Marquette and Xavier will officially represent the Big East in the 2026 Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. This marks the Musketeers’ second time in the tournament, their first being back in 2013. 2013 was also Xavier’s inaugural year in the Big East. For Marquette, this will be their first appearance in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Big East is Back in the Battle 4 Atlantis
History
The Battle 4 Atlantis kicked off in 2011 and quickly became one of the top pre-season tournaments. It’s had a Big East representative in all but two years: 2015 and 2025. The Big East is tied with the ACC and SEC with three Atlantis titles, all thanks to Villanova.
From 2012 to 2018, the tournament was in its heyday. In those eight years, the Battle 4 Atlantis had five teams that went on to make the Final Four (Louisville 2012, Wisconsin 2014, Syracuse 2015, Villanova 2017, Virginia 2018). Out of those five, three went on to win the National Championship (Louisville, Villanova and Virginia).
But since 2018, the Battle 4 Atlantis has not had a participant make the Final Four. However, they’ve still featured multiple top-25 teams and NCAA Tournament-bound squads.
Field
The Battle 4 Atlantis is looking to continue its success this year with another strong field but a more confusing format. Instead of having a bracket style, the tournament will feature two pods. Pod one features Texas A&M, Marquette, Virginia and Xavier. Pod two has Memphis, Mississippi State, Penn State and Wake Forest.
Pod one looks to be loaded. Virginia is coming off a season where it lost in the ACC championship game to Duke by four. The Cavaliers made the NCAA tournament as a three seed. Texas A&M was one of 10 SEC teams to make the NCAA tournament last year. They made the tournament as a ten seed and lost in the round of 32.
To round out pod one, we have two teams from the Big East both coming off disappointing seasons. Xavier has a chance to return to the NCAAs with four recruits, headlined by Kalek House, and seven portal additions, headlined by Chance Westry. Marquette also had a nice offseason, adding four recruits — including Alex Egbuonu — and two portal transfers — with Sananda Fru from Louisville being its big addition. The Golden Eagles’ biggest move was retaining star freshman guard Nigel James Jr., who averaged 16.4 points and 4.9 assists last season.
Looking at pod two on paper, this looks like a far less intimidating group, with every team in it failing to make the NCAA tournament last season,. However, it’s a pod with potential, nonetheless. As Penny Hardaway continues to try to put it together at Memphis, he added nine transfer portal players and two recruits this offseason, headlined by Fred Smith Jr. Mississippi State also had a busy offseason with six portal additions and a recruiting class that ranked in 247Sports‘ top 25, with just three commitments. The class is led by Tristan Reed. Penn State had six portal additions and went the international route to add three international recruits.
Steve Forbes has yet to make an NCAA tournament in his six years at Wake Forest, and it does not look any easier with just one returning rotation player, Isaac Carr.
Format
Instead of the typical bracket-style tournament, every team will play two games against teams in their pod (Marquette and Xavier could avoid playing in this scenario). Since this is a tournament, do the winners of each pod play in a championship game? Incorrect. From current reports, it does not appear there will be an overall champion in this year’s Battle 4 Atlantis. After playing their two games, the teams will simply go home.
Sources: The 2026 Battle 4 Atlantis will be two four-team groups. Teams will play two games, a big change from previous eight-team bracket format.
Group 1: Xavier, A&M, Virginia, Marquette
Group 2: Wake Forest, Memphis, Penn St., Miss. StateWill be played week of Thanksgiving.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) June 15, 2026
The official schedule for this year’s Battle 4 Atlantis is yet to be released.
© Brad Penner-Imagn Images
