The Battle 4 Atlantis is challenging the Maui Invitational as the king of early season tournaments

It’s been five years since the Battle 4 Atlantis first burst onto the college basketball scene, and since then, it’s become apparent that the event in the Bahamas has become the primary challenger to the Maui Invitational’s longstanding title as the king of early season tournaments.

The advantages that the Battle 4 Atlantis holds over the Maui Invitational are apparent: It’s a much shorter trip for the powerhouse programs on the East Coast, it signed its own deal with ESPN in 2013 and the tournament pays out a total of approximately $2 million to its participants, plus covers travel expenses and offers some money to school scholarship funds. All these things being the case, it’s no wonder that the Atlantis has been able to attract some of the country’s top teams in its relatively short existence.

Of course Maui has some history of its own, and its is a bit more lengthy.

Not since the Maui tournament’s third year of existence has a champion (a Will Perdue-led Vanderbilt squad) missed out on the NCAA Tournament, and only once over those 28 years has the tourney winner earned a seed higher than eight in the dance (Dayton in 2003).

Here’s a look at the full history of Maui Invitational champions with their NCAA Tournament finish and seed (in parentheses):

1984 - Providence - No Tournament
1985 - Michigan - Second Round (2)
1986 - Vanderbilt - No Tournament
1987 - Iowa - Sweet 16 (5)
1988 - Michigan - National Champion (3)
1989 - Missouri - First Round (3)
1990 - Syracuse - First Round (2)
1991 - Michigan State - Second Round (5)
1992 - Duke - Second Round (3)
1993 - Kentucky - Second Round (3)
1994 - Arizona State - Sweet 16 (5)
1995 - Villanova - Second Round (3)
1996 - Kansas - Sweet 16 (1)
1997 - Duke - Elite Eight (1)
1998 - Syracuse - First Round (8)
1999 - North Carolina - Final Four (8)
2000 - Arizona - Championship Game (2)
2001 - Duke - Sweet 16 (1)
2002 - Indiana - Second Round (7)
2003 - Dayton - First Round (10)
2004 - North Carolina - National Champion (1)
2005 - Connecticut - Elite Eight (1)
2006 - UCLA - Final Four (2)
2007 - Duke - Second Round (2)
2008 - North Carolina - National Champion (1)
2009 - Gonzaga - Second Round (8)
2010 - Connecticut - National Champion (3)
2011 - Duke - First Round (2)
2012 - Illinois - Second Round (7)
2013 - Syracuse - Second Round (3)
2014 - Arizona - Elite Eight (2)

The final tally comes out to four national champions, one national runner-up, two semifinalists, three elite eight appearances, four trips to the Sweet 16, 10 second round exits, four one-and-dones and just two squads left out of the field.

A look at the tournament seeds the Maui champions have earned is even more impressive:

No. 1 - six
No. 2 - seven
No. 3 - seven
No. 5 - three
No. 7 - two
No. 8 - three
No. 10 - one
Missed Tournament - two

A total of 20 of the Maui Invitational winners -- well over half the total number of champions -- have gone on to earn an NCAA Tournament seed of three or better. That’s good news for the winner of Wednesday night’s championship game between No. 5 Kansas and No. 19 Vanderbilt.

As for the most recent installment of the Battle 4 Atlantis, play begins on Wednesday for another loaded field that includes No. 10 Gonzaga, No. 18 Connecticut and No. 25 Texas A&M. The event will welcome Michigan State, Louisville, Wichita State and VCU, among others, next season.

While Maui remains the king of “Feast Week” for now, it would appear that the battle for the throne is just beginning.