The 2017 Paradise Jam, which will be held at Liberty University, begins in earnest on Friday. The 8 team, 12 game tournament will take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with 4 games to be played each day culminating with the championship game Sunday night at 8:30. The entire tournament will be streamed live on FloHoops.
To open the tournament, host Liberty will face Mercer at noon Friday, followed by Drexel and Houston. The night session features Quinnipiac against Colorado and Drake matching up with Wake Forest. On Saturday, the Flames will play either Drexel or Houston depending on how the games play out on Friday.
CAA member Drexel opened the season at 1-1 with a loss to Bowling Green and a win over non-Division I member Arcadia. Kelvin Sampson’s Houston squad recently made headlines as their senior star Rob Gray was suspended by the NCAA for the Cougars’ season opener due to playing in a church rec league game this summer. Gray is one of the top players in the American Athletic Conference as he led Houston with 20.6 points per game last season. He missed Houston’s season-opening win over McNeese State, 81-53.
Quinnipiac is coming off a 10-21 season where they lost to Niagara in the first round of the MAAC tournament. The Bobcats have opened the season 1-1 with a win over Dartmouth and a loss to Brown. Colorado is hoping to get back to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 after a one year absence. The Buffaloes are 2-0 following wins over Northern Colorado and Denver.
After struggling to a 7-24 record in 2016-17, Drake is looking to rebound behind 1st year head coach Niko Medved. Medved came to Drake after spending the previous 4 seasons as Furman’s head coach. Wake Forest, who lost to Liberty on Tuesday night, has started the season a disappointing 0-2 after a 19 win season and NCAA Tournament appearance a year ago.
Four of the eight teams participated in postseason play last year, highlighted by the Demon Deacons’ NCAA Tournament appearance. Houston and Colorado each advanced to the NIT while the Flames competed in the CIT.
“This is one of the longest running preseason tournaments that Division I basketball has,” Coach McKay said. “So, the fact that we are the benefactor of someone else’s misfortune, in terms of hosting, I think is only apropos that our University, our Athletic Department, decided to donate the proceeds. I think it only speaks to who this University is, that they wouldn’t look for their own gain but they would spread it, intentionally, in order to benefit someone else. With that being said, here’s a great opportunity to see 4 games a day of Division I basketball. There’s not many communities you can do that. Not only are there some really terrific players, but there are some great coaches that are in this field.”
