The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis offers its eight-team field an opportunity to evaluate their teams early in the season matched up against some of the top programmes in college basketball.

The Oklahoma Sooners advanced to the tournament title game in their last B4A appearance in 2014 and got their 2018 tournament bid off to a promising start with a win in this year’s opening game.

The Sooners outlasted the Florida Gators 65-60 as the tournament tipped off yesterday in the Imperial Arena at the Atlantis resort.

Christian James led three Sooners with 18 points while Rashard Odomes and Jamuni McNeace each scored 11. Dontay Bassett led the Gators with 14 points. Keith Stone and KeVaughn Allen each scored 10.

Sooners head coach Lon Kruger and his team previously competed at B4A during Buddy Hield’s junior season with the programme, but ultimately lost to Wisconsin in the title game.

He notes that the challenging schedule provides the foundation for conference play later on in the season. “For all of the teams it’s three games in three days so it’s not something you really get otherwise until conference tournament time. It’s an adjustment for all teams, short amount of prep for your opponents, which is good for your team to experience because you don’t always have three or four days during conference play, so that short preparation time is good for that.”

The Gators’ final push occurred when they sank a pair of 3-pointers in less than a minute to close to within a single possession at 63-60 with still 2:25 to play. But Oklahoma clamped down on Florida the rest of the way, and Aaron Calixte secured the victory by making two foul shots with five seconds left.

“It’s more of a neutral site so we have to get up ourselves, as a team and collectively bring the energy on both ends of the floor,” James said.

“That will give us the extra boost to get going and give us that edge.” The remainder of the 2018 field will also include the No.4 Virginia Cavaliers (ACC), Butler Bulldogs (Big East), Dayton Flyers (Atlantic 10), Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (C-USA and Oklahoma Sooners (Big 12).

Six of those teams were in last season’s NCAA Tournament, and five B4A participants in previous editions. Stanford appeared in 2012 and ultimately finished in fifth place with a 1-2 record.

Butler finished in third place while Florida ended up sixth. The No. 25 ranked Wisconsin Badgers defeated the Stanford Cardinal 62-46 in game two.

“This early in the year, you like to see these types of opportunities and these types of tests. We’re trying to figure ourselves out, let alone not having a dictionary of knowledge on our opponent. We will leave here in the next few days and will have learned a lot more about where we need to go, what we are good at and what we need to improve on,” Badgers head coach, Greg Gard said, “I wanted to see how we handle Stanford but also as we move through the week, how do we adjust on the fly to things on the court. Good defensive teams will have the ability to make that adjustment on the floor and help each other out and I want to see this group continue to grow and mature.”

The Badgers look to become the second team to repeat as champions following the Villanova Wildcats.

“There is not a lot of downtime. They are mature about it. I want them to get out and see the place, it is a beautiful place. It is also a bonding experience that always helps team chemistry, especially as you launch yourself into a season and everything coming down the road,” Gard said.

Ethan Happ, now a graduate student, is the only remaining player from the aforementioned 2014 Badger team that won the B4A title.

“I remember the feeling after winning it and just how excited our team was. It was really a fun experience for me definitely, but like I said, the feeling that we had as a team after we won this tournament was really something special,” he said, “We’ve played in NBA arenas and other places that are really special. The first 30 seconds you are out there it sort of feels unique, but then you realize it is just another court.”

Standford Cardinal guard Daejon Davis highlighted the time off the court with their visit to St. Cecilia’s Catholic Primary School just prior to tournament play.

“A lot of fun, a lot of excitement off the court, super fun, obviously we have a good time being with the guys doing activities,” he said, “Even more than that I was excited to finally get on the court after that excitement continued to build. There’s a lot of excitement here.

Other coaches have noted the importance in the balance between their teams enjoying the atmosphere of the Atlantis Resort but focusing on basketball as well.

“It’s been really good so far. The guys are getting acclimated, they’ve had a chance to walk around the beautiful venue. We’re happy to be here, great weather, a little different than what we left in Ohio, so excited about the preparations and the tournament,” Dayton head coach Anthony Grant said, “It’s a beautiful facility, beautiful venue. For the majority of our guys, it’s the first time having a chance to be in the Bahamas and be at the Atlantis, so if we get an opportunity to take advantage of some down time, certainly want them to enjoy this experience, but it is a business trip and we’ve got a tough task in terms of three games in three days.

The Blue Raiders, led by Bahamian President Dr Sidney McPhee, make another trip to the Bahamas for one of its sporting programmes. It will be the third time McPhee’s Blue Raiders have competed in the Bahamas following a pair of trips in 2015 for the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s Summer of Thunder and the Bahamas Bowl.

“This is a great location for a tournament and one of the premier tournaments in college basketball. I told our players I want them to enjoy themselves while they are down here, spend some time with their friends, their families, the fans that have made the trip with us,” Blue Raiders head coach Nick McDevitt said, “At the same time, approach it as a business trip as well. We are playing some elite teams down here. For one, we want to compete and see our team get better over the next few days and be able to prepare for what comes later in the season. “

The Gators have struggled early in the season, but head coach Mike White said the evaluation is necessary for the programme’s development.

“It provides a level playing field for both teams to be the aggressor in terms of the amount of energy that they bring offensively and defensively. It allows for the ultimate evaluation of what you’re all about and where your team is currently,” he said.

Butler head coach, Lavall Jordan, said his staff also looks to evaluate his teams performance moving forward, based on the test of three games in three days against elite competition.

“Just consistency. Offensively it’s been a little different for us, we’ve played teams that have played a lot of zone the last two games, so our man offence, we haven’t run it a ton, to be honest, this early in the season. We haven’t put a lot of work in on it but to see what we look like running offense versus more man to man oriented teams,” he said, “Then defensive consistency, we started out pretty well and I thought maybe we took a step back in our transition game. Some of our principles were not as tight as they need to be moving forward, so we tried to address that on the way down here . We will see now where we re against some really good competition.”