NCAA Basketball: UNC, Villanova, Arkansas and Memphis takeaways from Battle 4 Atlantis

This year’s Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament featured a number of teams that had something to prove this season. Although just about everyone that was in this year’s field is a notable NCAA Basketball program, six of the teams previously missed the NCAA Tournament last season.

That included programs such as UNC, and Villanova, who faced off in the semifinals of the tournament. On the opposite side were Memphis and Arkansas, two programs that had made the postseason a year ago but entered the 2023-24 campaign with completely different respective rosters.

The semifinal games from the winner’s bracket ended up being very entertaining. North Carolina and Villanova ended up going to overtime, with the Tar Heels winning, 83-81. Memphis was able to hold off Arkansas in another close game, 84-79. However, it wasn’t closer in the title game, as Villanova completely dominated Memphis from start to finish, up by around 30 points in the first half alone, winning 79-63.

The Tar Heels were without starting guard Cormac Ryan but that didn’t matter, as they took care of Arkansas in the third place game, 87-72. In the end, all four teams showed positive signs that they can be highly successful in their respective leagues going forward but there also were some potential warning signs to look at too.

Here’s a closer look at the overall takeaways from all four programs from the winner’s bracket of the Battle 4 Atlantis.