The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE field has been announced for the third edition of bdGlobal Sports’ Islands of the Bahamas Showcase.

The event will feature eight mid-major NCAA Division I programmes featured in 12 games at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium November 22-24.

Defending Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament champion Liberty leads a field that includes George Washington from the A-10, East Carolina from the American Athletic Conference and Rice from Conference USA.

The remainder of the field includes, Evansville (Missouri Valley Conference), Milwaukee (Horizon League), Morgan State (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) and University of Missouri Kansas City (Western Athletic Conference).

The schedule for the opening round will feature Liberty vs. Morgan State (11am), Rice vs Milwaukee (2pm), UKMC vs George Washington (5pm) and Evansville vs East Carolina (8pm).

Consolation games will be played November 23 at 11am and 2 pm followed by the semi-finals at 5pm and 8pm. The championship game will be at 8pm on November 24.

Event stakeholders hosted an official launch event yesterday at the George Washington campus in Washington, DC.

“We are very excited once again to bring down eight NCAA Division I men’s basketball programmes to Nassau for the third consecutive year.

“To the coaches, your students, athletes and fans are going to love the Bahamas, from the beautiful sandy beaches to the warm inviting people. The Bahamas are great hosts that has embraced this tournament as its own,” said Brooks Downing, president of bdG Sports.

The showcase is an event that caters to non-‘Power Five’ teams in an effort to schedule quality opponents early in the season.

It traditionally creates nearly 2,000 room nights, creating a significant economic impact to the country’s sports tourism product.

“The Bahamas has had the pleasure of welcoming major sports organisations from around the world to our shores for exciting tournaments such as The Island Of The Bahamas Showcase,” said Bahamas Minister of Tourism and Aviation, Dioniso D’Aguilar.

“We are pleased to team up with bdG Sports to again bring the NCAA to Nassau for a weekend of top-notch basketball and enjoyment on our island.”

Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said a family visit to the Bahamas some years ago prompted his return with his team.

“My wife and I visited the Bahamas a while back and she said ‘you better bring your team back here’ so that’s why we’re playing in the Islands in the Bahamas Showcase,” McKay said.

“We are excited that we have a chance to play against tremendous teams and unbelievable coaches. What we learned this year by being in the NCAA tournament, at some point in the season you will be exposed and the sooner you’re allowed the opportunity to know what you need to work on when you’ve played the best the better for your programme.”

Liberty finished 29-7 last season and won the Atlantic Sun to earn an NCAA Tournament berth.

The Flames upset No. 5-seeded Mississippi State 80-76 in the First Round before falling to Virginia Tech.

During the regular season, Liberty beat 11-time NCAA Champion UCLA 73-58 at famed Pauley Pavilion.

“Our guys will enjoy what the island has to offer…as long as they win,” McKay said, “And if they don’t, they will be in their rooms the whole time.”

First year George Washington head coach, Jamion Christian, said he relished the opportunity for one of his first tasks as head coach to be his team’s appearance at the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase.

“We are excited about being a part of this event. Here at GW we always say we can change the world one person at a time and when you get an opportunity to do that, to go to foreign soil to showcase something maybe they haven’t seen before.

“The goal is always to inspire and to maybe inspire our own student athletes to do something they really did not know they could do,” he said.

“I’m excited about bringing our team out there to do that. As we’re bumping around the island, having a great time and playing great basketball we want to meet as many people as we can. Early in the year having a chance to play in a great tournament against great teams on neutral soil, what an opportunity.

“We’re really excited about building our brand of basketball and you can’t do that unless you face the very best.”

In its first two years, The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase included NCAA Tournament mainstays Vermont, Northern Kentucky, Iona and Montana in its fields with each of those teams making NCAA Tournament appearances since 2017.