The Carrier Classic on Veterans Day, with the unique calendar date 11-11-11, was a watershed event in college basketball. Now it has become a full-blown trend.
Florida will play Georgetown on a ship Nov. 9 off the coast of Jacksonville, Fla. The U.S. Navy has told the two schools that it is fully supportive of the game, much as it was with the Carrier Classic last year.
The Florida-Georgetown matchup is the third game scheduled to be played on a naval ship Nov. 9, college basketball’s opening day. All three involve a Big East team. Marquette will play Ohio State on a ship off the coast of Charleston, S.C., and Syracuse will take on San Diego State on the flight deck of a retired ship, the USS Midway, off the coast of San Diego.
It is not clear if the Florida-Georgetown or Marquette-Ohio State games will be played on active ships. Television commitments for the three games haven’t been made at this point.
Last year’s Carrier Classic was a test to see if such a spectacle could work, and the event was deemed a success.
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