Sources: Purdue to Participate in 2017 'Battle 4 Atlantis' Tournament

According to CBSSports.com, Purdue Men's Basketball will participate in the 2017 "Battle 4 Atlantis” pre-season tournament. Purdue will be joining Arizona, Villanova, NC State, Tennessee, SMU, Western Kentucky and Northern Iowa at the Atlantis Paradise Island in Nassau, Bahamas.

Traditionally, the annual Battle 4 Atlantis tournament has been regarded as one of the premier pre-season tournaments in college basketball, much like the Maui Invitational. This is a huge invitation for Purdue, and they will be joined by elite company.

It is possible that Purdue and Villanova could face each other two years in a row. Of course, if that were to occur, the line-ups could look much different; Villanova is already entering 2016 with a heavy senior-led class along with other players that could declare for the draft early. Purdue could possibly be losing three players to the NBA Draft as well (Swanigan, Haas, and V. Edwards (and before you freak out, I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but there’s still a chance (inb4 ‘so you’re telling me there’s a chance’ meme))) along with graduating transfer Spike Albrecht leaving Purdue after the 2016-17 season.

Despite the potential departures before the 2017 season even begins, I am sure Purdue will be up for this great challenge. Of course, this has yet to be confirmed, and while CBS and Jon Rothstein are great sources, they have been wrong in the past (they originally announced Purdue and Virginia would play in this year’s B1G/ACC Tournament before they switched the schedules), so we’ll confirm this report when Purdue confirms the invitation.