Cook Hall gives women’s basketball team a place of their own

When only the top schools in the country have basketball practice facilities, it can separate them and put them in a higher category. IU opened its practice facility, Cook Hall, in 2010.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams said they easily fell in love with the building.
“It’s the Taj Mahal of practice facilities,” IU Coach Felisha Legette-Jack said.

Not only is it right next to famed Assembly Hall, where both men’s and women’s teams play their games, but an underground tunnel connects the two buildings.

“We are definitely privileged and have an advantage to have a facility like this provided to us by the University and athletic department,” woman’s basketball senior forward Danilsa Andujar said.

Although the building includes a museum dedicated to IU basketball, the main use of the building is to practice, train and condition for these two varsity teams. Legette-Jack elaborated on how much this facility is a game changer for the programs.

“We are a very blue-color state and University,” Legette-Jack said. “We haven’t done it flamboyantly for a long time, but when we decided we wanted to do something we take it to a new level.”

The trend of building a basketball practice facility is starting to be seen at all the major college basketball institutions. Two notable facilities are the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center at Syracuse University and the Joe Craft Center at University of Kentucky.

And IU’s Cook Hall may not be the prettiest building on campus, but it’s what’s inside that matters. All of the amenities are doubled, except for the weight room that is shared, giving the men’s and women’s players their own space.

The amenities include: Legacy Court, a museum decked out in IU Basketball history and memorabilia, men’s and women’s locker room, two courts separated by a wall ­— which are replicas of Assembly Hall’s court — staff offices, two state-of-the-art video rooms, a whirlpool tub, a treadmill integrated hydrotherapy pool, a hot and cold plunge pool and weight and conditioning rooms.

The women’s basketball team is reaping those benefits and more from the $20 million facility. And Cook Hall has numerous reasons that make it a benefactor to the varsity team.

The main importance is the availability of the building, players said.

“As individual players, it gives us 24-hour access to have whenever we want,” Andujar said. “Which has helped certain players in the late hours.”

For Andujar, the main attraction of the facility is the individual court.

“It’s always there and I like the fact that we can plug our iPods in and have the music blasting and just focus and concentrate,” she said.

The facility’s popularity with the team also stems from no longer having to share the Assembly Hall court with the men’s team.

“We’ve often been kicked off the court ‘cause the men wanted to come on,” Andujar said.

Cook Hall also is used as a recruiting tool. It’s one of many reasons to come to this institution, Legette-Jack said.

“All the kids have to do is take a peak,” Legette-Jack said and called the facility a “slam dunk.”

The players of the women’s basketball team said they feel special knowing this facility is to help them grow as basketball players.

“I hope everyone on this team knows its worth and uses it to their advantage,” Andujar said.