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Battle 4 Atlantis: Upset Island 2011, Big Teams Sign On for 2012

Paradise Island may have turned into Upset Island this weekend, but that’s not scaring off the eight schools who will compete at the 2012 Battle 4 Atlantis. Next year’s participants were just revealed at Imperial Arena: Duke University (2010 national champs), University of Louisville, University of Memphis, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, University of Northern Iowa, Stanford University and Virginia Commonwealth University.

HDNet and NBC Sports will carry the 12-game tournament. Next year’s field is robust – especially with the Blue Devils in the house. The eight teams have combined for more than 160 NCAA postseason appearances. In addition to Duke’s five national titles, VCU advanced to the 2011 NCAA Final Four.

The event, which resulted in a UCF-versus-Harvard University title game, will award more than $2 million to participating teams annually.

“To see our vision come to life this weekend at Battle 4 Atlantis with all the excitement and energy was truly remarkable,” says George Markantonis, president and managing director of Kerzner International Bahamas. “To have secured such a talented field of players for our inaugural tournament has succeeded in making this destination the pre-eminent college basketball tournament for years to come.”

Fans can go to atlantis.com and sign up for 2012 Battle4Atlantis updates.

Florida State D Steps It Up

Here is exactly what an emotionally wounded UConn squad did NOT need this afternoon.

A biting, scratching blood feud against a snarling, mouth-foaming junkyard dog.

But that’s what awaits the Huskies (a much fluffier, prettier type of pooch).

Florida State – UConn’s 2 p.m. test in the Battle 4 Atlantis loser’s bracket – is the first school ever to create a special logo for its defense. Because on that side of the ball, the Seminoles are just that good, that nasty. They’ve led the nation in field-goal percentage defense the past two seasons.

Now, their D is formally dubbed “Stopper” and its official face – pasted onto T-shirts for FSU fans – is a toothy, growling junkyard dog. The name, image and concept is the brainchild of Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton, a dog lover who has owned five pure-breed boxers over the years. He named each one “Chopper” – thus the D’s moniker: “Stopper.”

“We wanted to have something to represent the defense, some symbol, because defense is hard work,” Hamilton says. Yet defensive stats are often overlooked and underplayed. The all-sweat, labor-heavy craft, the coach believes, is vastly underappreciated in the modern college game.

“Stopper” – he hopes – will put a stop to that.

“We call our D ‘the junkyard D.’ Real junkyard dogs run to the fence and bark whenever somebody approaches. They’re saying: ‘We want you to know we’re in our area, you’re in your area, and you’re not coming in.’ ”

This afternoon in the Bahamas, UConn is outside the fence. And they want in. Real bad.

SEE EARLIER BLOG COVERAGE OF BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS:

UConn Upset, Did Coach Calhoun See It Coming?
Will Ivy League’s Standards Hurt Harvard’s Recruiting?
UCF’s Marcus Jordan. Yeah.. Michael’s Son
UConn Wins Their First, But What’s Their Mindset?
UCF Take Battle 4 Atlantis Opener over Charleston [Video]
A Man of War, Recalls His Very Own Battle” [Video]
Bobby Cremins Know It Will Be “a War” [Video]
Arrival of the Fittest
We’re Here & We’re Ready to Play Hurt: Battle 4 Atlantis
ATLANTIS: THE PERFECT TOURNAMENT AIRS ON HDNET

UConn Upset, Did Coach Calhoun See It Coming?

Did Jim Calhoun see this coming? Did he even feel it might happen this holiday weekend?

Sure seems that way now.

As the Battle 4 Atlantis opened, Calhoun questioned UConn’s collective hunger, its appetite to gut out gritty wins against even the little schools who would “make a nice headline for themselves” by slaying his NCAA beast. The coach admitted his elite squad arrived on Paradise Island toting “a championship hangover,” lacking the inner furnace critical not just to repeat as college kings, but simply to compete nightly. And in the Big East, that kind of snoozy attitude is pure basketball suicide.

Like what happened yesterday.

In what seemed – at court side – like a basketball blink, the University of Central Florida tapped some of Michael Jordan’s DNA, gobbling up and spitting out UConn’s 17-point, late edge. The Knights’ killer instinct – a trait Calhoun desperately wants to see in his boys – was injected by none other than point guard Marcus Jordan, M.J.’s son, who scored 17 in the second half and held UConn’s vaunted guard, Shabazz Napier, to 2 for 7 from the floor as UCF humbled the Huskies 68-63. When one of the Huskies taunted Jordan that he “would miss” before two critical late free-throws, Michael Jordan’s boy thought about the clutch gene he received from his dad. No he wasn’t going to miss, he told the UConn trash talker: “It’s in my blood.” He canned both.
Marcus Jordan

UConn’s needs that same steely mentality. Come to think of it, maybe the Huskies should have avoided the Atlantis water park this week. Calhoun even joked days ago about 6-9 forward’s Roscoe Smith’s “Leap of Faith” slide plunge, saying “he screamed all the way down.” How prophetic. UConn needed to treat this tourney on Paradise Island not as a pleasure trip with hoops mixed in but as serious business trip.

This afternoon, Calhoun’s players – No. 4 in the nation when they packed their swimsuits and sunscreen a few days ago – must prove they can take a fat smack to their heads – and their egos. They meet Florida State at 2 p.m. in, of all places, the loser’s bracket. The gnawing feeling in Nassau: the Huskies’ season may be on the line. At least in terms of team psychology. The reason: Calhoun gets to see today if his boys can fall and then rise again. Another necessary survival trait in the upper reaches of NCAA men’s bball. Defensive monster Florida State could offer the perfect hangover cure for UConn.

In calling Friday’s loss to UCF a “complete disaster” and “just surreal to watch,” Calhoun singled out his team’s late defensive lapses, allowing the Knights and Jordan to shoot 80 percent during the final 15 minutes. Every hoops player knows offense is fueled by skill and well-practiced sets. Defense? That’s just plain grunt work.

“We pride ourselves on defensive and obviously it wasn’t very good,” Calhoun said. “We’ve lost games to comebacks. The point is, we stopped playing … How we lost is very disheartening.

“The only positive thing is it will certainly be a very, very good training point. Hopefully we’ll learn from this.” Then he paused and added: “We have to. We play (today) … There’s no sense in me yelling and screaming at them. We have a game (today.) This isn’t the end. We’ll go on.”

Also today, UConn gets freshman guard Ryan Boatright back following a six-game NCAA suspension for receiving improper benefits from the school. Yet even that star-in-the-making “is not going to solve” the Huskies’ defensive softness, the coach said. His players, he emphasized, “can’t just stop playing (and figure we can) impose our will on people. The problem I never thought we’d have is stopping other people.”

SEE EARLIER BLOG COVERAGE OF BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS:

Will Ivy League’s Standards Hurt Harvard’s Recruiting?
UCF’s Marcus Jordan. Yeah.. Michael’s Son
UConn Wins Their First, But What’s Their Mindset?
UCF Take Battle 4 Atlantis Opener over Charleston [Video]
A Man of War, Recalls His Very Own Battle” [Video]
Bobby Cremins Know It Will Be “a War” [Video]
Arrival of the Fittest
We’re Here & We’re Ready to Play Hurt: Battle 4 Atlantis
ATLANTIS: THE PERFECT TOURNAMENT AIRS ON HDNET