Inaugural Bahamas Showcase set for this weekend

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

EIGHT of the mid-tier men’s NCAA Division One basketball teams are in town to participate in the inaugural Bahamas Showcase this weekend at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

The three-day tournament, organised by BD Global out of the United States and sanctioned by the Bahamas Basketball Federation, is scheduled to tip off 11am today and wrap up with the championship game starting at 8pm Sunday.

Jeff Rodgers, representing the Ministry of Tourism, said the ministry as well as the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, have endorsed the tournament which was in the making for the past two years.

The contingent, here on the invitation from Brooks Downing, the president and founder of BD Global, is occupying more than 1,000 rooms at the newly opened Baha Mar Hotel for the tournament.

BD Global is responsible for the signature Battle 4 Atlantis that will be held next weekend at Atlantis, as well as a pair of Web.com golf tournaments that are staged in Abaco and Exuma in January.

Here to participate in the tournament that will play four games daily at 11am, 2pm, 5pm and 8pm are the Vermont Catamounts, Bradley Braves, Costal Carolina Chanticleers, University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners, Northern Kentucky Norsemen, James Madison Dukes, Iona Gaeles and Weber State Wildcats.

Mario Bowleg, vice president of the BBF, welcomed the teams, including Northern University, Iona and Weber State, who were all represented by their head coaches.

“We hope that you enjoy the sun, sand and sea while you are playing basketball,” said Bowleg, who represented federation president Charlie ‘Softly’ Robins, who was unable to attend the press briefing.

“Once again, I want to say thank you to BD Global and Brooks for including the Bahamas Basketball Federation, along with Jeff Rodgers, to ensure that this first ever Bahamas Showcase comes off.”

As a result of what will transpire over the weekend, Bowleg said he’s hoping that the event will continue to grow each year into an elite basketball tournament that teams will be eager to come to the Bahamas to participate in, weather they win or lose.

Eight years ago after he was introduced to Rodgers by former Bahamian NBA player Mychal ‘Sweet Bells’ Thompson, and they began the process to create a destination of sporting events to the Bahamas.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to bring the basketball tournament that will be streamed by Flow Sports,” Downing said. “We hope that it will continue to grow year by year.”

Downing said his company has the system down pact in hosting golf and basketball tournaments and the fans will be in for a treat when they witness the teams as they compete here this weekend.

A total of 32 teams over a span of four years will get to know about the Bahamas as they come to compete in the tournament. NCAA rules specify that the teams are only allowed to travel to compete every four years.

In trying to sell the initial tournament, Downing said he didn’t have to do too much convincing because all of the teams were eager to make the trek here, including thee Cinderalla teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament.

Northern Kentucky, coached by John Brannen, are coming of their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament where they lost out to Kentucky in the first round. They have three starters returning this year.

“Our entire men’s basketball programme and are fans are honored to come down to the Bahamas and compete,” he said. “It’s a vacation for our wives and for our kids and we’re going to enjoy it as best as we can.”

Brannen said the NCAA Tournament has helped them and this year and this tournament will definitely boost their interest as they look forward to getting back to the NCAA Tournament next year.

“I think you want to learn as you as you can,” said Brannen, when asked what he hopes to get out of his team here. “I want to understand our team better and find out what it takes to get better as we tackle the rest of our season.”

The Norsemen will be led by guard Lavone Holland II, who is a preseason All-Horizon League Second Team selection. He used a 10-for-10 showing at the charity stripe en route to 16 points and five assists versus ETSU and holds a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.

The Gaels, coming of a 71-62 loss to Syracuse Orange on Tuesday, are expected to be led by guard Rickey McGill, last year’s most proficient player on Iona’s team, coached by Tim Cluess.

“We’re excited bout this. We will find out a lot about our new players and what we need to work on,” said Cluess, who is back in the Bahamas under different circumstances after visiting here on holiday a few years ago.

He said a change in venue should really make the difference in their coaching staff really analyzing their squad.

“Our players are so excited to be here,” said Cluess, adding that it’s always a thrill when the players can travel outside of the United States. “So we’re going to have to focus on basketball.”

And Weber State will be centered round junior Zach Braxton, who led the Wildcats in their first two games this season, averaging 18 points and 10 rebounds.

But coach Randy Rahe said he’s looking forward to a complete team effort as they try to continue their winning streak.

“We were really excited to be in the field until we saw these guys in it. We played Tim’s team last year and it wasn’t a lot of fun for us,” he said. “But we’re excited to be here. These guys are hungry. There are some very high quality teams here, so it’s going to be great for us to be playing in a different part of the world.”

Rahe said the fans could really come out and watch some high level of basketball and well coached who will give them a performance for their money.

The entry fee is $5.

Today’s schedule

11 am Vermont vs Bradley; 2 pm Coastal Carolina vs USTA; 5 pm Northern Kentucky vs James Madison and 8 pm Iona vs Weber State.