According to multiple sources, the UNC men’s basketball team will be going to Paradise for the holidays next year.

Jon Rothstein of College Hoops Today is reporting the Tar Heels are scheduled to take part in the 2023 Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in the Bahamas, which will be played over Thanksgiving weekend at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island.

Joining the Tar Heels in the event is a loaded field of college basketball powerhouses, including Villanova, Michigan, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

This would be Carolina’s third-ever appearance in the Battle 4 Atlantis, after also playing in the 2014 and 2019 tournaments. The Tar Heels have never won the event, which was first played in 2011. They finished in fifth place in 2014 and in third place in 2019.

Several intriguing matchups are on the table for UNC. A game against Michigan would be another chapter in what has become something of an annual rivalry with the Wolverines and a rematch of a Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal in 2019, which Michigan won. Carolina and Michigan have played in four of the past five seasons, with each team winning twice, and will meet again at the Jumpman Invitational this December. A matchup with Villanova would be the first meeting between the Tar Heels and Wildcats since the fateful 2016 national championship game in Houston, won by Villanova on a buzzer-beating three-pointer.

Carolina has winning records against each of the reported entrants except for Memphis. The Tigers and Tar Heels have never before met in basketball.

 

Featured image via Todd Melet

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