No. 1 UConn's season opener against No. 20 Louisville that was supposed to be played at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Nov. 4 has been moved to the Naval Academy because of the government shutdown.
"We're excited to have opportunity to play at the academy," Louisville coach Jeff Walz told The Associated Press on Thursday night. "It's going to be a great experience for our players. Everyone was excited about going to Germany and playing at Ramstein, but we will make the best of this. We were going to head over to Germany a few days earlier and have a scavenger hunt in a castle on Halloween."
Walz said his team was going to try to see some of the museums in the area and make the most of the trip to Annapolis.
"There's so much history there that hopefully things are open for us to see," Walz said.
ESPN made the call to move the game.
"For more than a decade, this event has celebrated the lives and contributions of our military, and we're appreciative of the Naval Academy for helping provide a first-class venue for this first-ever women's college basketball matchup that will showcase perennial powers Louisville and UConn," ESPN Events vice president Clint Overby said in a statement.
This was supposed to be the third time that the Armed Forces Classic was played at Ramstein and the first that featured two women's basketball teams. The UConn men's team played in the inaugural one in 2012. Texas A&M and West Virginia also played there in 2017.
The government shutdown began Oct. 1 when the Senate failed to advance a House-passed GOP government funding bill. The longest shutdown lasted 35 days in 2019. Military bases are operating at reduced levels with the shutdown.
