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Bahamians in Battle 4 Atlantis
Simba FrenchSend an emailAugust 31, 2023 19 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
Bahamians Yolett ‘Coach Yo’ McPhee-McCuin and Rhema Collins will be home to play in the 3rd Bad Boys Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis Women’s College Basketball Tournament, November 18-20, inside the Imperial Ballroom at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.
After that tournament, former champions the University of Michigan Wolverines and the Villanova University Wildcats will make a return to play in the 12th edition of the Battle 4 Atlantis men’s tournament, November 22-24, at the same location.
McPhee-McCuin, who hails from Grand Bahama, is the head women’s basketball coach for the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Rebels and coaches freshman Collins there. They are preparing for the collegiate season. Collins heads to Ole Miss after wrapping up a stellar high school career at The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee.
The Rebels will open the tournament with a matchup against the Howard University Bison – the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) team to play in the women’s tournament. That game gets underway at noon on November 18.
‘Coach Yo’ led her team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I national tournament last season after sporting a 25-9 win/loss record on the season and an 11-5 record in a tough Southeastern Conference (SEC). It was the second consecutive season in which they advanced to the NCAA tournament after having not played in it since 2007. Their season ended with a 72-62 loss to the University of Cardinals in the Sweet Sixteen. It was the first time they made it that far since 2007.
Also playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis women’s tournament are the University of Arizona Wildcats, the DePaul University Blue Demons, the Wolverines, the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders and the University of South Dakota Coyotes.
The other six teams that will participate in the men’s tournament will be the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, the University of Northern Iowa Panthers, the Stanford University Cardinal, the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Memphis Tigers.
Villanova will be going for the treble having won the tournament in 2013 and 2017. They took down Iowa in 2013 in overtime, 88-83, in the championship game. In 2017, they took down the University of Northern Iowa Panthers in the championship game, 64-50. The Wolverines won their men’s title in 2019, taking care of the Gonzaga University Bulldogs, 82-64, in the championship game.