NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 8 teams in 2019 Battle 4 Atlantis tournament

2) North Carolina Tar Heels

UNC is in a weird spot going into the 2019-20 season.

By the end of the year, they’re going to be really good – they have too much talent not to be. Five-star freshman Cole Anthony is an ACC Player of the Year candidate, and fellow five-star recruit Armando Bacot gives them added depth up front with Garrison Brooks and Sterling Manley. Grad transfers Christian Keeling (Charleston Southern) and Justin Pierce (William & Mary) should be major contributors as well.

But what roles will all of them play?

That is the biggest question surrounding these Tar Heels. They have to replace six players from last year’s rotation, including all of their top five scorers. Brooks (7.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg) is the only returning player who averaged more than 3.5 points per game for UNC last season.

Like so many other teams in this field, that amount of turnover leads to a multitude of questions they’ll have to answer.

Anthony should be a star, the rest of this group is very talented, and Roy Williams is an elite coach who typically gets the most out of his teams. However, last year’s team got off to an underwhelming start before finding their groove in conference play, and they had a roster full of returning experience.

How long will it take this group to get into a rhythm?

1) Seton Hall Pirates

Seton Hall will be a preseason top 15 team (I have them in my top 10) because they return all but one rotation player from last year’s NCAA Tournament squad that beat the likes of Kentucky, Marquette, and Villanova during the regular season.

They’re a long, athletic group with a number of players primed to take steps forward like Quincy McKnight, Myles Cale, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, and they will only get better defensively with the addition of Florida State transfer and shot-blocker extraordinaire Ike Obiagu.

But Myles Powell is the real reason I’m so high on the Pirates.

One of the nation’s top players (and my pick to win National Player of the Year), Powell is an elite scorer and crunch-time performer who is capable of carrying this group. He gives them a legitimate star and the rest of the roster complements him perfectly, and I think he sets this group apart from the rest of the field.

With these eight high-quality teams in the fold, every game in the Battle 4 Atlantis is going to be a must-watch between teams with high aspirations. Over half the field has a legitimate chance to win the tournament, but I’m going with the Pirates as the favorites.