Thanksgiving will once again throw up college basketball against the usual slate of generally dull (Buttfumble excluded) football games. Once again, Xavier will take part in the Battle 4 Atlantis. This year, Xavier starts off with a matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes out of the Big 10.
Iowa made the NIT Championship last year and, according to Myron Medcalf of ESPN "The Hawkeyes return more than 90 percent of their scoring from last season. They won 25 games in 2012-13 and reached the NIT title game. They were top-50 in offensive and defensive efficiency. This has to be an NCAA tournament year for Iowa." Clearly, it's another opportunity for a young Musketeers squad to grab a key out of conference win.
The winner of the opening matchup, played at 7pm on Thanksgiving evening, will take on the winner of Tennessee and UTEP in the semifinal. Tennessee you already know about, and UTEP received an A from ESPN for Tim Floyd's recruiting efforts this year. Across the bracket, Kansas plays Wake Forest and Villanova takes on USC.