NCAA Basketball: 2018 Paradise Jam Tournament preview and predictions

The 18th Paradise Jam Tournament will get underway in the St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, on Nov. 16. The four-day tournament features eight teams and will be played at the Sports and Fitness Center on the University of the Virgin Islands campus.

The Paradise Jam Tournament consists of both a men’s and women’s tournament. The men’s tournament runs from Nov. 16-19 while the women’s event runs between Nov. 22-24. The women’s tourney, which began in 2000, is one year older than the men’s.

The men’s tournament began in 2001 as a six-team, three-day tournament. In 2006, the tournament changed to its current format of eight teams that guarantees each of the participants three games. The teams partake in a  predetermined bracket which includes positional games on the final day, including a championship contest.

The Paradise Jam has a strong history of drawing some of the top teams in the nations. The tournament has been able to bring at least three teams from the Power-five and now top-7 basketball conferences since 2006, except for 2012 when only two teams from the top conferences participated. This year’s event has three Power-5 conference schools, including No.12/11 Kansas State.

The Wildcats are the ninth-ranked team ever to participate in the tournament. Joining Kansas State is the 2018 event is Eastern Kentucky, Kennesaw State, Missouri, Northern Iowa, Old Dominion, Oregon State as well as Penn.

Over the last 12 years, Power-5/Top-7 conference teams have dominated the competition winning the event 10 times.  Old Dominion (2010) and New Mexico (2012) are the only two schools from a non-major conference to win the championship. However, six “mid-major” teams have reached the championship since 2006.

Colorado is the reigning Paradise Jam Tournament champion. Colorado defeated Mercer 76-70 in the 2017 finals, marking the 11th time in the last dozen years that the margin of the championship has been single-digits.