Of all the places to open a college basketball season, the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson has to be the most bizarre. But that will be where Michigan State and North Carolina tip off their 2011-12 campaign in San Diego Bay on Friday night. You might remember the USS Vinson as the final resting place of one Osama bin Laden before the Navy buried his body at sea on the way home from the mission that took the notorious terrorist’s life in Pakistan in May. A basketball game is far less important, obviously. But the event was put together to honor the military as part of a Veterans Day celebration.
North Carolina hopes it’s the start of another magical season. The NCAA champions in 2005 and 2009 — when they crushed the Spartans in the final in Detroit — the Tar Heels earned 62 of a possible 65 votes to earn the preseason No. 1 ranking. All five starters return, including star sophomore forward Harrison Barnes, for a team favored to win its third title in eight years.
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– Brian McNally
