By RENALDO DORSETT
Tribune Sports Reporter
rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
THE Baha Mar Resort and bd Global Sports have partnered on a new initiative to add another collegiate basketball event to a busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend this fall.
The inaugural Baha Mar Hoops event will feature a total of 19 teams playing in 23 games across three events, November 22-27 at the Baha Mar Convention Centre.
Play opens with the eight-team “Nassau Championship,” which includes eight men’s mid-major NCAA Division I programmes.
Formally known as the Islands of The Bahamas Showcase, the field is headlined by the lone Bahamian player in the field - Ahmard Harvey and his Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
The remainder of the field also includes Abilene Christian, (which won the Southland Conference title last season and upset No.3-seed Texas in the NCAA Tournament’s First Round), Charlotte, Toledo, Drexel, Tulane, Jacksonville State and Valparaiso.
All 12 games of the Nassau Championship will be broadcast on FloHoops.
The “Bahamas Championship” will feature four elite programmes played November 25-27 and led by the Maryland Terrapins, Richmond Spiders, Mississippi State and the Louisville Cardinals.
Television broadcast information for the four games of the Bahamas Championship will be announced at a later date.
The “Pink Flamingo Championship” will also be played November 25-27 and will feature several elite women’s programmes led by the defending NCAA National Champions - Stanford Cardinal.
Six of the seven participating teams have played in last season’s NCAA Tournament.
Other teams include Maryland, North Carolina State, Indiana, Washington State, Miami and South Florida.
All seven games of the Pink Flamingo Championship will be broadcast on FloHoops.
Brooks Downing, bd Global President, outlined his organisation’s history of events in The Bahamas and the growth of its relationship with Baha Mar.
“We have had a lot of success in the past with the LPGA, with the two KornFerry Tour events in Abaco and Exuma that are back on schedule for next January to college basketball.
“It was in 2017 that we had a chance to start a college basketball event at Kendal Isaacs. We housed our eight mid-major teams at the newly opened Baha Mar just several months after the initial months.
“We came back and duplicated that in ‘18 and in ‘19 was when Hurricane Dorian hit, Kendal Isaacs was converted to a storm shelter and graciously, Graeme Davis and his team opened up the door for us here at Baha Mar and we staged the eight games here. The response from the teams was overwhelming.”
The Grand Ballroom is expected to house 1,500 patrons.
Graeme Davis, president at Baha Mar, said this new initiative, running concurrently with the well established Bad Boy Mowers’ Battle 4 Atlantis will improve the sports tourism product across the entire country.
“These are teams that cannot repeat at the same place each year. It’s not competition, it’s just simply bringing more tourism to The Bahamas and this is an exceptional way for all of us to grow together and bring more tourists and more success to The Bahamas and to Bahamians,” he said.
“It’s an exciting time, we look forward to welcoming the Baha Mar Hoops premiere year. This is the first of what we hope and expect of many, many more years to come of having incredible basketball and a Baha Mar experience for many sports enthusiasts for years to come.”
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