The full bracket is out for the 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis, and as expected, Louisville and Michigan State have been set up on opposite sides.
The Cards will begin play in the Bahamas against Old Dominion on Nov. 23 at 9:30 p.m. on the AXS Network. Should they win that tilt, they would face either Wichita State or LSU in the semifinals on Thanksgiving Day at noon or 2 p.m.
Here's the full schedule for the tournament:
Nov. 23
Wichita State vs. LSU, noon, ESPN2
Baylor vs. VCU, 2 p.m., ESPN2
Michigan State vs. St. John's, 7 p.m., AXS
Old Dominion vs. Louisville, 9:30 p.m., AXS
Nov. 24
Semifinals, noon and 2 p.m., ESPN
Nov. 25
Third-place game, 1 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
Title game, 3 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
Old Dominion went 25-13 last season, including a 12-6 mark in Conference USA. They fell to eventual NCAA Tournament Cinderella Middle Tennessee State 55-53 in the championship game of the league tournament. The Monarchs' season ended with a championship run in the newly-formed Vegas 16 postseason tournament, in which they defeated Tennessee Tech, UC Santa Barbara and Oakland.
Louisville participated in the Battle 4 Atlantis back in 2012, falling to Duke in the championship game.
Additional thoughts:
--It appears as though the Louisville/Antonio Blakeney matchup might be coming to fruition after all.
--We still haven't seen an actual bracket, so we're not sure if Louisville's semifinal game on Thanksgiving Day would be at noon or 2 p.m., but regardless, that's an awfully tough turnaround after an opening round game that should end sometime around midnight.
--Hello AXS our old friend. How have you been since 2012? Yeah, we've been dealing with some stuff too.
--It's hard to decipher exactly what the seeding was here, but Louisville and Michigan State are very clearly No. 1 and No. 2, which is all that you need to get right in an 8-team tournament.
--Thanksgiving week will be awesome.
