ABOARD USS CARL VINSON, CORONADO, Calif. — The premise seemed closer to fiction: the first college basketball game held on a 95,000-ton, Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the court constructed on its flight deck, where fighter jets normally speed away, propelled by catapults that shoot them off at 150 miles an hour into war zones. Normal this was not. This was “Top Gun” mixed with March Madness (in November) combined with Veterans Day. This was big-time basketball on a battleship. Below the flight deck, where North Carolina and Michigan State kicked off their respective seasons Friday, lay bombs and missiles, lest anyone forget the carrier's normal purpose. With President Obama among the crowd of 8,111, the flight tower, which sailors call The Island, loomed above the court, its radar antennas spinning, its satellites standing sentry. These teams met for the national championship three years ago, at Ford Field in Detroit, where the Tar Heels trounced the Spartans in a result similar to Friday night. Top-ranked North Carolina also won this contest easily, ballooning its lead to double digits by the half and ultimately winning, 67-55, in a game that made up for what it lacked in rhythm with pomp, pageantry and symbolism. Connecticut 70, Columbia 57: Jeremy Lamb scored a career-high 30 points and No. 4 Connecticut opened its defense of the national championship by beating visiting Columbia. Shabazz Napier added 21 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds for the Huskies, who led by 37-22 at halftime. Noruwa Agho, who led the Ivy League in scoring last season, had 16 points for Columbia. Duke 77, Delmont 76: Seth Curry scored 16 points as No. 6 Duke held off visiting Belmont in the opening round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational in Hawaii. Kentucky 108, Marist 58: The freshman Anthony Davis had 23 points and 10 rebounds, leading the second-ranked Wildcats over visiting Marist in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament. Other results: Kansas 100, Towson 54; Louisville 83, Tenn.-Martin 48; Vanderbilt 78, Oregon 64; Xavier 74, Morgan State 42; Ohio State 73, Wright State 42; Pittsburgh 87, Albany 56; Michigan 59, Ferris State 33; Oklahoma disciplined Oklahoma was put on three years' probation and fined $15,000 by the NCAA for major violations in its men's basketball program. The NCAA Division I infractions committee also vacated all 13 wins from Oklahoma's 2009-10 season, took away a scholarship and limited recruiting efforts, but did not label the school a “repeat violator” vulnerable to more severe penalties.
