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The Battle 4 Atlantis is loaded

Shaka Smart

Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart yells from the bench during the first half of their NCAA tournament third-round college basketball game against Indiana in Portland, Ore., Saturday, March 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

AP

The bracket for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament has been released, and it is loaded absolutely loaded.

The featured matchup of the first round will come when top 25 programs VCU and Memphis square off.

Not only will this be a matchup of two potential Sweet 16 teams, but this also pits two teams that matchup up well stylistically. VCU presses, pushes and likes to fire away from distance. Memphis has the kind of athletes and talent to make the Rams pay for gambling defensively. Physical, uptempo games that feature high-level athleticism is always enjoyable to watch, especially when we’re talking about teams that will still be a bit rusty from the offseason.

That will hardly be the only intriguing game in the opening round. The winner of Memphis-VCU will advance to play the winner of Missouri and Stanford. The Cardinal should be improved enough that they can compete for the Pac-12 title if neither Arizona or UCLA live up to their lofty expectations. Missouri will be a contender to Kentucky in the SEC.

On the other side of the bracket, Louisville takes on Northern Iowa. The Cardinals are a consensus top three team nationally, but they will have their hands full with the Panthers. UNI is always tough defensively, returns the majority of their rotation from last season and could end up being the best team in the Missouri Valley not named Creighton.

In the final game, Duke will be taking on a borderline top 25 team in Minnesota.

That’s a loaded tournament.

Paradise Island will be the place to be for November’s early-season tournaments.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.