Newly released Battle 4 Atlantis bracket not as loaded as usual

In 2012, the Battle 4 Atlantis featured five preseason Top 25 teams. In 2014, every team in the field besides Florida made the NCAA tournament. Last year, the four semifinalists each went on to win at least one NCAA tournament game.

The Battle 4 Atlantis has produced some astonishingly strong fields since its inception, so the 2016 first-round matchups announced Wednesday feel a little underwhelming by comparison.

One half of the draw will feature Louisville-Old Dominion and Wichita State-LSU. The other will include Michigan State-St. John’s and Baylor-VCU.

Granted Michigan State is expected to land in the preseason top 10 this fall and Louisville has preseason top 20 potential, but there may not be another top 25 team in the bunch.

Wichita State is entering a transition year without Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet. Baylor must replace first-round pick Taurean Prince and rebounding machine Rico Gathers. LSU loses Ben Simmons and two other starters off a dysfunctional NIT team. Even VCU loses two of its three leading scorers off a team that should still contend in the Atlantic 10.

Any of those four teams could still make the NCAA tournament next season, yet the Battle 4 Atlantis features fewer sure things than previous years. In fact, it may have to cede the title of next year’s most anticipated holiday tournament to the Maui Invitational, which includes a trio of potential preseason top 10 teams — Oregon, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

The Battle 4 Atlantis will still be a really compelling tournament next season, one of the sport’s best in fact.

It just will need some teams to exceed expectations in order to eclipse the high bar previous events have set.

– – – – – – –

Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @JeffEisenberg