Why Basketball Is An Indoor Sport

Last night, I watched the second game of the State Farm Champions Classic, which pitted Duke against Kentucky in Atlanta, GA.  The game, which followed Michigan State's thrilling victory over Kansas, was an exciting contrast of styles - a well-played, high-profile non-conference matchup that we don't get enough of prior to March Madness.  If there was a downside to the first game between the Blue Devils and the Wildcats since 2001, it was the fact that the Champions Classic organizers held the event in the cavernous Georgia Dome rather than (at worst) an NBA building like Atlanta's Phillips Arena or (at best) a classic college venue like Cameron Indoor Stadium or Rupp Arena.  While playing the game in a football stadium undoubtedly increases paid attendance, allowing more people to see the contest live (reported attendance was 22,847) and generating more revenue for the event organizers and the participating schools, it diminishes one of the best parts of college basketball - the in-arena atmosphere.  Buildings like Cameron, Rupp and Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse are what distinguish college games from the most-homogenous NBA variety, and moving Duke vs. Kentucky to the Georgia Dome definitely took away from what could have been an even more intriguing matchup.

Clearly, the Georgia Dome was not meant to host a basketball game.

While Duke vs. UK would have been a lot more awesome if it was played on a college campus, it could have been worse - at least the game wasn't scheduled to be played on an aircraft carrier.  Since North Carolina played Michigan State onboard the USS Carl Vinson last November, the NCAA and its schools have become obsessed with scheduling non-conference games where planes should be landing.  Despite the fact that, last year, a Michigan State player injured his knee when he slipped on a wet spot on the floor (who would have thought that a court built atop a floating vehicle might have moisture issues?), three additional aircraft carrier games were scheduled for this past week.  Mercifully for the players, two were cancelled - Florida vs. Georgetown on the USS Bataan in Jacksonville, FL and Ohio State vs. Marquette on the USS Yorktown in Mt. Pleasant, SC.  Florida and Georgetown actually played a hideous first half, after which the game was called for moisture with the Gators leading the Hoyas 27-23.  Syracuse and San Diego State got their game in on the USS Midway in San Diego, but the game was postponed two days from Friday to Sunday because of weather.  Even when it was played on Sunday, though, "the gusty winds on the deck of the USS Midway were so strong that the outside shooting in Syracuse's 62-49 victory wasn't quite so pretty" - San Diego State shot 1 of 18 on three pointers and 14 of 33 on free throws. 

Long sleeves!  Pants!  It's Syracuse vs. San Diego State on the USS Midway!

In my mind, there are three main reasons to hate these suddenly-en-vogue aircraft carrier games.  One, there's a real injury risk here - playing on a moist wooden surface is extremely dangerous, and these outdoor matchups put all of the players at risk.  Second, the quality of play during these games is bound to be consistently terrible - between the wind, the cold and the sun, players can't calibrate their shots and the games are sloppy and low scoring as a result.  Third, and perhaps most unfortunately, these games come at the expense of battles that could be among the highlights of the non-conference college basketball season.  The teams invited to play in these nationally televised aircraft carrier games are all top-tier schools; matchups like Florida vs. Georgetown or Ohio State vs. Marquette would be intriguing regardless of where they are played.  The best case scenario here is that the game will be ruined by the outdoor elements and an otherwise great matchup turns into an ugly one, like in the Syracuse win over San Diego State.  The worst case scenario is what happened with the other two aircraft carrier games - they get cancelled because of weather, they don't get rescheduled and the fans lose out on the opportunity to see two big time programs play each other during a mostly uninteresting November of college hoops.  Going forward, I hope the NCAA and its schools get smart and move these games to indoor venues, both for the sake of the players and the fans.