The Battle4Atlantis bracket is in Carolina’s favor.

While the No. 6 and undefeated Tar Heels head into their toughest test of the early season, they certainly copped a break with the pairings in the Bahamas. As the highest-ranked team in the field, UNC will be favored to get to the championship game Friday against co-favored and No. 8 Gonzaga.

Alabama entered the tournament with a 2-2 record, having lost to Penn of the Ivy League and Rhode Island of the Atlantic 10. The Crimson Tide defeated middle major opponents Furman and Florida Atlantic.

Carolina’s cache, in itself, should be good enough to advance to Thursday’s second round against the winner of also-unranked Iowa State and Michigan of the Big 12 and Big Ten, respectively. Plus, Alabama is a running team, which plays right into Roy Williams’ favorite style.

If the Heels don’t play well enough to win the opener, well, that will fuel the fears of fans already worried about their personnel beyond Cole Anthony and Armando Bacot, freshmen who have established themselves as the biggest scoring threats. Alabama has a terrific sophomore guard named Kira Lewis, who is averaging 21 points and 5 assists per game but has not faced anyone like Anthony so far.

Senior Brandon Robinson should return from a sprained ankle he suffered in the preseason, and if he comes out shooting like he’s capable that will give Carolina more firepower than shown so far from the perimeter. One benefit of B-Rob’s absence was the solid minutes played by Andrew Platek, who should now be a fixture in the eight-man rotation.

These are the games Carolina usually wins – against an opponent that runs but can’t keep up and one without the basketball pedigree that would offset the intimidation factor that UNC’s brand name carries. Anything but a double-digit win will mean that the Heels will also struggle against the Cyclones or the Wolverines, two programs that have experience against, and beaten, UNC in recent years.

The Bahamas are beautiful this time of the year but, make no mistake about it, Williams considers this a business trip that will be a barometer of where his team is in this murderous five-game stretch that finds unbeaten Ohio State and defending national champion Virginia on the other side.

At the very least, the Heels should get to the title game against the Zags, whom they play again in Spokane on December 18. Yikes.

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