Tonight, in honor of Veterans Day, in front of an audience that will include President Obama, two college basketball superpowers, Michigan State and North Carolina, will square off on the USS Carl Vinson in the 2011 Carrier Classic. That’s right, the Spartans and the Heels are gonna get some run on the deck of a US Navy super-carrier, docked in the San Diego harbor. Check out the above time-lapse video (h/t to Business Insider for the clip) and see how this “floating city” was transformed from a Nimitz-class supercarrier into a basketball venue.

You can check out a photo gallery of the teams practicing on the ship’s hardwood here. The game starts tonight at 7PM EST, weather permitting, and will be broadcast on ESPN.

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