baton Rouge in the fall of 2010.)

Women's Basketball Coach Mike Carey is just excited that his team will have a place to call home:  "We were fortunate to finish above .500 last year despite never being able to practice on an actual court.  There are only so many ballhandling and conditioning drills you can do in the parking lot, especially in January."

Men's Coach Bob Huggins was more diplomatic, noting the dramatic improvement in inside play his team made over the course of the season.  "Practicing at the same time and on the same court as the wrestling team really had a positive effect on [freshman forward] Devin Ebanks and [freshman swingman] Kevin Jones.  Once they learned how to properly execute a half-nelson, we were able to get to more loose balls and rebounds."  However, when pressed, Huggs thought a little more space may end up being more beneficial.  "It's hard to place a value on having guys like Joe Mazzulla and Cam Thoroughman stay healthy throughout the season.  I think they were overmatched against a few of the guys in their weight class, so it will be nice to get them back on the court where they can at least compete."