The ultimate piece to the Indiana non-conference schedule nonetheless to be decided is the Battle 4 Atlantis bracket.
In a social media submit on Tuesday, the official Battle 4 Atlantis account on X acknowledged the bracket announcement is “coming quickly.”
Final season’s Battle 4 Atlantis bracket dropped on Thursday, August 3, so we’re within the window for an announcement for this yr’s bracket.
For these unfamiliar, the Battle 4 Atlantis is a three-game annual occasion on Paradise Island within the Bahamas. Indiana was final within the Bahamas for an offseason journey in August 2021, simply months after Mike Woodson’s hiring in Bloomington.
Indiana’s efficiency within the occasion, performed on three consecutive days starting Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, can be pivotal in forming its non-conference resume. The Hoosiers may go away with resume-building wins. Or they may undergo a disappointing week just like the one Indiana had in Maui in 2015. Indiana misplaced to Wake Forest and UNLV on that journey and beat a horrible St. John’s crew.
Wanting on the eight confirmed non-conference video games for the Hoosiers, there’s little to get enthusiastic about in constructing an NCAA match resume.
Our greatest information proper now for projecting the NET ranking quadrant Indiana’s confirmed non-conference video games will fall into is Bart Torvik. Taking a look at present projections on Torvik, right here’s how the eight video games are forecasted:
Quadrant 1: NoneQuadrant 2: South CarolinaQuadrant 3: Sam Houston State, ChattanoogaQuadrant 4: SIU Edwardsville, Japanese Illinois, UNC Greensboro, Miami (OH), Winthrop
As a reminder, listed below are the rules for the quadrants:
Quadrant 1: House 1-30, Impartial 1-50, Away 1-75Quadrant 2: House 31-75, Impartial 51-100, Away 76-135Quadrant 3: House 76-160, Impartial 101-200, Away 135-240Quadrant 4: House 161-353, Impartial 201-353, Away 241-353
Because of a non-conference schedule that would embody as many as 5 Quad 4 video games, Indiana hopes its journey to the Bahamas can produce matchups to stability out the underwhelming residence slate.
It’s vital to caveat that Indiana may have numerous alternatives in Massive Ten play for resume-building wins. A low-quality non-conference schedule received’t loom as giant if they’ll accumulate sufficient significant wins at residence and on the highway in convention play. However it’s by no means a foul concept to get began as early as doable, gathering high quality wins.
Shifting our consideration to the Battle 4 Atlantis bracket reveal, Arizona and Gonzaga are the 2 packages with the very best preseason rankings nationally within the occasion.
Gonzaga is at the moment No. 9 and Arizona is No. 10 in Torvik’s projections. Given the standard of each packages, these are quad 1 alternatives. It additionally received’t be stunning to see Gonzaga and Arizona on reverse sides of the bracket, with Indiana needing to knock off a type of groups within the semifinals to achieve the ultimate.
The occasion took a step again with the lack of Creighton, who pulled out of Battle 4 Atlantis to play within the “Gamers Period Competition” in Las Vegas and was changed by Windfall. The Blue Jays are at the moment No. 13 in Torvik’s projections for subsequent season and would have supplied a transparent quad 1 alternative.
With out Creighton, Indiana’s different 5 potential opponents are Oklahoma, Louisville, Windfall, Davidson and West Virginia.
Right here’s the place a impartial courtroom recreation towards these 5 groups would fall quadrant-wise, in keeping with Torvik’s projections:
Quadrant 2: Oklahoma, Windfall, Louisville, West VirginiaQuadrant 3: Davidson
Assuming a gap recreation towards Arizona or Gonzaga is unlikely, Indiana’s preferrred path can be an opener towards Oklahoma, Windfall or Louisville. All three are ranked within the prime 62 in Torvik’s present projections, whereas West Virginia is at the moment No. 83.
The Hoosiers should keep away from an upset within the opener, which might transfer them to the loser’s bracket and sure take away a matchup with Arizona or Gonzaga. That is what occurred in Maui again in 2015, as Indiana misplaced the opener to Wake Forest, costing the Hoosiers a matchup with one other ranked crew, Vanderbilt, within the semifinals and Kansas, the nation’s No. 5 crew, within the ultimate.
If the Hoosiers can get previous the opener with a win, enjoying a quad 1 recreation and two quad 2 video games at worst within the Bahamas is probably going. That might vastly enhance a non-conference schedule that’s at the moment underwhelming on paper. And after a season during which Indiana’s finest accomplishment within the non-conference was a slim residence win towards Morehead State, getting resume work accomplished early would go a great distance in returning to the NCAA match.
The 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis males’s line-up is loaded! Keep tuned for the bracket announcement coming quickly…
Room reservations + recreation tickets can be found at ?@ArizonaMBB @DavidsonMBB @ZagMBB @IndianaMBB @LouisvilleMBB @OU_MBBall @PCFriarsmbb @WVUhoops pic.twitter.com/ywu2fYwS2s
— Battle 4 Atlantis (@B4AOfficial) August 6, 2024
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