Gonzaga to open Battle 4 Atlantis against West Virginia, could face Tommy Lloyd & Arizona in title game

The final day of the Battle 4 Atlantis could deliver one of the most intriguing nonconference matchups of the 2024-25 college basketball season, but Gonzaga will have some work to do if it hopes to set up a potential meeting with former Bulldogs assistant Tommy Lloyd and Arizona in the Bahamas.

Tournament organizers, potentially anticipating that title game themselves, kept Mark Few’s Zags and Lloyd’s Wildcats on opposite sides of the Battle 4 Atlantis bracket that was officially released Wednesday morning.

Instead, Gonzaga will open with a first-round game against West Virginia, another program with which the Bulldogs have developed history over the past decade-plus, most notably meeting in the Elite Eight of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

Gonzaga’s opener will be the second game of the day on Nov. 27 and tip off at 11:30 a.m. at the Imperial Arena on Paradise Island. ESPN or ESPN2 will carry the live broadcast.

The Zags have won all of their previous matchups against the Mountaineers, but all five took place while longtime Bob Huggins was overseeing the program in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Former Drake coach Darian DeVries was hired to lead WVU’s program this offseason and brought son Tucker DeVries, a shooting guard/forward who’s a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year.

In a potential semifinal matchup, the Zags would face the winner of Louisville and Indiana, who open Thursday’s games at 9 a.m. on ESPN.

Former Gonzaga big man Oumar Ballo transferred to Indiana this offseason after spending the past three years with Lloyd at Arizona. The Hoosiers also added Washington State transfer Myles Rice this offseason and are widely considered to be a top-20 team entering the 2024-25 campaign.

The Bulldogs haven’t faced Louisville since 2000. The Cardinals also made a coaching change this offseason, replacing Kenny Payne with Pat Kelsey, who spent the previous four years at College of Charleston.

Arizona, which is expected to field a preseason top-15 team entering Lloyd’s fourth season, will open the Battle 4 Atlantis against Davidson, the only midmajor team in this year’s field, in the final game on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2).

The Wildcats, who return talented guards Caleb Love and Jaden Bradley, would face either Oklahoma or Providence in a potential semifinal game on Friday.

Few and Lloyd mutually agreed to scrap a nonconference game between Gonzaga and Arizona during the latter’s first season in Tucson. But if both teams manage to win their opening games at the Battle 4 Atlantis, a long-awaited showdown between the longtime friends and coaching colleagues would materialize in the Bahamas at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 29.

Gonzaga, ranked No. 5 in ESPN’s preseason Top 25, could enter with the tournament’s highest ranking, followed by Arizona, which is ranked No. 9 in the same poll.