Paradise Jam Tournament

Paradise Jam

Sport	College basketball
Founded	2000 (women's), 2001 (men's)
Founder	Basketball Travelers, Inc.
No. of teams	8 men's teams, 8 women's teams
Country	United States
Venue(s)	Sports and Fitness Center, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Most recent champion(s)	Men: Colorado State Women: -Reef: Texas A&M -Island: Arizona
TV partner(s)	ESPN3 & ESPN+
Official website	Paradise Jam

The U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam is a NCAA college basketball tournament that takes place annually in late November. The men's tournament typically takes place the week before Thanksgiving, with the women's tournament occurring during Thanksgiving week. It is held in St. Thomas at the Sports and Fitness Center on the campus of the University of the Virgin Islands. Colorado State is the defending men's champion. Texas A&M and Arizona are the defending women's champions in the Reef and Island divisions, respectively.

Format

Paradise Jam began in 2000 as a women's basketball tournament; a men's tournament was added the following year. In its current format, both tournaments feature eight teams that each play three games.

Men's format

The men's tournament was introduced in 2001 with a six-team, three-game group play format. In 2006, the tournament was expanded to eight teams and a bracket format was adopted. All teams play three games in the tournament, with the final day's games determining the tournament standings: a championship game, third-place game, fifth-place game, and seventh-place game are all played. ^[1]

Women's format

The format of the women's tournament has changed multiple times throughout the existence of Paradise Jam. The first tournament in 2000 featured four teams that played two games each. ^[2] In 2001, the women's tournament was altered to include three divisions — St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. The following year, the St. Croix division was dropped, and two divisions were used going forward. In 2008, the format was adjusted to its current form, which features the Reef and Island divisions with four teams playing in each division. All teams play three games in the tournament, with the final day's games determining placement in all positions, first through fourth in each division. ^[3]

Tournament history

View from the University of the Virgin Islands campus

2004 tournament MVP, Arkansas's Ronnie Brewer, with the Chicago Bulls in 2011

2005 tournament champion Wisconsin

2008 tournament MVP, UConn's Hasheem Thabeet, as part of the Hsinchu JKO Lioneers in 2020

2009 tournament MVP, Purdue's E'Twaun Moore

2011 tournament MVP, Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom

2015 tournament MVP, South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell

2017 tournament MVP, Colorado's McKinley Wright

Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. hosted the 2020 tournament as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 tournament champion Colorado State

Men's tournament

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	Score	Third Place	Tournament MVP	Participating Teams
2001	Miami	Clemson	67–65	La Salle (63-58 over UAB)	John Salmons, Miami	Clemson Eastern Michigan La Salle Miami Morris Brown UAB
2002	BYU	St. Bonaventure	66–57	Virginia Tech (58-45 over Toledo)	Marques Green, St. Bonaventure	BYU Kansas State Michigan St. Bonaventure Toledo Virginia Tech
2003	Boston College	Wichita State	84–81	Monmouth (64-52 over Hampton)	Craig Smith, Boston College	Appalachian State Boston College Hampton La Salle Monmouth Wichita State
2004	Arkansas	Eastern Michigan	82–64	Winthrop (52-36 over Austin Peay)	Ronnie Brewer, Arkansas	Arkansas Austin Peay Eastern Michigan Saint Louis Troy Winthrop
2005	Wisconsin	Old Dominion	84–81	Georgia (76-68 over Eastern Kentucky)	Alando Tucker, Wisconsin	Eastern Kentucky Fordham Georgia Norfolk State Old Dominion Wisconsin
2006	Alabama	Xavier	63–56	Villanova (89-60 over Iowa)	Alonzo Gee, Alabama	Alabama Charleston Iowa Middle Tennessee Toledo Xavier VCU Villanova
2007	Baylor	Winthrop	62–54	Georgia Tech (70-69 over Notre Dame)	Curtis Jerrells, Baylor	Baylor Charlotte Georgia Tech Monmouth Notre Dame UIC Wichita State Winthrop
2008	Connecticut	Wisconsin	76–57	Miami (80-45 over San Diego)	Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut	Connecticut Iona La Salle Miami San Diego Southern Miss Valparaiso Wisconsin
2009	Purdue	Tennessee	73–72	DePaul (58-51 over Saint Joseph's)	E’Twaun Moore, Purdue	Boston College DePaul East Carolina Northern Iowa Purdue Saint Joseph's South Dakota State Tennessee
2010	Old Dominion	Xavier	67–58	Clemson (64-58 over Seton Hall)	Ben Finney, Old Dominion [4]	Alabama Clemson Iowa Long Beach State Old Dominion Saint Peter's Seton Hall Xavier
2011	Marquette	Norfolk State	59–57	Ole Miss (80-69 over TCU)	Darius Johnson-Odom, Marquette [5]	Drake Drexel Marquette Norfolk State Ole Miss TCU Virginia Winthrop
2012	New Mexico	Connecticut	66–60	George Mason (74-58 over Quinnipiac)	Kendall Williams, New Mexico [6]	Connecticut George Mason Iona Mercer New Mexico Quinnipiac UIC Wake Forest
2013	Maryland	Providence	56–52	Northern Iowa (65-50 over La Salle)	Dez Wells, Maryland [7]	La Salle Loyola Marymount Marist Maryland Morgan State Northern Iowa Providence Vanderbilt
2014	Seton Hall	Illinois State	84–80	Old Dominion (56-48 over Gardner-Webb)	Sterling Gibbs, Seton Hall [8]	Clemson Gardner-Webb Illinois State LSU Nevada Old Dominion Seton Hall Weber State
2015	South Carolina	Tulsa	83–75	Indiana State (67-66 over Hofstra)	Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina [9]	DePaul Florida State Hofstra Indiana State Norfolk State Ohio South Carolina Tulsa
2016	Creighton	Ole Miss	86–77	NC State (73-63 over Saint Joseph's)	Marcus Foster, Creighton [10]	Creighton Loyola Montana NC State Ole Miss Oral Roberts Saint Joseph's Washington State
2017	Colorado	Mercer	79–70	Drake (90-88 over Drexel)	McKinley Wright IV, Colorado [11]	Colorado Drake Drexel Houston Liberty Mercer Quinnipiac Wake Forest
2018	Kansas State	Missouri	82–67	Oregon State (74-58 over Penn)	Dean Wade, Kansas State [12]	Eastern Kentucky Kansas State Kennesaw State Missouri Northern Iowa Old Dominion Oregon State Penn
2019	Nevada	Bowling Green	77–62	Cincinnati (81-77 over Valparaiso)	Jalen Harris, Nevada [13]	Bowling Green Cincinnati Fordham Grand Canyon Illinois State Nevada Valparaiso Western Kentucky
2020*	Belmont	George Mason	77-67	Queens (N.C.) (85-71 over Howard)	Luke Smith, Belmont [14]	Belmont George Mason Howard Queens
2021	Colorado State	Northeastern	71–61	Creighton (66–64 over Southern Illinois)	David Roddy, Colorado State [15]	Bradley Brown Colorado Colorado State Creighton Duquesne Northeastern Southern Illinois

*The 2020 tournament was condensed and played at Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Women's tournament

The first ever Paradise Jam champion, the 2000 Texas Tech Lady Raiders

2001 St. John tournament MVP, Arizona State's Amanda Levens, as head coach of Nevada in 2017

2005 St. John tournament MVP, Tennessee's Candace Parker, with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2017

2007 St. Thomas tournament MVP, UConn's Maya Moore, with the Minnesota Lynx in 2012

2009 Island tournament MVP, Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins, with the Dallas Wings in 2017

2012 Island tournament MVP, UConn's Breanna Stewart, with the Seattle Storm in 2017

2014 Reef tournament MVP, Kentucky's Makayla Epps

2015 Island tournament MVP, Rutgers' Kahleah Copper, with the Chicago Sky in 2018

2019 Reef tournament MVP, South Carolina's Aliyah Boston

Year	Division	Champion	Runner-Up	MVP	Participating Teams
2000	N/A	Texas Tech	Southwest Missouri State	Jackie Stiles, Southwest Missouri State	LSU Southwest Missouri State Penn State Texas Tech
2001	Saint Thomas	Texas	USC	Stacy Stephens, Texas	Texas USC
	Saint John	Arizona State	Kansas State	Amanda Levens, Arizona State	Arizona State Kansas State
	Saint Croix	Florida State	Saint Mary's	Shinikki Whiting, Florida State	Florida State Saint Mary's
2002	Saint Thomas	South Carolina	Boston College	Jocelyn Penn, South Carolina	Boston College Oregon South Carolina
	Saint John	Duke	Arkansas	Alana Beard, Duke	Arkansas Duke Hampton Old Dominion
2003	Saint Thomas	Virginia Tech	Mississippi State	Carrie Mason, Virginia Tech	Indiana Iowa State Mississippi State Virginia Tech
	Saint John	Southwest Missouri State	West Virginia	Kari Koch, Southwest Missouri State	Georgia Tech James Madison Southwest Missouri State West Virginia
2004	Saint Thomas	NC State	Louisville	Tiffany Stansbury, NC State	Hampton Louisville NC State Nebraska
	Saint John	Rutgers	Kentucky	Michelle Campbell, Rutgers	Kentucky Oregon State Rutgers South Dakota State
2005	Saint Thomas	Minnesota	Virginia	Jamie Broback, Minnesota	Alabama Minnesota Nevada Virginia
	Saint John	Tennessee	Maryland	Candace Parker, Tennessee	Gonzaga Maryland Michigan State Tennessee
2006	Saint Thomas	Arizona State & Rutgers† †The final game of the 2006 women's St. Thomas tournament was cancelled due to a family tragedy involving the death of a family member of one of the Arizona State players in Saint Thomas. [16]		N/A	Arizona State Penn State Rutgers Western Kentucky
	Saint John	Marquette	Xavier	Christina Quaye, Marquette	Auburn Marquette Western Michigan Xavier
2007	Saint Thomas	Connecticut	Duke	Maya Moore, UConn	Duke Old Dominion Purdue Stanford Temple Connecticut
	Saint John	Wake Forest	Texas A&M	Alex Tchangoue, Wake Forest	Indiana Texas A&M Wake Forest Wichita State
2008	Reef	California	South Florida	Ashley Walker, California	California Iowa South Florida Texas Tech
	Island	Wisconsin	Baylor	Alyssa Karel, Wisconsin	Baylor UCF Villanova Wisconsin
2009	Reef	Rutgers	USC	Brittany Ray, Rutgers	Mississippi State Rutgers Texas USC
	Island	Notre Dame	Oklahoma	Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame	Notre Dame Oklahoma San Diego State South Carolina
2010	Reef	Georgetown	Tennessee	Summer Rodgers, Georgetown	Georgetown Georgia Tech Tennessee Missouri
	Island	West Virginia	Iowa State	Liz Rapella, West Virginia	Iowa State TCU West Virginia Virginia
2011	Reef	Michigan	Washington State	Courtney Boylan, Michigan	Marquette Michigan Prairie View A&M Washington State
	Island	Alabama	Seton Hall	Ericka Russell, Alabama	Alabama Louisiana Tech Old Dominion Seton Hall
2012	Reef	South Carolina	DePaul	Aleighsa Welch, South Carolina	DePaul Florida Gulf Coast Hampton South Carolina
	Island	Connecticut	Purdue	Breanna Stewart, Connecticut	Connecticut Marist Purdue Wake Forest
2013	Reef	Syracuse	Texas	Brianna Butler, Syracuse	Memphis Syracuse Texas Texas A&M
	Island	Duke	Kansas	Tricia Liston, Duke	Central Michigan Duke Kansas Xavier
2014	Reef	Kentucky	South Florida	Makayla Epps, Kentucky	Illinois Kentucky Oklahoma South Florida
	Island	Florida Gulf Coast	Wichita State	Whitney Knight, Florida Gulf Coast	Clemson Florida Gulf Coast Ohio State Wichita State
2015	Reef	Maryland	South Dakota State	Brionna Jones, Maryland	Maryland Old Dominion Pittsburgh South Dakota State
	Island	Rutgers	Green Bay	Kahleah Copper, Rutgers	Green Bay Rutgers Tulane Virginia
2016	Reef	Florida State	Michigan	Leticia Romero,Florida State [17]	Florida State Gonzaga Michigan Winthrop
	Island	Kansas State	UTEP	Kindred Wesemann, Kansas State [17]	Kansas State LSU NC State UTEP
2017	Reef	Syracuse	Vanderbilt	Tiana Mangakahia, Syracuse [18]	George Washington Syracuse Vanderbilt Wisconsin
	Island	West Virginia	Virginia Tech	Teanna Muldrow, West Virginia [18]	Butler Drexel West Virginia Virginia Tech
2018	Reef	UConn	Purdue	Napheesa Collier, UConn [19]	Ole Miss Purdue St. John's UConn
	Island	Kentucky	North Carolina	Rhyne Howard, Kentucky [20]	Kentucky North Carolina South Florida UCLA
2019	Reef	South Carolina	Baylor	Aliyah Boston, South Carolina [21]	Baylor Indiana South Carolina Washington State
	Island	Louisville	Oregon	Dana Evans, Louisville [21]	Louisville Oklahoma State Oregon UT Arlington
2020	The 2020 women's tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021	Reef	Texas A&M	Northwestern	Jordan Nixon, Texas A&M [22]	Northwestern Pittsburgh South Dakota Texas A&M
	Island	Arizona	DePaul	Cate Reese, Arizona [23]	Arizona DePaul Rutgers Vanderbilt

Tournaments held outside of the Virgin Islands

2017

The 2017 men's and women's tournaments were moved to the U.S. mainland due to heavy damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The tournament organizers decided to solicit hosting bids from all participating teams in both tournaments, with each tournament intended to be hosted by a participating school. ^{[24] [25]} The substitute venue for the 2017 men's tournament was Vines Center at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. ^[26] The 2017 women's tournament took place in two different venues, with the Reef division playing at the Charles E. Smith Center on the campus of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and the Island division at the neutral Titan Field House at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne, Florida, presumably after no school in the Island division submitted a bid. ^[27] The tournament moved back to the Virgin Islands in 2018. ^[28]

2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 men's tournament was relocated to Washington, D.C., as travel restrictions prevented the tournament from being held in the U.S. Virgin Islands as normal. The tournament took place November 26–28, 2020 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. ^[29] The tournament was condensed from the typical eight teams to just four teams — Belmont, George Mason, Howard, and Queens (N.C.). Belmont went undefeated, beating the three other teams to win the 2020 men's tournament. The 2020 women's tournament was cancelled. ^[30]

References

1. "Men's Paradise Jam Basketball Tournament". Basketball Travelers Inc. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
2. "Paradise Jam Pairings Set; LSU to Face SW Missouri". LSU Athletics . November 6, 2000. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
3. "Women's Paradise Jam Basketball Tournament". Basketball Travelers Inc. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
4. "Monarchs Reign at This Year's Paradise Jam". St. Thomas Source. November 24, 2010. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
5. "No. 16 Marquette edges Norfolk St 59-57 to win Jam". The Columbian . November 20, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
6. "New Mexico Holds Off UConn Surge For Paradise Jam Title". Hartford Courant . November 20, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
7. "Dez Wells delivers down the stretch, earns MVP honors after Paradise Jam championship". Washington Post . November 26, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
8. "Seton Hall Holds off Illinois State, Wins Paradise Jam". NJ.com . November 25, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
9. "South Carolina earns 2015 Paradise Jam championship". SB Nation . November 24, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
10. "Creighton continues hot start to season, wins Paradise Jam tournament". KETV . November 21, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
11. "Buffs Top Mercer For Paradise Jam Title". Colorado Athletics . November 19, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
12. "Wildcats Claim Paradise Jam Title with Win Over Missouri". SB Nation . November 19, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
13. "Nevada wins Paradise Jam Championship, Harris earns MVP honors". Nevada Athletics . November 25, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
14. "2020 Paradise Jam Concludes, All-Tournament Team Announced". Basketball Travelers Inc. November 29, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
15. "Colorado State Rams Win Their In-Season Tournament, Off To Best Start Since 2014-15 Season". CBS Denver . November 23, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
16. "Paradise Jam Called Off After Death". Oklahoman . Retrieved November 16, 2021.
17. Gardner, James (2016-11-27). "Kansas State, FSU Win Paradise Jam Women's Tourney". St. Croix Source. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
18. "Syracuse women's basketball sweeps Paradise Jam by beating George Washington". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
19. "UConn women roll past Purdue 86-40 in Paradise Jam finale". Hartford Courant . November 24, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
20. "UConn, Kentucky Women Win Paradise Jam Division Championships". St. Thomas Source. November 25, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
21. "2019 Women's Paradise Jam Results". Basketball Travelers Inc. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
22. "Jordan Nixon scores 25, wins Paradise Jam". The Battalion . November 28, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
23. "Arizona women's basketball demolishes Rutgers to go 3-0 in Paradise Jam". SB Nation . November 27, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
24. "Storm damage forces Paradise Jam from Virgin Islands; host site to be named next week". ESPN.com. Associated Press. September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
25. "Paradise Jam Relocated" (Press release). Basketball Travelers, Inc. September 22, 2017. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
26. "Men's 2017 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam Relocated to Liberty University" (Press release). Basketball Travelers, Inc. September 29, 2017. Archived from the original on September 30, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
27. "Women's 2017 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam Sites Selected" (Press release). Basketball Travelers, Inc. October 4, 2017. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
28. "2018 Paradise Jam Schedule Set For Men's Basketball - University of Pennsylvania".
29. "Nearly lost to coronavirus, Paradise Jam found its way to D.C. Convention Center". New York Times .
30. "Paradise Jam won't hold women's tourney this year". The Virgin Islands Daily News .

External links

• Official site of the U.S. Virgin Island Paradise Jam Tournament

Coordinates: 18°20′24″N64°58′23″W / 18.340096°N 64.97306°W / 18.340096; -64.97306