It’s the most balanced field in the brief, four-year history of the Cayman Islands Classic basketball tournament as eight teams converge onto John Gray Gymnasium this Monday with one common goal – win the championship!
Five teams enter the tournament undefeated: Kansas State, LSU, Nevada, Tulane and Western Kentucky.
Fans will be treated to a talent pool from the eight schools that has attracted enough interest to draw NBA scouts to the tournament.
Five schools feature first-year coaches at their respective institutions who have another common goal of taking their programs to the next level.
The first round starts Monday with Illinois State, making its second appearance in the tournament, playing LSU at 11 a.m. Akron, also playing in the tournament for the second time, will face Western Kentucky at 1:30 p.m.
The opening round concludes with Nevada meeting Tulane at 5 p.m. and Kansas State playing Rhode Island at 7:30 p.m.
Four games will be played Tuesday (11 a.m.,1:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.). The consolation round concludes on Wednesday with games at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
The third-place game will start at 5 p.m. Wednesday followed by the championship at 7:30 p.m.
Here’s a preview of the eight participating teams with their records listed in parenthesis.
AKRON ZIPS (2-1)
Under the direction of head coach John Groce, Akron is 40-16 in league play over the last three years, owning the best winning percentage (.714) in the Mid-American Conference. Groce guided the Zips to a MAC Tournament title and 24-10 record last year, including their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, having a near upset bid to No. 4 seed UCLA, 57-53, fall short.
Junior center Enrique Freeman, a second-team all-league performer last year, is one of three returning starters for the Zips who were picked to finish third in the MAC preseason poll.
Freeman led the nation in field goal percentage (.665) and ranked sixth in rebounding (10.8 avg.) and he was one of 13 players to average a double double last year (13.2 ppg).
Freeman had team highs of 17 points and 13 rebounds in the Zips 65-59 victory past Morgan State Tuesday.
Guard Xavier Castaneda (13.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.3 apg) and forward Mikal Dawson (5.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg) are other returning holdovers.
“The expectations here are to compete for championships: Regular season and conference tournaments,” said Groce. “I feel like we’ve got the best frontcourt player in the league in Ennrique Freeman. He’s elite. I feel like we’ve got one of the best guards in the league in Castrenada.”
ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS (2-2)
First-year Illinois Statecoach Ryan Pedon inherits a program that some see as a sleeping giant in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Pedon, who spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State, has six newcomers including five guards.
“I want to build a very balanced program,” said Pedon. “Offensively and defensively, I want to compete to be a top four program in the league.”
The Redbirds return six scholarship players from a season ago —led by senior forward Kendall Lewis who averaged 9.3 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Newcomers to the squad include five guards and a forward. Among the new players are fifth-year guard Seneca Knight, a former All-Mountain West Conference third-team honoree, who averaged 17.1 points and 5.7 rebounds in 2019-20 and played last season at BYU.
Darius Burford averaged 13.4 points, while collecting 97 assists and 47 steals for Elon en route to earning third-team All-Colonial Athletic Association plaudits. Colton Sandage, a fifth-year senior, transferred from Western Illinois where he averaged 13.4 points and had a team-high 82 assists.
Then there are junior guards Luke Kasubke and Malachi Poindexter, who played for Kansas State and Virginia, respectively, last season. Six-foot 10-inch forward Joe Petrakis is a grad transfer from Western Carolina where he finished in the top 15 in the Southern Conference in blocked shots and three-pointers made.
Burford scored a game-high 20 points against Northwestern State Thursday, while Lewis collected 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Lewis led the NCAA in total rebounds through the first weeks of the season, while averaging 16.7 points and 13.7 rebounds over three games, en route to being named the MVC Player of the Week.
KANSAS STATE WILDCATS (3-0)
Excitement continues to build for Kansas State under first-year head coach Jerome Tang, who arrives on the scene after serving the past five seasons as associate head coach for national powerhouse Baylor. Tang played an instrumental role in building the Bears program into one of the nation’s top programs highlighted by the 2021 NCAA Championship and consecutive Big 12 regular-season titles in 2021 and 2022, while being ranked in the Associated Press top five each of the last three seasons.
There’s an interesting mix of recruits and transfers that may be able to help establish the culture Tang wants to instill. Tang said one of the big reasons he came to Kansas State was its basketball tradition, plus the overall strength of the Big 12.
“Every competitor wants to compete against the best,” said Tang. “Every night you’re playing against a Hall of Fame or future Hall of Fame coach.”
Kansas State hopes Tang can spread a little bit of the Bears’ magic in Manhattan, Kan. The Wildcats return All-Big 12 honorable mention selection and All-Defensive Team member Markquis Nowell (12.4 ppg., 5.0 apg.) and junior Ishmael Massoud (6.8 ppg., 2.8 rpg.). Nowell led the Big 12 in steals (2.2 spg.), while he was second in assists and assist/turnover ratio.
The Wildcats have signed 13 additional players for the upcoming season, including transfers Cam Carter (Mississippi State), Jerrell Colbert (LSU), Tykei Greene (Manhattan/Stony Brook), Abayomi Iyiola (Stetson/Arkansas/Hofstra), Keyontae Johnson (Florida), David N’Guessan (Virginia Tech), Desi Sills (Arkansas/Arkansas State), Anthony Thomas (UT-Martin/Tallahassee Community College) and Nae’Qwan Tomlin (Chipola College) as well as a pair of incoming freshmen in Dorian Finister and Taj Manning.
Johnson leads the Wildcats with a 16.0 scoring average. Nowell, who is averaging 12.0 points, led the Big 12 in steals in 2021-22 (2.2 avg.), while ranking second in assists and assist/turnover ratio.
LSU TIGERS (3-0)
Matt McMahon takes over the reins as head coach at LSU which posted a 22-12 overall record last year, including a sixth-place finish in the Southeastern Conference.
McMahon comes from Murray State where he guided the Racers to four Ohio Valley Conference regular season titles as well as three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. LSU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four years (the 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and welcomes Murray State transfer KJ Williams who was named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year last season.
No power-conference team brought back less of its roster than LSU, which in early April did not have a scholarship player after McMahon took the job.
But McMahon managed to not only retain an injury-plagued talent-in-waiting in Adam Miller, he also did a great job working the portal and piecing together a crew that figures to dodge dreaded cellar-dwelling in its first season of a major regime change.
Miller averages 22.0 points, while making a team-high eight three-point baskets.
“He’s an elite shooter with NBA range,” said McMahon. “But what’s really impressive about him is his basketball IQ. He’s really smart and a great competitor.”
Biggest transfer is the guy who came with McMahon from Murray State: KJ Williams who averages 14.0 points and 9.0 rebounds.
Point guard Justice Hill, another transfer from Murray State, had 12 points, five assists and three steals in LSU’s 91-62 victory past New Orleans Thursday.
NEVADA WOLF PACK (4-0)
Nevada is off to a 4-0 start for the first time during Steve Alford’s four-year tenure as head coach, coming off a 62-43 victory at UT Arlington Friday, holding the Mavericks to just 17.9 percent shooting from the floor.
An NCAA Champion and All-American at Indiana, and 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist, Alford boasts a career record of 639-338 (.654) in 32 years as a collegiate coach.
The Wolf Pack return 7-foot starting center Will Baker, the team’s leading scorer (11.5 ppg) and rebounder (4.9) and sophomore starting point guard Kenan Blackshear, who averaged 8.1 points and 2.7 assists.
Blackshear recorded the sixth triple-double in school history with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 98-54 win past William Jessup Tuesday.
Baker, a former transfer from Texas, averages 11.0 points, while shooting 60 percent from three-point range.
But it’s 6-4 senior guard Jarod Lucas, a transfer from Oregon State where he led the PAC-12 in free throw percentage the past two years, who has made the biggest impact. Lucas, who leads the NCAA in free throw percentage (13-13), also paces the team with a 15.0 scoring average, while making a team-high 10 three-point baskets.
“We’re a very physical team and a very big team and that’s what we always want to be,” said Alford. “This team has the makings of it. We have good experience and good depth. If we stay healthy, we’ve got really good depth.”
RHODE ISLAND RAMS (1-2)
Rhode Island also is opening a new era of basketball with the arrival of newly appointed head coach Archie Miller, who has a storied pedigree in the Atlantic 10 Conference, winning two league titles along with four NCAA Championship appearances in six seasons at Dayton.
With a record of 206-121 over the course of 10 seasons as a head coach with the Flyers and Indiana, Miller has averaged more than 20 wins per year and has six postseason runs out of a possible nine seasons.
The Rams hope to ride the momentum of securing their first victory of the season beating Stony Brook, 74-64, Tuesday, with sophomore Ishmael Leggett collecting 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Leggett, who started every game last year, leads the team in both scoring (17.7 avg.) and rebounding (6.3 avg.)
Guard Malik Martin (10.0 ppg) is the lone senior on the team, which features a mix of transfers and high school recruits.
“Malik is definitely going to be a voice in the locker room, a guy who does things the right way,” said Miller.
“Winning and all the things that go along with being a good team come to fruition when you’re doing it the right way. The big thing is getting the train on the track.”’
Redshirt freshman Abdou Samb has started all three games, averaging 10.0 points and 6.0 rebounds. Sophomore Sebastian Thomas also has started all three games after a freshman campaign in which he made a number of appearances on highlight reels. He has started all three games, while averaging 9.0 points.
TULANE GREEN WAVE (3-0)
In his fourth season as head coach at Tulane, Ron Hunter has the program headed in the right direction in the American Athletic Conference after the Green Wave enjoyed their best season since 2017-18 by posting a 14-15 mark last season.
Tulane has seven of its top eight leading scorers back including sophomore guard Jalen Cook, a preseason All-American Athletic Conference choice.
A triple-J guard attack is going to give Green Wave fans viable hope to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995. They’re young but they’re cherished: Cook, sophomore off-guard Jadan Coleman and junior shooting guard Jaylen Forbes. The guards combined for 34.5 scoring average last season.
“Last year was a coming out party for Cook,” said Hunter. “He’s getting better. Last year, he scratched the surface. This year he will get all of the attention.”
“I’m excited about this year’s group,” said Hunter. “We use the word so much, but we talk about culture. It’s like what we did (during eight years) at Georgia State. ‘I haven’t lost a ton of players to the transfer portal. Part of that is culture.”
Collin Holloway, a transfer from Georgetown where he averaged 9.2 points last season, hopes to make an impact along the frontline. So far so good as he is averaging 21.5 points, while shooting a sizzling 71.4 percent through three games.
WESTERN KENTUCKY HILLTOPPERS (3-0)
Western Kentucky is just one of 17 teams in the country – less than five percent of all Division I teams – to win at least 19 games in each of the last five seasons under coach Rick Stansbury.
Few teams in the country have as good a post-point guard tandem as Western Kentucky, which will contend for the Conference USA championship and a postseason tournament berth.
The Hilltoppers feature one of the nation’s top centers in 7-foot-5 Jamarion Sharp who led the NCAA in blocked shots at 4.62 per game last year, setting a school single-season record with 148 rejections. He shot 72.6 percent from the field and was selected as the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year. Sharp will try to become the first player in almost two decades to lead the nation in blocks in back-to-back years.
Senior returning point guard Dayvion McKnight was the only player in the country last year to average 16.2 points, 5.5. assists, 5.2 rebounds and 1.9 steals.
Forward Jairus Hamilton, a grad student, also is back after averaging 12.7 points and 5.4 rebounds while making 36 three-point baskets.
Another key returnee is 6-5 fifth-year senior Luke Frampton who averaged 8.8 points while making 171 three-point baskets.
Newcomers include Dontaie Allen, a 6-6 junior transfer from Mississippi State, 6-8 Emmanuel Akot, a 6-8 grad transfer from Boise State, Emmanuel Akot (Boise State, then a Memphis pump-fake) was a late transfer addition, and Khristian Lander (Indiana).
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