The Battle 4 Atlantis bracket was announced this morning and we now know who SMU will face in the opening round.

The Mustangs drew Northern Iowa of the Missouri Valley Conference, one of two other schools from Group of Five conferences in this year's invitational.

ESPN basketball insider Jeff Goodman was the first to report the pairings.

In the other opening matchups, Purdue will face Tennessee, Villanova will play Western Kentucky, and N.C. State will meet Arizona.

The official bracket was released hours later.

UNI has been one of the most consistent teams in the MVC this decade, reaching the NCAA Tournament four times since 2007 and seven times since 2004. The Panthers reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2010 and almost did so again in 2016, falling to Texas A&M in double overtime.

2016-2017 was a down year for UNI -- the Panthers went 14-16 overall, 9-9 in conference play. UNI was eliminated by Missouri State of all teams in the first round of the MVC Tournament.

With Wichita State joining the American Athletic Conference, UNI will now battle with Illinois State for the top spot in The Valley.

UNI is a great warm-up opponent for SMU and the game will be winnable. The Mustangs could be on a crash course with Arizona in the second round, a sure to be highly ranked opponent from the Pac 12. Along with Southern California, SMU might face two top 10 teams from the same conference this fall.

SMU's opening contest vs. UNI will tipoff at 8:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday, November 22. The game will be televised on the ESPN family of networks.