Battle 4 Atlantis starts Saturday vs. Furman

[the Blades]

Didn't know about the domestic portion of this tournement:
UConn Begins Battle 4 Atlantis At Home

"Armed with a 2-0 record and a national ranking, the No. 19 UConn men’s basketball team begins play in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament with a mainland game against Furman on Saturday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion."

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Does this mean if Furman wins they get to go to Atlantis? I saw this too and I don't know what this means. I thought the field was set and it was an invitational tournament????

 

[the Blades]

Here's some more : BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS
"The game between Elon and Michigan is part of the Battle 4 Atlantis Mainland Games. The Wolverines will participate in the main Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in Paradise Island, Bahamas Thanksgiving week, Nov. 25-27, 2015 at Imperial Arena. Elon will host a Battle 4 Atlantis Mainland Tournament Nov. 25-27 at Alumni Gym, hosting Mount St. Mary's, Furman, and Texas A&M Corpus-Christi. "

Guess it's like the MSG Tourney a few years ago where they have more teams but they can't make it to the Bahamas, even if they win. I went and can't remember the name of the tourney but Memphis with Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin and Oklahoma, Uconn and Kentucky were supposed to be the 4 teams. But Gardner Webb beat UK and MSG and Big Blue nation got screwed with one of the main draws sitting home. I even saw a bunch of UK fans who probably already bought rooms and tix walking around the Garden. I heard a few years later they went with a new format of only the top teams invited to MSG.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

It sounds like a bunch of marketing bullshit to me. If Furman cannot go to Atlantis by winning, they are not part of the Battle for Atlantis. Is Atlantis paying Furman something to be able to say this is a "mainland game" but they have to stay at home if they win? Unless Furman is getting something out of this then it is total BS. I know they get money for playing at UConn but I am interested in knowing if any money is flowing to them from Atlantis as part of this tournament.

 

[the Blades]

Good question.... who pays who ??? I don't get this format...all 8 Bahamas teams have games with these guys:
Elon beat Charlotte and also plays Michigan and Cuse, pre-Bahamas...Furman has Uconn and Charlotte, Mount St. Mary's has Gonzaga and Washington, TAMU C.C. has Texas and Texas A&M scheduled.......also Texas has already lost to Washington this year and could play them again in the 2nd round in the Bahamas.

 

[the Blades]

Charlotte beat Furman last night 77-68, so they are going to the Bahamas at 1-1 ( they lost 85-74 to Elon) vs. the mainland field. Other scores so far Michigan beat Elon 88-68, Tex A&M beat TX A&M-Corpus Christi 95-70 and Washington destroyed Mt.SM 100-67.

Also some AAC scores from Thursday:

Minnesota 70

Temple 75

George Washington 73

USF 67

Grambling 65

Memphis 83

Tulane 82

Southern 90

SMU 85

Stanford 70

 

[Silk31]

Super excited for that Michigan game. That will really show us what this team is made of here in the early going. Winning this first game and moving on in the winner's bracket to play better teams down the line in the tourney is crucial to boosting our overall resume.

Let's get that first solid OOC win under our belt and move on to hopefully stomp out the Cuse. Anything else after that is all gravy

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I think UConn is going to win the Battle of Atlantis. Of course I thought that in 2011 and despite the presence of a lot of talent they lost to UCF and went 2-1 in the tournament.

Silk, I wish I could be down there with you. I really enjoyed my experience at Battle of Atlantis 2011 and the only issue was the day games which this year I think they learned from that and did the schedule differently.

The key for UConn playing the better teams will be executing half court offense when they need to especially against Michigan and Syracuse which are noted zone teams that will slow UConn down. It's all about Xs and Os and with that I have to show some love for Elle King because this is the best rock song I heard the last couple years:

 

[the Blades]

Ollie Says UConn Won't Take Furman Lightly; Adams Looks To Turn It Up
one of Uconn's OOC foes this year had a rough night on Friday, so the team better not and it can happen :

"You didn't think those strange upsets in college hoops' opening weekend last week would stop there, right ? " No loss was more embarrassing than this one, though. OSU fell 73-68 to a team that went .500 against D-I competition last season, a Sun Belt program picked to finish eighth in the league for 2015-16. In the big picture, few people right now care about this loss, but it will no doubt hurt in a big way for Thad Matta's team when the NCAA Tournament selection committee sifts through the résumés in mid-March. Nothing drops a team a seed line or two down like a home L to a program that fails to crack the RPI's top 150. (And it's possible UT-Arlington will wind up doing just that.) "

CBS- Ohio State latest upset victim by way of a home loss to Texas-Arlington

 

[the Blades]

Another score from Friday- Xavier beats up #24 Michigan 86-70

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

From that report there is a suggestion that Michigan had extreme difficulties defending the post. They may not have played very much zone against Xavier.