In the words of Georgetown great Allen Iverson, “We’re talking about practice.”

Georgetown may not be moving any closer to finding a new arena to play host to its men’s basketball games, but the Athletic Department is investigating a possible new site for the Hoyas to practice.

Karen Frank, vice president for facilities and student housing, said the project is still in its infancy and the university has yet to receive authorization or funding. The size of the facility and its uses have not yet been decided.

For now, Frank said, the university is working on a plan for exterior design and rough floor plans. As the proposed facility is not yet a part of a campus plan, which are developed every ten years, Georgetown has not sought approval from the zoning commission. She added that the new gymnasium would not necessarily be limited to basketball, but could house locker rooms for other varsity sports.

“There is every intent to build it,” Frank said.

The athletic department declined to offer any details or specifics, but Sports Information Director Mex Carey said that the university is “going through an internal review of our athletics master facilities plan.”

The Hoyas currently practice regularly in McDonough Gymnasium and occasionally at Verizon Center.

This development comes amid the stalled construction of the ulti-Sport Facility, which the university has no immediate plans to resume. The proposed second stage of the MSF construction would include completing the stands, a press box and entryways. Frank told THE HOYA in November that before MSF construction can begin again, more fundraising must take place.

The Sports Business Journal reported in its Jan. 8 issue that the Athletic Department has sent proposals for a new practice facility to select architecture firms. The proposed facility would be constructed over the tennis courts next to McDonough Gymnasium, the Journal reported.

This is not the first proposal to improve basketball’s facilities. In November 2000, former men’s basketball Head Coach Craig Esherick outlined plans for a drastic renovation to cDonough Gymnasium. At the time, the plan was to gut McDonough, dig down and rotate the basketball court 180 degrees. Up to 7,000 additional seats would have been constructed under the plan, as would a new practice facility between McDonough and the observatory.

Though the plan was deemed structurally feasible, and Esherick and then-Athletic Director Joe Lang said that drawings for the new arena had been completed, nothing has ever come of plans for an on-campus arena large enough to play host to a Big East contest. League rules prohibit Big East games at the current McDonough arena. The Hoyas have not played on campus full-time since the 1980-81 season, after which they moved to the Capital Center in Landover, Md.

The McDonough project received approval from the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment, but has not progressed due to a lack of funding and neighborhood concerns.

– Staff Writer Brian Burke contributed to this report.