As college basketball fans know well by now, Michigan State will play top-ranked North Carolina on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson on Friday night in the inaugural Carrier Classic. What college basketball fans may not know is that Michigan State will wear camo uniforms for the highly anticipated Veterans Day game. Watch the Big Ten Pulse’s interview with Michigan State’s Tom Izzo now and see the Spartans model the special uniforms in a MSUSpartanAthletics YouTube video in this post.

With the 2011-12 regular season nearly upon us, we here at Big Ten Geeks will be previewing all 12 conference members over the next couple weeks, in reverse order of expected finish. In other words, sorry Penn State fans; you’re up first.

Like running backs? You’re in luck, because the position is becoming a point of strength in the Big Ten this season (see the stats). There’s Iowa’s Marcus Coker, Nebraska’s Rex Burkhead, Ohio State’s Dan Herron, Penn State’s Silas Redd and Wisconsin’s Montee Ball. But who’s the best of the bunch? That’s the topic BTN web editor Brent Yarina and BTN senior writer Tom Dienhart discussed over email Monday. Read the entire thread in this post.

Eight teams—four from each division—are bowl eligible, filling all of the Big Ten’s bowl slots. For now, I just don’t see the Big Ten getting a second BCS bowl slot, but there’s still lots of football left.

Eight Big Ten men’s basketball players were named to the 2011-12 Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List, released Monday. The candidates are the same as the ones that made the Wooden Award Watch List, minus Minnesota’s Trevor Mbakwe. See all the stars who made the cut for the award handed out annually to the men’s player of the year in this post.