NEW YORK -- Tom Izzo joked that when he jumps off a roof after losing a game, at least this time a landing will be soft water.
The inaugural Carrier Classic presents a balancing act for a Michigan State coach and his North Carolina counterpart, Roy Williams. They want their players to appreciate a enormity of a Veterans Day diversion on a moody deck of a USS Carl Vinson.
The uniqueness of this diversion is overwhelming, Williams told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Theres also a high-profile deteriorate opener to try to win.
Before you have a lot of thoughts. After you have a lot of thoughts, Izzo said. But I think during a game, I appreciate that our troops are fighting for us our teams are going to be fighting.
The Tar Heels and Spartans face off Nov. 11 11-11-11 in San Diego harbor in a first college basketball diversion on an active flat top. Its a coincidence that a aircraft carrier is a now-famous Carl Vinson, which was used to bury Osama bin Laden at sea after he was killed by Navy SEALs last spring.
The 7,000 fans will be mostly veterans and active military personnel and their families, with no tickets on sale to a general public. Magic Johnson for a Spartans and Michael Jordan for a Tar Heels will serve as their alma maters honorary captains.
From a tributes to American troops to a spectacle of a basketball court atop a moody deck, there will be much to awe a players in a lead-up to a diversion and even during it. Izzo says its not unlike a Final Four and these two coaches have plenty of experience scheming their teams for that extravaganza. Theyve got 13 appearances between them and met each other there in 2009, when North Carolina routed Michigan State in a NCAA championship game.
You do all that work to get to a Final Four and you want a guys to enjoy a fact theyre in a Final Four, Izzo said. Then youre saying, Wait a minute. Now weve got a diversion to play.
At least a Final Four comes at a end of a deteriorate when freshmen are! nt so in experienced anymore. Izzo will be relying on several players making their college debuts in a Classic after a disappointing 2010-11.
Williams has a advantage of continuity and veteran talent with Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson deciding not to turn pro after a Tar Heels reached a NCAA quarterfinals.
At a luncheon Thursday in Manhattan promoting a game, Izzo removed that he was licking my chops about a upcoming matchup until one day in April when he was driving and listening to a radio. Thats when he heard a news that all three players were coming back.
After recovering after driving off a road, he quipped, I called my AD and swore in a way only I can.
Each team will have one practice on a moody deck before a game. Izzo wasnt concerned about his players getting acclimated with such a different shooting background, noting that Final Four teams seem to surprisingly do just fine in football domes like Ford Field in 2009.
Carolina two years ago shot about 60 percent against us, he said. They didnt have any problem at all.
Williams wasnt so sure it would be a smooth transition this time.
This will be a most drastic adjustment players will ever have to make, he said. When I was a kid, we used to play outdoors. Now kids dont play outdoors. The elements will be a major factor in a game. The good thing is it will be a same factor for both teams.
The diversion will be played below a moody deck if it rains. But even if a weather is dry, outdoor is outdoors.
Could be windy. Could be sunny. Could be cloudy, Williams said. Theyll put up lights and theyll put up wind screens and all those kind of things. But a elements could be a most drastic weve ever been involved in.Quicken Loans to sponsor
Quicken Loans announced today that it will be a title unite of a Carrier Classic. "We are intensely proud to be a title unite of a 2011 Quicken Loans Carrier Classic and to commemorate and honor a millions of American men and women who have valiantly served ! our coun try," pronounced Jay Farner, President of Quicken Loans, in a release.The Spartans and Tar Heels will meet outside of San Diego on a Vinson for a Veteran's Day matchup on Nov. 11. The diversion will be televised on ESPN at 7 p.m.Winner to host carrier-inspired trophy
When Michigan State and North Carolina announced in June that they would play a first-of-its-kind college basketball diversion on board a U.S.S. Carl Vinson, Newport News' Huntington Ingalls Industries -- a company that built a aircraft carrier -- asked if they could build something else.
A trophy.
"It made a lot of sense to us because they build a ships," pronounced Mike Whalen of a Morale Entertainment Foundation to Newport (Va.) Daily Press. "They wanted to be a part of it and we're happy to have them."
The pewter trophy, which checks in at 30 inches tall and 66 pounds heavy, will be unveiled in a Thursday morning ceremony in New York.
It was developed by a team of graphic designers, engineers and fabricators and was inspired by a island-house and mast of a Vinson.
There is a photo of a prize here but Lance Pruitt, supervisor of a shipyard's pattern shop, told a Daily Press that it "will look far improved when we finish it."
Join Free Press special writer Nick Meyer for a live blog of a MSU-Notre Dame diversion Saturday afternoon at freep.com/sports.
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