San Diego-They are trying to play college basketball on an aircraft carrier again. Veteran voyages Tom Izo and Michigan will return to San Diego Bay to confront Gonzaga on the USS Abraham Lincoln flight deck. Veterans Day.
The game will be screened on November 11th at Golden Time as part of ESPN’s Armed Forces Classic from a flattop moored at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, across the bay from downtown San Diego. Abraham Lincoln is in the process of being deployed and will return to the port later this summer.
Izzo’s Spartan lost to North Carolina No. 1 67-55 on the USS Carl Vinson flight deck on November 11, 2011, in his first college basketball match in his active career. President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama were watching from the courtyard. Carl Vinson carried out Osama bin Laden’s maritime burial after being killed by the Navy Seal in an attack ordered by Obama six months ago.
This is the first aircraft carrier game since 2012, with only two of the four games scheduled for the fall played.
The 2011 Carrier Classic was played in a spectacular setting, but ended less than an hour before the rain hit the court. This is just one of the dangers faced by organizers in the staging of career hoop games. Organizers stated that there was a spare court on the deck of the hangar, but that court was not set up.
Izzo welcomed the opportunity to play in another career game.
“The experience of playing North Carolina on the USS Carl Vinson deck in 2011 was one of the most humble experiences of my career,” Izzo said in a statement. “Obviously we wanted to win, the match against such a program was very special, but for me the game was more than just a win or loss.”
“This opportunity to play on an aircraft carrier in front of men and women who are in the army and are willing to fight for their lives will be a meaningful experience for young men playing games for a long time.” Izzo added. “I said last time, I’ll say it again. I play one of the best teams in the country and host the best team in the world.”
Gonzaga coach Mark Few reiterated Izzo’s ideas.
“This is a special opportunity for our program to help those who fight in our own little way for our country,” the coach of Zags said in a statement. “I’m excited to meet Michigan State University’s great program and Izo coach’s great colleagues. I’m sure this will be a great memory for all of us.”
The carrier’s enthusiasm has passed, at least since 2012, when Mother Nature undertook a serious blockade defense on the East Coast.
Notre Dame defeats Ohio in a women’s match that began in the afternoon on November 9, 2012, in a Carrier Classic doubleheader scheduled to ride in the abandoned USS Yorktown in Charleston, South Carolina. rice field. However, the men’s match between Ohio State University and Marquette University scheduled for the evening did not start due to the condensation of the courts.
That same night, the match between Georgetown and Florida on an active USS Bataan in Gainesville, Florida was canceled after the first half due to condensation.
In San Diego, the Syracuse-San Diego match on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum on the San Diego side of the bay, scheduled for the night of November 9, has been postponed for two days due to rain. When played in bright sunshine on the afternoon of November 11, strong winds across the bay contributed to the host Aztecs, with a 62-49 defeat to the tall Orange and its zone defense, 18 times 3 points. I did only one of the shots. ..
Clint Oberby, vice president of ESPN events, said all parties would consider contingencies in the event of bad weather or a global event that would make an aircraft carrier unavailable.
He said returning to the aircraft carrier game was “just an option to present itself. There was no grand plan for it. It was made available from a controversial point of view and we investigated it. And found to be feasible. More importantly, I found a team that wants to engage in that experience and has a very good understanding of the logistical challenges that may be presented. rice field.”
“There has always been a plot from coaches and participating agencies to thank men and women in the military,” Oberby added. “The number of teams lined up to attend these events, both domestically and internationally, has been very well received by the inter-university basketball community in our minds, so we are excited about it. I am. “
