NCAA Basketball: Preview and predictions for 2024 Baha Mar Hoops Championship

Expectations

The first two and a half weeks of the season have told us something about each of these four teams, but we don’t really know the full stories quite yet. Freshman are still acclimating, transfers are still adjusting, and one of these programs has had a head coach for only a month at this point. How they play overseas in late November is not indicative of how their seasons will go, but they’ll need to be at their best right now.

Any event with three out of four ranked teams is certainly going to draw plenty of attention. This event should live up to the high praise. While Virginia is a few steps behind these other three teams, especially with that recent coaching change, the other three teams are all nationally ranked and should all find their way into the NCAA Tournament.

However, it’s events like these that really convey if said teams are NCAA Tournament quality teams. We saw Baylor get punched in the mouth and respond in a major way in their next few games. We’ve seen both Tennessee and St. John’s face and feast on decent foes, but how will they handle their own hostile experience? At the same time, can Virginia actually surprise people with a couple of wins and prove they can factor into the ACC race?

Any of the four teams can win this event. Based on ranking and name value, a lot of people will just expect to see Baylor and Tennessee face off for the title, but there are reasons to believe that both St. John’s and Virginia can get the job done and surprise people. None of these teams are playing their best ball in November, but this is actually the kind of event where winning can spark something special this season.