SAN DIEGO – Optimism filled the air Tuesday afternoon with the University of San Diego Athletic Department unveiling its brand new training facility for the men's and women's basketball programs, in conjunction with the campus announcing the Palomar Health Student Wellness Center.
"Really, really cool day," USD Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Athletics Kimya Massey said. "So excited to see this facility. I feel really grateful to President Harris and (USD Vice President of University Operations) Ky Snyder and all those who saw that and invested in basketball. (It) made a lot of sense, not just for athletics but for the entire university."
The brand new Basketball Performance Center is located right in the heart of campus and is approximately 28,000 square feet, amounting to a $35 million project, which broke ground two years ago. It is the new home for both the men's and women's basketball programs to practice in one of the best facilities, not only in the West Coast Conference, but in the country.
"USD is making an investment into basketball, and being able to elevate the standard of excellence that we want to have here," Torero women's basketball head coach Blanche Alverson said. "I think it does bring an excitement and an opportunity to really have our student athletes perform at a very high level.
Obviously, the facility is beautiful and the investment is huge, but I think there's so much excitement around campus right now as to what we can really build. I was talking to our Dean of Students yesterday and how we can get our campus and our community involved."
The Basketball Performance Center is a two-story facility with a full-length basketball court, another shooting court, strength and conditioning room, sports medicine and hydrotherapy facility, as well as locker rooms, lounges and film rooms for both teams on the first floor.
"My favorite part is probably the locker room. I think that shared space and locker room Lounge is awesome," Massey said of the locker room, noting that the design was inspired by NFL and MLS locker rooms.
The coaches' offices take the second level with an exterior balcony that looks over Tecolote Canyon and Mission Bay, in addition to a viewing terrace of the court.
"It really centralizes the experience for men's and women's basketball players, and also creates an alignment," San Diego men's basketball head coach Steve Lavin said. "It's just ideal for the experience that student athletes are going to have at USD."
Before members of the media took a tour of the new Basketball Performance Center, players from both programs checked out their new practice facilities for the duration of their time as a Torero.
"Pretty awesome. I think they knew it was pretty nice to see from the renderings, but to see it actually in real life, like 'We're actually going to have our stuff here, hang out here,'" Massey said of the players' reaction.
"That's why we do our jobs. I was telling our staff, 'Keep the main thing, the main thing, and focus on what the student athlete experience is.' Those are those moments where you feel like, this is why I do my job."
As of April 22, Lavin has welcomed 12 recruits and their families in the previous nine days to check out the program, including the new facility. Some of those recruits include those who are currently in the NCAA transfer portal from Power Six conferences.
"Every single recruit and their families, the prospects and their families were impressed with these elite facilities," Lavin said. "It's a statement. It represents the commitment of the University of San Diego, to athletics, and specifically to men's and women's basketball."
On the women's side, even with five incoming freshmen, all five have chosen to remain in the program beginning in the fall, in addition to the eight players already on the roster.
"We have a group of young women who want to be here and have decided to make the choice to stay," said Alverson, who is in her first season at the helm. "That's one of the things for us that we're going to be focused on, is our culture and our chemistry and elevating the standard in which we operate."
As we continue to build and grow, we continue to bring in talent, but it starts with us every single day, working on the talent we have here and developing and getting better, and looking to change how we approach every single day and our mindset."
For Alverson, she has been in America's Finest City for a couple of weeks after officially being named the women's basketball coach on March 25. Not only has she been adjusting to life in San Diego, but now with this new facility in her first head coaching job.
Alverson spent six seasons at Georgia Tech before coming to USD, including most recently as the Yellow Jackets' associate head coach. She helped lead Georgia Tech to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 run in 2021 and also helped the Yellow Jackets reach as high as a No. 13 in the Associated Press Poll during the 2024-25 season. She also has coaching stops at New Mexico State and USC.
She said she is blessed to work at the new Basketball Performance Center as the lead of a women's basketball program for the first time in her coaching career.
"I'm beyond grateful to come into it for my first head coaching job, coming into a situation where really we are so poised to be successful," she said. "We have all the resources, the facilities, our location. So for me as a first-time head coach, coming into a facility like this, knowing the support behind me, our program can continue to excel and raise the standard of how we operate."
Lavin, who is entering his fourth season as men's basketball coach, has spent time at Power Six Conference schools across the country, including UCLA, St. John's and Purdue, during his coaching career.
He said this enhances practices while being shocked these new facilities now exist for him and the program.
"It's surreal to come to campus and walk into these offices for the past seven, eight days," Lavin said. "It's still a situation where you're kind of pinching yourself and you can't really believe this is real. This is the best of any facility that I've been a part of in my 38 years associated with basketball."
"It's revitalizing, invigorating. It's inspiring and just really grateful is how you feel, grateful to be able to come to work in this facility at a world class institution."
This comes three weeks after the Toreros' softball program unveiled its brand new ballpark, the Reggie Smith Softball Complex on March 27. Last summer, USD Athletics revealed multi-million-dollar improvements — including new video boards, speakers, and lights — to the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Massey said the combination of the new facilities has raised the level of this athletic department to one the best in the West Coast Conference.
"I feel like we really have the strongest set of facility infrastructure in the league. I really do," he said. "I've been able to see a lot of conferences. There's a lot of really cool facilities, but the combination of everything now, I think, is really top to bottom and probably the best in the conference."
Among other things on the agenda for USD to renovate in the near future include the golf facility and the soccer locker rooms.
Last August, the University of San Diego was named America's Most Beautiful Campus by the Princeton Review.
And now, as a multi-year investment in athletics comes to fruition, the Toreros have the facilities to match.
