Michigan State basketball's out of conference schedule is traditionally tough. It's one of Tom Izzo's defining characteristics as a coach.

With that in mind, consider the tournament Michigan State got invited to Tom Izzo's dream tournament.

The PK80 tournament, named for Nike Founder Phil Knight who will be celebrating his 80th birthday next year, has a star studded 16 team field that will not disappoint fans of any school. The tournament will be held in Portland, Oregon where Nike is headquartered.

The 16 team field is broken down into two fields of eight, meaning there will be two "winners" when all said and done.

Michigan State finds themselves in the Victory bracket (Victory for MSU, I see what you are doing there tournament organizers) playing Georgetown in the first round. The Spartans will play either the winner or the loser (depending on their outcome) of Oregon and UConn. The other teams in the Victory bracket are Oklahoma, Oregon, UNC and Portland.

The other bracket named the Motion bracket features Duke, Texas, Butler, Florida, Ohio State, Stanford, Portland State and Gonzaga.

With the potential of such powerful matchups throughout the tournament, your mid-November TV schedule might include some college basketball sprinkled into the steady diet of football.

Michigan State women's basketball will also be participating in the PK80 tournament. There is a four team bracket that will take place in Eugene, Oregon around the same time. Michigan State plays UConn with Oregon and Oklahoma making up the other half of the women's field.

So when the leaves are falling and Thanksgiving has everyone thinking football, remember there's going to be some great basketball being played at the same time.

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