Carrier Classic photos: Michigan State vs North Carolina (-10)

So, the ES is tooling around the web with great interest into tonight's unique "Carrier Classic" contest in San Diego, with the USS Carl Vincent aircraft carrier hosting Michigan State Spartan men's hoops team taking on the #1 team, North Carolina.  OK, so UNC is favored by 10 points, with the wind.  the ES is most interested in the development of Adreian Payne and Derrick Nix in the post... and, how will Keith Appling do as a point?  Should be interesting to find out.  The best photos are over at MSUSpartans.com, here are two that the ES really digs (full photo gallery link here).

SPARTANS GET TOP HOOPS COMMIT
Oh, and FYI - Tom Izzo and Michigan State just landed the top shooting recruit in the nation in 2012, with Gary Harris leaving the State of Indiana for Spartan Country.

Carrier Classic.. video

With the really unbelievable, horrific, and difficult situation at Penn State, leaving to the real possibility of JoePa being canned, it is tough to get focused on football... let alone basketball. 

But it IS the Carrier Classic this week, and the NY Times ran some coverage, including some video of the USS Vincent.  Check it out

Rain at Carrier Classic in the forecast

This is somewhat amusing, we are nine days out... but, via the Weather Channel, it looks as if the 11/11/11 Carrier Classic men's hoops game between Michigan State and North Carolina on the USS Carl Vincent has a good potential for Showers (is that El Nino rearing its ugly head?). Good think they (who is they? ESPN, Dept of Defense, Michigan State, God???) have a backup plan to have the game on the flight deck below. The ES wonders what THE below-the-deck atmosphere may look like via an artist's rendering (ES guess is that it may resemble the preseason Maui Classic).  The game is scheduled for 4 pm Pacific Time on a Friday night (that's 7 pm for us Easterners).

Stay tuned.  Go Green...

Michigan State creates hoops on USS Carl Vinson, 11/11/11

Yup, it is finally confirmed.  Michigan State University will play the University of North Carolina on the USS Carl Vinson, on 11/11/11, that's Veterans Day. Notably, the Vinson was the Carrier which disposed of the body of Osama Bin Laden.  This harkens back to a premonition reported by the ES back in 2003...

The ESPN-produced game will feature two college basketball powerhouses, North Carolina and Michigan State, playing each other on the deck of the Carl Vinson while some 7,000 special invitees, mostly military personnel and their families watch from the bleachers specialy constructed on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, docked in San Diego.  Also at the carrier, Navy will play Air Force.  In case it rains, there will be another court built: "one for the hangar deck below in case it does rain. Although the court will be surrounded by temporary stadium seating, there are plans for some kind of wind screen in an attempt to match the controlled environment basketball games are played in."

Congrats to AD Mark Hollis for creating an amazing opportunity.
 
This was originally announced on October 3, 2010... however, the idea dates back to May 20, 2003, when the Enlightened Spartan floated the idea about hosting a football game on an aircraft carrier.  This was covered on Scout.com in 2004.

Here's a look at the Breslin Floor - hinting at the occasion:

North Carolina's fast start beats Michigan State's late rally, 89-82

North Carolina defeated Michigan State, 89-82, tonight in Chapel Hill. UNC shot the lights out early. MSU fought back, but too little too late. Hope to see UNC in the tourney. Michigan State shot a measly 2-20 (10%) of their 3-pointers for the game; UNC hit on 5-10 (50%) in 10 less possessions, with a 9-pt advantage in that category. UNC eventually won by seven.

Michigan State struggled taking advantage of UNC mistakes and opportunities; time and again, UNC would miss shots or turn the ball over, and Michigan State just didn't convert them. More often than not, MSU settled for perimeter jump shots instead of driving and creating an inside offense -- and, more often than not, MSU missed.

Not Carolina - they shot the lights out early. By half, MSU was down by 16 (50-34), and the Spartans unleashed a furious comeback, but they missed too many chances in the second half. UNC provided MSU with opportunities: Morgan's lob on a wide open alley-oop that went out of bounds; Summers' and Allen's missed 3 pointers time and again, especially in the last 3 minutes; missed Free Throws by Morgan; a missed layup by Green; Morgan & Lucas running into each other after forcing a turnover late, etc.

Korie Lucious was 3-12 FGs and 0-6 threes; Chris Allen was 2-9 FGs and 0-6 threes; and Kalin Lucas was 6-17 FGs and 0-3 threes. Michigan State will not win with that backcourt production from those three (11-38 FGs, 0-15 threes)... not to mention the lack of effectiveness defensively on UNC guards, which shot 5-10 threes, especially early. But, the ES suspects that will be the worst combined effort out of the three this year. Expect it to improve as the season progresses - it can only go up, and Tom Izzo has the pedigree to get them to improve.

Quotes from Tom Izzo after the game with Gus Ganakas:"We shot the ball so miserably... Korie, Chris, and Durrell [couldn't find their shot]. Roe played like a man, we have to give him the ball more... A couple of 5-point swings and it changed the whole game... [UNC's] Drew did a great job. Korie struggled in that game early to guard; they blew by us a few times. Then, they got a few threes early, and they haven't beeen getting that this year... We didn't deserve to win because we didn't do enough early. We wanted to blitz more during the game and at the end and poor Kalin was so tired, we just couldn't do it... I was disappointed. I swear they were in the lane 3-4-5 seconds, but we didn't do a good enough job getting around them. They hurt us inside, no question. [UNC's] Davis really hurt us. They are a very good team and played very well at home. "

Live Chat - UNC vs Michigan State

North Carolina -2 over Michigan State tonight

#10 North Carolina is a 2-point favorite at home over #9 Michigan State in this evening's marquee ACC/Big Ten matchup. Tipoff is 9 pm on ESPN. As for MSU falling from #2 to #9 after its loss vs Florida... well, "big deal" - we'd love to see an undefeated Spartan squad, but the ES ain't worried. It's how the Spartans end up at the end of the season that matters, and with an unparalleled 5-Final Fours and a pair of national title appearances under his belt, noone is better than Tom Izzo and MSU come tourney time.

AP Top 25

1. Kansas (63) 5-0 1,623

2. Texas (1) 5-0 1,508

3. Villanova 6-0 1,442

4. Purdue 5-0 1,389

5. Kentucky 6-0 1,333

6. Duke 6-0 1,316

7. West Virginia 5-0 1,238

8. Syracuse (1) 6-0 1,183

9. Michigan State 5-1 1,109

10. North Carolina 6-1 961

11. Tennessee 5-1 936

12. Washington 5-0 893

13. Florida 6-0 777

14. Connecticut 4-1 742

15. Ohio State 5-1 702

16. Georgetown 4-0 588

17. Gonzaga 5-1 491

18. Clemson 6-1 426

19. Texas A&M 5-1 284

20. Louisville 4-1 252

21. Florida State 6-1 219

22. Cincinnati 4-1 205

23. Butler 4-2 200

24. UNLV 5-0 191

25. Portland 5-1 120

Others Receiving Votes Oklahoma State 112, Georgia Tech 97, Marquette 82, Mississippi 79, Miami (FL) 77, Brigham Young 76, Memphis 66, Vanderbilt 64, Notre Dame 52, Kansas State 41, Michigan 40, California 39, Minnesota 35, Wisconsin 28, St. John's 26, Northwestern 15, Dayton 8, Missouri State 7, New Mexico 6, Pittsburgh 6, Richmond 6, North Carolina State 5, Arizona State 5, Illinois 5, Illinois State 4, Washington State 4, South Carolina 3, Maryland 3, Missouri 2, Texas Tech 2, Virginia Commonwealth 1, Cal State Fullerton 1. Dropped From Rankings Michigan 15, Illinois 20, Maryland 21, Minnesota 22, Notre Dame 23, Vanderbilt 24.