NC State playing Paradise Jam in 2016, Battle 4 Atlantis in 2017?

In this video from NC State, Director of Basketball Operations Jeff Dunlap explains a bit about the scheduling process. It's interesting stuff, but more revealing is the big board in his office, which appears to show that NC State will be participating in the Paradise Jam in 2016 and the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2017. He mentions that State will take advantage of a pre-season trip abroad in 2016 as well.

And based on this, I think Purdue, St. Louis, Ole Miss, Loyola-Chicago, Creighton, and Washington State are some of the participants in the Paradise Jam. It also looks like Villanova, Arizona, and Kansas State Mississippi State are involved with the 2017 Battle 4 Atlantis. The latter tournament has quickly become one of the most prominent early-season events in college hoops, rivaling the Maui Invitational. The field last year included UCLA, Georgetown, UNC, Butler, Wisconsin, and Oregon.

Also on that white board is a list of teams interested in guarantee games (that is, we pay them to come to Raleigh for a game, with no return trip to their place). On that list: Central Michigan, Radford, NC Central, Eastern Washington, Detroit, Stony Brook, Western Carolina, Cal-Irvine, and American.

As you can see based on the far-left column, most of the 2015 non-conference schedule is done. Greensboro is locked in, Michigan is the Big 10 Challenge foe, and we have a trip to USF, plus the early-season tourney that includes LSU, Arizona State, and Marquette. That leaves five open slots, several of which (if not all) figure to be filled by the list of interested parties on Dunlap's board. USC--presumably Southern Cal but maybe Sakerlina--also appears to be a home-and-home candidate.

There are also a few bullet points that outline State's overall scheduling philosophy, or schedukong, as it's been termed around these parts. The Wolfpack staff, to their credit, take a multi-year view of opponents, which has paid off considerably.

(Yes, yes, there's a typo in there.)

Lastly, there is a calendar in Dunlap's office. It shows Michigan on Dec. 1, which we already knew. It also suggests that the season-opener will be Nov. 13 (maybe UNCG?), the USF game will be on Dec. 13, and the Mizzou game will be on Dec. 19.

I wouldn't take it all as gospel since the schedule can be fluid and dates can change, but it's a pretty safe bet that State is in the tournaments that Dunlap has listed. We know that Mark Gottfried likes to build a strong foundation of potential resume-boosters in the non-conference portion of the schedule, and both the Paradise Jam and the Battle 4 Atlantis would accomplish that.

(Many thanks to Jason for the head's up on this.)