2024 Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament Preview and Prediction

The college basketball season is underway and we are entering my favorite time of the regular season, Feast Week. This coming week will be filled with tournaments that will give us a taste of what to expect come March.

I am going to be taking us down to the Bahamas for the 13th installment of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. This tournament has produced National Champions, Bracket Busters, and some great basketball for us to enjoy during the Thanksgiving week.

I am going to cover the participants in this year’s tournament and give my prediction on which team I believe will be leaving Atlantis as champions.

Odds are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

Gonzaga Bulldogs (+100)

Gonzaga has been a force to be reckoned with in the early stages of this season. The Zags resume features wins over a better than expected Arizona State squad, a road win against San Diego State, and an opening night 38-point beat down of Baylor.

The lineup features a perfect combination of depth and experience. Senior guards Nolan Hickman and Andrew Nembhard control the backcourt, while Braden Huff and Graham Ike dominate the paint on both ends of the floor.

Transfer guards Khalif Battle (Arkansas) and Michael Ajayi (Pepperdine) are additional scoring threats for a team that is averaging 93.2 points per game (ppg).

Arizona Wildcats (+260)

Arizona heads to the Bahamas looking for a major bounce back after dropping two consecutive games in ugly fashion.

After opening the season with blowout wins over Canisius and Old Dominion, the Wildcats lost to Wisconsin in a game where they gave up 103 points and allowed the Badgers to attempt 47 free throws. Arizona followed that up with a home loss to Duke where they only managed to score 55 points.

In both losses the Wildcats shot a combined 10-46 (21.7%) from three-point range, and the guard trio of Caleb Love, Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis are going to be the focal point of improving those numbers.

Indiana Hoosiers (+600)

The Hoosiers are ranked in the top 25 and are expected be a contender in the new look Big Ten conference and are off to an undefeated start to their season, however they have yet to be tested.

The Hoosiers’ best win thus far is a 16-point win over a South Carolina team expected to finish near the bottom of the SEC.

The Hoosiers feature a dynamic backcourt in Mackenzie Mgbako and Malik Reneau who combined are averaging 32 ppg, while transfers Oumar Ballo (Arizona) and Myles Rice (Washington State) have both been off to great starts to the season.

Louisville Cardinals (+1000)

The Cardinals are led by first year head coach Pat Kelsey who came over from the College of Charleston after leading them to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. Kelsey is leading a team that has a lot of experience, but lacks chemistry as a wave of transfers make up this roster.

Reyne Smith (Charleston) leads the Cardinals with 14.8 points per game and he shares the backcourt with Terrence Edwards Jr. (James Madison) and Chucky Hepburn (Wisconsin).

The Cardinals will open the tournament against Indiana which will be their second game against a top-25 team this season, and Cardinal fans hope this game will go better than the 22-point home loss to Tennessee.

Oklahoma Sooners (+1700)

The Sooners head to the Bahamas on a 4-0 start to the season and will see a major step up in competition after their breezing through Lindenwood, Northwestern State, Stetson, and East Texas A&M to start their season.

Jalon Moore and Sam Godwin are two returning starters from a season ago; Moore is an all-SEC level guard that leads the Sooners with 18.8 ppg, while Godwin has controlled the glass with 11 rebounds per game (rpg).

The x-factor for the Sooners is 4-star freshman Jeremiah Fears who is averaging 15.5 ppg while shooting 51.2% from the field.

Providence Friars (+2500)

Much like the Sooners, the Friars also enter this tournament with an undefeated record after five games against lesser competition.

The Friars lost several key contributors to the NBA and graduation from a team that made the NIT last season and they have leaned heavily on their incoming transfers to fill those gaps.

Bensley Joseph (Miami) is one of those key transfers and he is leading the Friars in scoring with 11.8 ppg, which is also a career high for Joseph. Jayden Pierre and Corey Floyd Jr. are two upperclassmen that saw significant playing time a season ago and are now in the starting lineup for a Friars team that is allowing only 53.6 ppg, but that defense will get it’s first major test in the opening round against Oklahoma.

West Virginia Mountaineers (+3500)

The Mountaineers are heading down Country Roads with a lot of uncertainty but also optimism. West Virginia features 12 new scholarship players on their roster, however they have a quality head coach in Darian Devries who is in his first season in Morgantown after leading the Drake Bulldogs to three of the last four NCAA tournaments.

This is a very guard heavy lineup with transfer guard Javon Small (Oklahoma State) leading the way with 15.5 ppg. Tucker Devries brings the most experience to the lineup after playing for his dad for the last three seasons at Drake, but he is trying to find his footing in his new home as he is averaging a career low 13.5 ppg.

The Mountaineers have handled their business against inferior teams, but a 24-point loss on the road to Pittsburgh has Mountaineer fans uneasy about the opening matchup against Gonzaga.

Davidson Wildcats (+5500)

Will this season be different than last season? The answer to that question will define this tournament and this season for the Wildcats. A season ago, Davidson played 15 games decided by five points or fewer, and they lost 11 of those games. If they can learn to close out tight games, this program will be dancing in March once again.

The Wildcats are led by a talented trio of returning starters; Connor Kochera, Reed Bailey, and Bobby Durkin are all averaging at least 16 ppg and have Davidson off to a 4-0 start.

However a first round matchup with Arizona is going to require a perfect performance in order for these Wildcats to have any chance of leaving Atlantis as tournament champions.

Prediction

This is arguably the most top heavy Battle 4 Atlantis tournament since it’s inception. Many of these teams will be playing their first game against a team from a power conference, and the majority of these teams are still working to build chemistry with their new look rosters.

There is only one complete team in this field, and while I don’t like going with the square pick and backing the consensus favorite, I love what I have seen from Gonzaga thus far.

The Bulldogs have weapons all over the floor, they have a Hall of Fame coach in Mark Few, and they have passed every test they’ve been faced with in this young season. Give me Gonzaga to run through this field and leave Atlantis as tournament champions.

Pick: Gonzaga Bulldogs (+100) - 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis Winner