Iowa draws Xavier in Battle 4 Atlantis opener
Posted on 29. Jul, 2013 by admin in Iowa Basketball
Iowa will face Xavier in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis, which takes place Nov. 28-30 in Nassau, Bahamas.
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
The Iowa Hawkeyes’ first contest in the Bahamas as part of the Battle 4 Atlantis will take place Thanksgiving night against Xavier. This was first reported by ESPN’s Andy Katz. The early-season tourney released its bracket for the 2013 event Monday morning and Iowa’s opener against the Musketeers will start at 6 p.m. Central and be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network. Xavier is coming off a 17-14 season last year that didn’t feature any postseason play.
Depending on the outcome of that first game against Xavier, the Hawkeyes will play either Tennessee or UTEP on Black Friday. If Iowa loses its opener, it would play at 12 p.m. Central that afternoon in a game televised by AXS.tv, formerly known as HDNet. If the Hawkeyes beat Xavier, their semifinal match-up against either the Volunteers or Miners would take place at 6 p.m. Central that evening and again air nationally on NBCSN. Tennessee, like Iowa, was in the NIT last season, but lost in the first round to Mercer. UTEP, coached by former Iowa State head coach Tim Floyd, went 18-14 last season and like Xavier didn’t appear in any postseason tourney.
Should Iowa reach the championship game, it would likely face a Kansas squad that will be highlighted by incoming freshman phenom Andrew Wiggins. Other possibilities for the Hawkeyes’ third and final contest at Imperial Arena are Wake Forest, Villanova and USC. The championship and third-place games will both air on NBCSN, while the fifth and seventh place games on Nov. 30 will be carried by AXS.tv.
Kansas and Villanova both reached the NCAA Tournament last season, with Villanova losing its second-round contest to North Carolina and the Jayhawks reaching the Sweet 16 before losing in overtime to eventual national runner-up Michigan. Neither Wake Forest nor USC appeared in any postseason tourneys and the Trojans are now coached by Andy Enfield, who led Florida Gulf Coast to the Sweet 16 last season.
Iowa will also play one home game as part of the Battle 4 Atlantis, but the opponent remains unknown. Each of the eight teams traveling to the Bahamas get one home game against a team from a quartet of schools that will meet in the mainland bracket. Thus far, Towson and The Citadel are the only two confirmed schools and Towson is hosting the mainland portion of the Battle 4 Atlantis over Thanksgiving weekend at its new on-campus arena in Baltimore.
To this point, eight of Iowa’s non-conference games have been determined. In addition to the three games being played in the Bahamas and the home against an opponent still to be determined, the Hawkeyes are already slated for home games against Notre Dame for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and Nebraska-Omaha, as well as trips to Ames for a road contest against Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum and Des Moines for their Big Four Classic match-up against Drake at Wells Fargo Arena.
Iowa’s complete schedule is slated to be announced later this summer. By rule, the Hawkeyes are allowed to play up to 13 non-conference games since four of those games are part of the Battle 4 Atlantis, which is defined as an exempt tourney.
2013 Battle 4 Atlantis Bracket
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