ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — In the last four years, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has been to Florida twice, Texas and the Cayman Islands.
Now, it’s headed to Paradise.
The Bonnies will be one of eight teams participating in next year’s Paradise Jam, a well-regarded in-season tournament held in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the team announced on Friday. That made official a report from Stadium’s Jeff Goodman in early December that Bona would be among in the field in 2020.
The Bonnies will be part of an intriguing “mid-major” collection, a group that includes Bradley, Big 4 rival Buffalo, Cleveland State, Colorado State, Florida International, Long Beach State and Weber State.
Four of those teams rank No. 153 or better in the current NCAA NET rankings: Colorado State (No. 101), Bradley (102), Bona (126) and Buffalo (No. 153) while three (Weber State, Long Beach State, Cleveland State) sit at No. 262 or lower. All but two have reached an NCAA Tournament in the last decade, most recently Buffalo and Bradley after winning their league tournaments in 2019, Bona in 2018 and Weber State, out of the Big Sky, in 2016.
In the 21st renewal of the event, the teams will play three games in three days in a traditional tournament-style setting at the 3,000-seat University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center at St. Thomas Friday, Nov. 20 through Monday, Nov. 23.
The Bonnies have been part of this tournament before.
In 2002, Bona knocked off Michigan and Virginia Tech to reach the championship game of the Paradise Jam before falling to BYU in the title contest. Despite a second-place finish, Marques Green, now a member of the program’s All-Time Team, was named the event’s Most Valuable Player after averaging 20.7 points per game.
The Paradise Jam will mark Bona’s fifth in-season tournament in as many years, alongside the Lone Star Showcase (Texas, 2016), the Emerald Coast Classic (Florida, 2017), the Cayman Islands Classic (2018) and this year’s Boca Raton Beach Classic (Florida), at which the Bonnies won the title.
It also gives Bona a leg up on next year’s non-conference schedule, which, in the early stages includes three games in the Virgin Islands, contests with annual rivals Buffalo, Canisius, Niagara and Siena and a return trip from Middle Tennessee. It could also provide Bona with a second game against the Bulls in the same season. Last November, Nevada topped Bowling Green for the 2019 Paradise Jam title.
Game times and matchups for the 2020 Paradise Jam will be announced in the spring, following the conclusion of the 2019-20 campaign. For more information about the tournament, visit www.paradisejam.com.
