NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 8 teams in 2020 Cayman Islands Classic
by Tristan Freeman From Busting Brackets
The bracket for this season’s Cayman Islands Classic has been released. Which participating NCAA Basketball teams should be viewed as the favorites?
The Cayman Islands Classic is one of the newer NCAA Basketball non-conference tournaments, having only been in existence since 2017. The inaugural winner that year was the Cincinnati Bearcats, who defeated Wyoming in the finals.
In 2018, Creighton upset No. 16 Clemson to win the title game, while George Mason beat New Mexico State to become the reigning champion of the Cayman Islands Classic. This is a “mid-tier” tournament in the way that it’s not on the same level as the Maui Invitational or Battle 4 Atlantis, but the Classic usually gets 1-2 ranked programs, along with some quality mid-major competition.
One of the participating teams comes from the Mountain West, who as the sponsor of the event gets to send one team each season. They’ll be looking for their representative this year (Nevada) to get the league’s first title.
The Wolf Pack is one of eight teams already confirmed to be participating in the 2020 version of the Cayman Islands Classic. The others playing including Miami, Western Kentucky, Oregon State, Kansas State, La Salle, Ole Miss, and Northern Iowa. What wasn’t known was how the bracket would look, including the opening round matchups.
Currently, none of these teams are projected to start out the season in the top-25. But a number of them have realistic aspirations to make the 2021 NCAA Tournament, either as an at-large or winning their respective conference.
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Bracket Released For 2020 Cayman Islands Classic
8/5/2020 GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN, CAYMAN ISLANDS — Game matchups for the fourth annual Cayman Islands Classic were announced by CaymaxSports LTD. Wednesday.
Eight teams will compete Nov. 23-25 in the tournament which has been relocated to Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Fla.
La Salle will face Ole Miss in the opening game at 11 a.m. Central Time followed by Oregon State meeting Kansas State at 1:30 p.m.
In the first game of the evening session at 5 p.m. Nevada plays Northern Iowa. Western Kentucky and Miami will conclude opening-day action in the final matchup of the day starting at 7:30 p.m.
For more tournament information, including tickets, visit www.caymanislandsclassic.com
Semifinal round games are slated for 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. the following day, Tuesday, Nov. 24.
Teams in the consolation bracket will play their second game Nov. 24 with tip offs at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The seventh-place game will open the final day of competition on Wednesday, Nov. 25 starting at 11 a.m., followed by the fifth-place game (1:30 p.m.), third-place game (5 p.m.) and title game (7:30 p.m.) to crown the fourth Cayman Islands Classic champion.
The Cayman Islands Classic is sponsored by the Mountain West Conference.
Combined, this year’s participating teams have made 44 NCAA Tournament appearances since the turn of the century. Kansas State, Ole Miss and Nevada advanced to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Miami’s fortunes will be led by the return of senior all-Atlantic Coast Conference guard Chris Lykes (15.4 PPG) alongside a talented recruiting class headlined by unanimous top 40 recruit Earl Timberlake.
Northern Iowa is the defending Missouri Valley Conference regular season champ welcoming back a bevy of talent, including leading scorer AJ Green (19.7 PPG), a junior guard who was named the 2020 Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year.
Western Kentucky returns the bulk of its starting lineup from what was a 20-win team in 2019-20, including senior guard Taveion Hollingsworth (16.6 PPG) and junior center Charles Bassey (15.3 PPG, 9.2 RPG).
After posting 19 wins this past season Nevada is expected to contend for the Mountain West Conference sparked by the return of senior guard Jalen Harris who led the league in scoring with a 21.6 average while being named the league’s newcomer of the year.
Under the guidance of nine-time conference coach of the year Kermit Davis, Ole Miss is seeking its second trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last three years bolstered by the arrival of highly touted transfers led by Romello White, coupled with returning senior starting guard Devontae Shuler.
With the arrival of four-star point guard Nijel Pack, Weber is looking to lead Kansas State to its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance during his nine-year tenure there.
Senior guard David Beatty, La Salle’s leading scorer, will be key to the team’s fortunes this season.
