ESPN released the pairings for the 2012 ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Monday afternoon. The Big Ten has won the past three events, including a resounding 8-4 victory last season, this after losing each of the first 10 years. The 12-game Challenge will be played Nov. 27-28 this season. Check out all the matchups, get your Challenge history and see BTN.com Brent Yarina’s predictions in this post.

Every year, players who weren’t big-time contributors one season become just that the very next. For example, there was Meyers Leonard last year and Darius Morris two seasons ago. Get BTN.com Brent Yarina’s early top five 2012-13 breakout candidates in this post.

It’s April, the NCAA just crowned its latest men’s basketball champion (Kentucky), so that means it’s time for ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi to post his first installment of 2013 Bracketology. Lunardi has seven Big Ten teams dancing, as of right now, headlined by Indiana, the conference’s lone No. 1 seed. Michigan State and Michigan received No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively. See all of Lunardi’s Big Ten predictions in this post.

Michigan State’s Branden Dawson gave Spartan basketball fans reason to be excited Sunday afternoon, tweeting the following: “Just receive good news from the Doc. He says I’m two months ahead of schedule.” Dawson, a talented, tough and athletic freshman, tore his left ACL on March 4. See the tweet in this post and watch one of Dawson’s best highlights from his freshman campaign right now.

Michigan State center Derrick Nix announced he will stay with the team during an emotional news conference on Thursday. Earlier Thursday, Nix pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of impaired driving. Nix had been suspended after his arrest but on Thursday Michigan State coach Tom Izzo reinstated him to the team with certain conditions.

The deadline for college basketball players to decide whether they’re coming back to school or entering the 2012 NBA Draft was Tuesday. Here’s what we know: Meyers Leonard and Jared Sullinger are gone, while Trey Burke, Deshaun Thomas and Christian Watford are back after testing the NBA waters. A lot of things will change before the season tips in November, but BTN.com’s Brent Yarina offers some super-early 2012-13 predictions. See all of them in this post.