The Tribune

By INIGO 'NAUGHTY' ZENICAZELAYA

IF you are looking for me between November 21-23, start at the Imperial Arena in the Atlantis resort.

It’s time for the eighth annual Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis, and if you can’t find me court side, I’ll be in the beer garden sipping Bud Lights, dilly, dilly!

• This year’s edition

features a loaded field:

Butler

Dayton

Florida

Middle Tennessee State

Oklahoma

Stanford

Virginia

Wisconsin

With five teams returning for the second time to the premier early season tournament, I think some major upsets will go down, and lots of intense basketball action.

Single game, team and full tournament tickets are available at the Atlantis Box Office. Call 363-6602 for info and bookings.

Until next week, happy thanksgiving in advance, indulge and enjoy.

I’m not even trying to predict a winner.

Here’s a quick peek at all the teams in town for Battle 4 Atlantis, and some of the star players waiting to hit the hardwood in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

BUTLER 3-0

Coach: LaVall Jordan, who is 24-14 in his second season with the Bulldogs.

Top scorers:

Junior guard Kamar Baldwin (23.3); senior guard Paul Jorgensen (18.7); sophomore center Joey Brunk (15.0).

Road to Atlantis:

Beat Miami of Ohio (90-68), Detroit (84-63) and Mississippi (83-76).

Prior to taking over his alma mater last season, Jordan spent one season at UW-Milwaukee, going 11-24.

Baldwin went 12 of 12 from the free throw line against Mississippi.

He also leads the team in rebounding (6.7) and assists (5.7).

The Bulldogs are shooting 65.3 per cent on 2-point shots, which ranks in the top five nationally, according to KenPom.

DAYTON 3-0

Coach: Anthony Grant, 17-17 in his second season with the Flyers.

Top scorers:

Fifth-year senior forward Josh Cunningham (20.0); redshirt freshman forward Obi Toppin (15.0); junior forward Ryan Mikesell (13.3); sophomore Jordan Davis (13.0); junior guard Trey Landers (12.3); sophomore guard Jalen Crutcher (12.0).

Road to Atlantis:

Beat North Florida (78-70), Coppin State (76-46) and Purdue Fort Wayne (91-80).

Cunningham missed the first two games of the season with a wrist injury.

Toppin had 18 points and 10 rebounds against North Florida in his collegiate debut.

Landers and UW sophomore point guard D’Mitrik Trice were teammates at Wayne High School near Dayton, Ohio.

Crutcher, who made the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team last season, leads Dayton with 6.0 assists per game.

OKLAHOMA 3-0

Coach: Lon Kruger, 143-91 in his eighth season with the Sooners.

Top scorers:

Senior guard Christian James (22.7); senior guard Aaron Calixte (13.3); sophomore forward Brady Manek (13.3).

Road to Atlantis:

Beat Texas Rio Grande Valley (91-76), Texas San Antonio (87-67) and Wofford (75-64).

Manek is averaging 11.3 rebounds per game.

James is 19 of 21 from the free throw line.

Calixte is a graduate transfer from Maine.

This could be the fourth meeting in five seasons between UW and Oklahoma. After the Badgers beat the Sooners 69-56 in the 2014 Battle 4 Atlantis title game, the teams split home-and-home games the following two seasons.

VIRGINIA 3-0

Coach: Tony Bennett, 222-86 in his 10th season with the Cavaliers.

Top scorers:

Junior guard Ty Jerome (17.0); sophomore swingman De’Andre Hunter (14.3); junior guard Kyle Guy (11.7); junior forward Mamadi Diakite (10.0).

Road to Atlantis:

Beat Towson (73-42), George Washington (76-57) and Coppin State (97-40).

Bennett, the son of former UW coach Dick Bennett, spent two seasons working alongside Badgers coach Greg Gard on Bo Ryan’s staff.

Jerome is 11 of 16 (68.8 per cent) from three-point range.

The Cavaliers are shooting 47.1 per cent from beyond the arc as a team.

Guy has 12 assists and one turnover. Virginia has a 2.9 assist-to-turnover ratio as a team.

Opponents are shooting 34.8 per cent from the field against the Cavaliers, including 28.6 per cent from 3-point range.

WISCONSIN 3-0

Coach: Greg Gard, 60-36 in his fourth season at UW.

Top scorers:

Sophomore guard D’Mitrik Trice (18.3 ppg), senior centre Ethan Happ (18.3), sophomore guard Brad Davison (11.7), sophomore guard Brevin Pritzl (11.0).

Road to Atlantis:

Beat Coppin State (85-63), Xavier (77-68) and Houston Baptist (96-59).

Happ has opened the season with a triple-double and a pair of double-doubles.

He’s averaging 12.0 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game.

Trice is shooting 65.0 per cent (13 of 20) from 3-point range.

Nate Reuvers has a team-high seven blocked shots.

MIDDLE

TENNESSEE

STATE 3-1

Coach: Nick McDevitt, 3-1 in his first season with the Blue Raiders.

Top scorers:

Junior guard Antonio Green (22.3), junior forward Reggie Scurry (13.5), sophomore guard Donovan Sims (12.3), senior forward Karl Gamble (12.0), senior forward James Hawthorne (10.8)

Road to Atlantis:

Beat Lees-McRae (91-69), Milligan (102-70) and Charleston Southern (75-73); lost at Belmont (92-73)The Blue Raiders have far more turnovers (77) than assists (56).

Five Middle Tennessee players already have at least 10 turnovers.

Scurry and Gamble average 8.3 rebounds per game.

Green has attempted 40 shots from 3-point range, more than half of the team’s total. He’s made 14 of them (35.0 per cent).

The Blue Raiders lost their top six scorers from a team that went 25-8 overall and finished first in Conference USA with a 16-2 record.

Kermit Davis also left to coach Mississippi and was replaced by McDevitt, who went 98-66 in five seasons at North Carolina-Asheville.

STANFORD 2-1

Coach: Jarod Haase, 35-34 in his third season with the Cardinal.

Top scorers:

Sophomore forward KZ Okpala (22.7), freshman guard Cormac Ryan (14.7), sophomore guard Daejon Davis (10.7)

Road to Atlantis: Beat Seattle (96-74) and North Carolina-Wilmington (72-59), lost to North Carolina (90-72).

Davis has 11 turnovers through three games. He committed a team-high 132 turnovers last season. Ryan is 10 of 22 (45.5 per cent) from 3-point range.

Okpala has attempted 29 free throws, making 23 (79.3 per cent).

Josh Sharma, a 7-foot senior centre, was recruited by UW. He’s averaging 5.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.

FLORIDA 2-1

Coach: Mike White, 71-38 in his fourth season with the Gators.

Top scorers: Senior guard Jalen Hudson (12.0), sophomore guard Deaundrae Ballard (10.3)

Road to Atlantis: Lost to Florida State (81-60), beat Charleston Southern (76-46) and La Salle (82-69).

Freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard, a five-star recruit, has 17 assists and six turnovers.

Senior guard KeVaughn Allen is 2 of 11 from 3-point range. The Gators are shooting 26.2 per cent from beyond the arc as a team.

• Naughty presents ‘Mischief and Mayhem in da AM’ from 6am to 10am, Monday to Friday and ‘The Press Box’ sports talk show on Sunday from 10am to 1pm, on KISS FM 96.1. Comments and questions to naughty@tribunemedia.net