The Battle 4 Atlantis opens Wednesday with four ranked teams playing in an early season test through the Thanksgiving holiday.
Sixth-ranked North Carolina, eighth-ranked Gonzaga, No. 11 Oregon and No. 13 Seton Hall headline the eight-team tournament at the Atlantis resort. Alabama, Iowa State, Michigan and Southern Miss round out the field, which features star talents in Seton Hall’s Myles Powell as a preseason Associated Press All-American and North Carolina freshman point guard Cole Anthony.
Some things to know about the tournament that runs Wednesday through Friday:
QUITE A START
The first round’s final game looks like a late-March matchup between the Ducks and the Pirates.
“You’ve got to go play somebody,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said in shrugging off getting the tough opening-night pairing.
Both teams have already been tested this year. Oregon (5-0) beat No. 16 Memphis and its touted freshman class led by potential No. 1 overall NBA draft pick James Wiseman on Nov. 12. Seton Hall (4-1) lost to preseason No. 1 Michigan State on Nov. 14, though Powell was dominant with 37 points.
HALIBURTON’S IN CONTROL
Iowa State’s Tyrese Haliburton has made a big leap to become the national assists leader.
The 6-foot-5 sophomore arrives in the Bahamas averaging 10.8 points and 10.3 assists for the Cyclones (3-1). He averaged 6.8 points and 3.6 assists in nearly the same minutes last year.
“This summer it was just being able to grow my confidence,” Haliburton said, adding: “It’s just a testament to my teammates. They make a lot of shots, and I can’t get assists if they’re not putting the ball in the hoop.”
INJURY RETURNS
Gonzaga recently added a key piece. UNC hopes to do the same.
Preseason all-West Coast Conference pick Killian Tillie missed the first four games for the Bulldogs (6-0) while recovering from knee surgery, though the 6-10 senior scored 15 points in his debut against Texas-Arlington and 13 more against Cal State Bakersfield.
“I’m still not 100%, but I’m still working on it,” Tillie said.
As for the Tar Heels (4-0), coach Roy Williams said Tuesday that senior Brandon Robinson could make his season debut following a preseason ankle sprain.
“I’ve been full practice and full go, so I feel good,” Robinson said.
Robinson has largely seen spot duty in 106 career games, but shot 46% from behind the arc last year and joins a team needing a reliable secondary scoring option behind Anthony.
BUILDING PROJECTS
The tournament features three coaches in the first year at their schools: Alabama’s Nate Oats, Michigan’s Juwan Howard and Southern Miss’ Jay Ladner.
The challenge is particularly tough for Ladner, whose Golden Eagles (2-3) are in a loaded field and are picked last in Conference USA.
“We’ve got a long way to go and this is obviously a huge step up in competition for us,” Ladner said.
GOOD OMEN?
The past two Atlantis champions — Villanova in 2017 and Virginia in 2018 — went on to win the NCAA championship.
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COURCHEVEL, France (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin isn't just winning every slalom of the Olympic season. She's winning them by an average of more than 1.5 seconds — an eternity in ski racing.
The American skiing standout claimed a record-extending 105th World Cup victory after several of her top challengers went out during a night race Tuesday.
Shiffrin added to her first-run lead to finish 1.55 seconds ahead of Swiss skier Camille Rast and 1.71 ahead of German racer Emma Aicher.
Shiffrin has now won the opening four slaloms of the season — and five straight including the final race of last season.
All of her margins of victory this season have topped a full second — and three of them more than 1.5 seconds: 1.66 in Levi Finland; 1.23 in Gurgl, Austria; and 1.57 in Copper Mountain, Colorado before her latest performance in the French Alps.
Do the math and the average margin is 1.5025 seconds.
“I’m just pushing. I’m not asking questions. Sometimes you just got to take it and roll with it,” Shiffrin said. “Lock in this feeling.”
Lena Duerr, the German who stood third after the first run, went off course early in her second trip down.
Lara Colturi, the Italian-born skier who races for Albania, straddled a gate toward the end of her opening run — ending a streak of three consecutive slalom podiums.
Wendy Holdener managed a seventh-place finish despite a mishap at the end of her first run.
Holdener hit a hole in the finish area, got flipped up into the air and landed on her back. After grimacing in pain for a few moments, she got up and walked away. It wasn’t immediately clear if she was injured but she competed in the second run.
Defending World Cup slalom champion Zrinka Ljutic and Olympic silver medalist Katharina Liensberger, the next two starters, went out midway down.
It’s the third straight slalom that Ljutic has failed to finish.
Katharina Truppe of Austria finished fourth and American skier Paula Moltzan moved up from ninth to fifth with the fastest second run.
Shiffrin earned her 68th World Cup slalom win. She also won gold in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics — then took gold in giant slalom four years later at the Pyeongchang Games.
But Shiffrin didn't medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Women’s Alpine skiing at the Feb. 6-22 Olympics will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy — where Shiffrin won four medals in her four events at the 2021 world championships and where Lindsey Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup victories.
Vonn, who won a downhill last week at age 41, no longer competes in slalom.
Vonn will be back in action this weekend for a downhill and a super-G in nearby Val d’Isere.
Rast recovered from a mistake midway down her second run to earn the sixth podium of her career.
Aicher, who also won a downhill last weekend, is one of the few skiers competing in all four events.
Rast and Aicher moved up to third and fourth in the overall standings, respectively.
Shiffrin leads the overall with 558 points, followed by Alice Robinson (394), Rast (343) and Aicher (319).
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Switzerland's Camille Rast celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, left, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, and Germany's Emma Aicher, third-placed, congratulate each other at the finish area, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Albania's Lara Colturi competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin competes in an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Courchevel, France, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
