WSU to play in 2016 Paradise Jam
The Washington State men's basketball team will spend part of next November in the Virgin Islands. WSU is one of eight teams that will play in the 2016 Paradise Jam, an early-season college basketball tournament held from Nov. 18-21 at the University of the Virgin Islands at St. Thomas.
Joining the Cougars in the tournament field are Creighton, Loyola, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina State, Oral Roberts and St. Joseph's.
Here is the release from the school.
ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands – Washington State University men’s basketball is one of eight teams that will participate in the 2016 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, Nov. 18-21, 2016, at the University of the Virgin Islands at St. Thomas, the tournament directors at Basketball Travelers Inc., announced Wednesday.
Washington State will be joined in the field by Creighton, Loyola (Ill.), Ole Miss, Montana, North Carolina State, Oral Roberts and Saint Joseph’s.
WSU junior forward Josh Hawkinson has ties to the tournament as his father, Nels Hawkinson, started the tournament in 2000 after visiting the Virgin Islands on vacation. The elder Hawkinson is the executive director of Basketball Travelers Inc., the company that puts on the Paradise Jam, as well as several other college and high school events, and foreign tours.
Next season will mark the first time that the Cougars will participate in the Paradise Jam, as it will mark their first game at the Virgin Islands.
Paradise Jam, held annually at the University of the Virgin Islands, has become one of the premier preseason destination tournaments for men’s basketball. It is a multiple team event (MTE) tournament, counting only two of the three games against participants’ 29 allotted games. Hosted at the $11 million state-of-the-art UVI Sports and Fitness Center, Paradise Jam attracts thousands of tourists to the U.S. Virgin Islands each year, while immersing participating fans and teams in the culture and travel experience that has made the U.S. Virgin Islands one of the premier destinations in the Caribbean.
