The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Moist courts aren’t shipshape
Condensation and rain threats might doom carrier play.
The strong wind whipped the American flag and dozens of signal flags on the island of the USS Midway, giving No. 9 Syracuse and No. 20 San Diego State an idea of what it could be like playing Sunday afternoon on the flight deck of the decommissioned aircraft carrier.
Although the court for the Battle on the Midway is surrounded by bleachers, enough wind reached the hardwood floor during Saturday’s practices to blow jump shots off trajectory, with many missing the rim.
The game was postponed from Friday night due to the threat of rain. The forecast for Sunday is for clear skies and less breeze. But the flight deck of the World War II-era carrier, now a museum in San Diego, is 50 feet above the shore and any amount of breeze could be a factor.
The players and coaches say they’ll take what conditions they get and try to put on a good show.
“It felt like an outdoor court in New York City; it’s just there’s a little less wind there,” said Orange forward James Southerland. “With a great view, of course. I like the view.”
The teams and organizers hope the wind is the only major obstacle for the game on the carrier, which is berthed on San Diego Bay.
On Friday night, organizers of two other games afloat found out the hard way that Mother Nature has the final say. The Georgetown-Florida game on the USS Bataan in Jacksonville, Fla., was called off after halftime and the Ohio State-Marquette game on the USS Yorktown in Charleston, S.C., was cancelled, both due to condensation on the courts.
A year ago, the Carrier Classic was held on the USS Carl Vinson, across San Diego Bay from the Midway. Michigan State, which lost to North Carolina, was just 2 of 20 from 3-point range and it started raining hard less than an hour after the game ended.
It remains to be seen whether college hoops games on aircraft carriers will survive this weekend.
Coaches Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Steve Fisher of SDSU agreed that delaying the game two days and keeping it on the Midway was preferable to playing it Friday night in a local sports arena.
“I have no interest in going somewhere else to play,” Boeheim said. “We want to play this game on the ship. We gave ourselves the best opportu- nity to play the game by moving it to tomorrow. Hopefully there will be no reason to not play it here tomorrow and we’ll be able to finish the game.”
Boeheim said it was too early to tell if the concept of aircraft carrier games will take a hit because of Friday’s problems on the East Coast.
“We’re still glad we did it,” he said. “It’s a great experience for our players. It’s one game. We’re going to play 30 more games in the regular season, so I don’t think one game will dictate whether we do this type of thing again. It’s a good thing.” Men’s Top 25 No. 22 Notre Dame 58, Evansville 49: Jack Cooley scored the first nine points of the game and finished with 19, Scott Martin pulled down 17 rebounds and the host Fighting Irish beat the Purple Aces in the preliminary round of the Coach- es vs. Cancer Classic. Jerian Grant added 11 points for Notre Dame, which limited Evansville to 31 percent shooting (19 of 61). SEC Vanderbilt 80, Nicholls State 65: Kedren Johnson scored a careerhigh 25 points to lead host Vanderbilt over Nicholls State in the season opener for both teams. Johnson scored 15 points in the second half as Vanderbilt pulled away after leading by just six at halftime. After the break, the Commodores shot 66.7 percent. ACC Virginia Tech 80, East Tennessee State 62: Erick Green scored 21 points to lead host Virginia Tech over East Tennessee State. The Hokies made a winner of coach James Johnson in his debut. Johnson replaced Seth Greenberg last May when the school fired Greenberg after nine seasons. Women’s Top 25 No. 6 Kentucky 90, Delaware State 50: A’dia Mathies had 16 points, six assists and four steals to lead host Kentucky over Delaware State. The Wildcats shot 54 percent against the Hornets, including 10 of 22 from 3point range. Kentucky finished with 53 points off 32 turnovers.
No. 12 Oklahoma 69, Creighton 48: Aaryn Ellenberg scored 19 points to lead host Oklahoma tover Creighton. Whitney Hand added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Sooners, who shot 48 percent from the field.
No. 16 Vanderbilt 82, McNeese State 71: Tiffany Clarke scored 24 points and Christina Foggie added 18 to lead host Vanderbilt past McNeese State. Jasmine Lister had 10 assists for Vanderbilt, which led 41-39 at the break and opened the second half with a 23-9 that pushed it to 64-48 with 11: 57 to play.