Every year around Thanksgiving, there are a handful of college basketball tournaments that take place as teams gear up for conference play. The Maui Invitational is likely the biggest named tournament, but not far behind it is the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Every year the tournament grabs some programs from different conferences. The 2025 Battle 4 Atlantis field has been slowly released with each team accepting a spot in the tourney that each team gets to play three games. One of those teams for next November that is going is Virginia Tech. Friday there were six teams committed to playing in the tournament, but one team has withdrawn and it’s a rather big-named program.
Auburn withdraws from 2025 Battle 4 Atlantis
According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Auburn has withdrawn from the Battle 4 Atlantis, leaving the tournament with just five teams currently. Along with the Hokies, Ohio State, VCU, St. Mary’s, and South Florida are committed. Now the committee must find three more schools.
Auburn is currently the No. 1 team in the country and by the time the tournament comes around in November, who knows what each team there will look like. As we found out last spring with the basketball transfer portal, players enter and change schools at an alarming rate.
Virginia Tech is a young team under veteran coach Mike Young and they have been playing better since the first of the year. Not much was expected out of them this season with all the roster turnover, but the younger players have been getting better and if Young can retain them, Tech could be a better team in 2024-25.
Virginia Tech played Auburn last season as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge on the road and fell, 74-57, to the then-18th-ranked Tigers. Auburn was the biggest name in the field and now it’ll be interesting to see who the other three teams end up being.