Duke basketball: Clarifying confusion surrounding ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’

There has been confusion surrounding the ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’ Tournament as the Duke basketball program looks to piece together a schedule.

College basketball Twitter was partially set ablaze on Thursday afternoon after some reports surfaced that the ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’ was canceled for the 2020 season.

And yes, that is entirely true. The committee for the tournament published a press release saying that neither the men’s nor women’s tournament would take place in November in the Bahamas because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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However, the tournament will still be played, as previously reported in the week.

CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein was the first to break the news this week that the ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’ was moving to South Dakota this season, thus, canceling the ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’ because the event was not being played on Paradise Island.

But the event will still be played, consisting of Duke, Ohio State, Memphis, West Virginia, Wichita State, Utah, Texas A&M, and Creighton.

Yes, confusing, but basketball will hopefully be played at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, just a new, yet temporary, name awaits this field.

Duke is also slated to make a trip down to Orlando, Florida to play the Michigan State Spartans in the Champions Classic inside the NCAA’s bubble, almost identical to what the NBA is in the midst of at the very moment.

ALSO READ: Details keep pouring in regarding 2020-21 schedule

If this has confused you even more, I apologize, but let’s try to make it as clear as possible:

The Blue Devils, Buckeyes, Tigers, Mountaineers, Shockers, Utes, Aggies, and Blue Jays will be playing in a tournament this season.

The ‘Battle 4 Atlantis’ will not be played this year because the location holding these teams will not be in the Bahamas.

The event will take place at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but the event currently does not have a name. Perhaps the first-ever ‘Battle 4 South Dakota’ or ‘Battle 4 Sioux Falls’ would work, but we will leave that decision up to someone else.

ALSO READ: Duke to officially begin season with Champions Classic

Duke will be playing basketball this season, and it will just take patience to see how the schedule shakes out going forward.