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The Michigan State Spartans and Connecticut Huskies will open the 2012-13 basketball season with a game at a U.S. Air Force base in Germany, according to ESPN.com's Andy Katz.
Katz shot out this tweet early Tuesday:
Michigan State-UConn to play Nov. 9 opener in unique game at Ramstein Air Base in Germany:espn.go.com/mens-college-b…
— Andy Katz (@ESPNAndyKatz) June 26, 2012
His accompanying article said that the game will take place on Nov. 9.
Ramstein Air Base is home to U.S. Air Force personnel in Europe and is an installation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.
According to Katz, the U.S. Department of Defense, which negotiated the game with ESPN, must formally approve the location before it is official.
From the article:
"I asked my players if they wanted to do it and they were jacked,'' said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. "Has a college team ever played a regular-season game in Europe? I don't think so. It will be cool. We're going to a base in another country. That's pretty cool.''
Izzo said that since he went with a coaching group to Kuwait early in the Iraq war he found an "an incredible appreciation for the military.''
According to Katz, the game would tip off after 10 p.m. in Germany, which is six hours ahead of Eastern Time.
If held at Ramstein, an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 enlisted men and women would be on hand.
For more on the Michigan State Spartans, go to The Only Colors. You can also learn more about college basketball around the nation at SB Nation's College Basketball hub.
