Early Season Tournaments

[ericd7633]

I noticed some fields starting to be announced for early season tournaments and decided to make one big thread about it. The brackets for the fields should be announced later this summer.

 

[ericd7633]

Gildan Charleston Classic
November 15-16, 18; Charleston, South Carolina

The Field:

Alabama
Appalachian State
Ball State
Davidson
Northeastern
Purdue
Virginia Tech
Wichita State

The Outlook:

At first glance this would appear to have been a better field with each team's respective rosters this past season, especially with Alabama, Purdue and Wichita State all losing a significant pieces. With that said, I still love the balance of this field. Alabama still will have the talent to make the tournament. Northeastern, IMO will be the overwhelming favorite to win the CAA. Davidson is probably the favorite to win the A-10 with the losses suffered by Rhode Island and St. Bonaventure. And Ball State should be a top 2 MAC team with the pieces they return. Even Appalachian State, which was a middling Sun Belt team returns 5 of their top 6 scorers, and due to the pace they play at, are always a fun watch. Purdue and Wichita State will always be worth watching because of the programs they are/have turned into. And based on what we currently know, I would project Virginia Tech to win this tournament. They return solid pieces and should get some contribution from Landers Nolley, their highest rated recruit for 2018. If I had to guess the tournament will probably set up the P5 schools and Wichita State against the 4 mid majors. My guess is Virginia Tech will get Appalachian State. After that the remaining 3 match ups should be good, contested match ups. Would be cool to see organizers pit Ball State against Purdue.

 

[ericd7633]

2K Classic
November 15-16; NYC, New York

The Field:

UConn
Iowa
Oregon
Syracuse

The Outlook:

Oregon appears to the headliner and favorite heading into this semifinal tournament. They return some nice pieces, along with bringing in a top 5 recruiting class, headlined by Bol Bol and Louis King two 5 star prospects. The only thing that makes me hesitant about calling them the prohibitive favorite is that this is in New York and it does feature two teams who will certainly pack MSG. I actually think organizers will pit UConn against Syracuse in one semifinal to ensure at least one of them makes the Final. Plus Iowa appears to be the worst team, and would think they'd be matched up with Oregon. Syracuse will be interesting if Battle returns, if so I can see them giving Oregon a run for their money in a potential Final. Iowa returns a lot of pieces from last season, but they were terrible, so I'm not sure how much can be expected of them to turn it around. And UConn probably isn't set to contend next year given the roster, but they did snag a couple grad transfers so at least they won't be terribly thin in terms of numbers.

 

[ericd7633]

Islands of the Bahamas Showcase
November 16-18; Nassau, Bahamas

The Field:

Florida Atlantic
Georgia Southern
Incarnate Word
Loyola Chicago
Miami(Ohio)
North Dakota State
Pepperdine
Towson

The Outlook:

Coming off their Final Four appearance, Loyola Chicago is the obvious headliner in this strictly mid-major tournament. Despite losing some key contributors off their Final Four team, they should still be the favorite given they still return 4 of their top 7 scorers. A couple teams that could potentially challenge Loyola would be Georgia Southern and Towson. Florida Atlantic, Incarnate Word and Pepperdine are all in serious rebuild mode.

 

[ericd7633]

US Virgin Islands Paradise Jam
November 16-19; St. Thomas, VI

The Field:

Eastern Kentucky
Kansas State
Kennesaw State
Missouri
Old Dominion
Oregon State
Pennsylvania
Northern Iowa

The Outlook:

Kansas State appears to be the class of this tournament. Missouri is a bit of a question mark due to have they have lost. I've haven't heard if Jontay Porter is staying in the draft, but if he did, that would be a significant blow to them next season. Oregon State still seems like a bottom tier Pac 12 team and losing Drew Eubanks a year early to the draft certainly won't help. Old Dominion could be an interesting team out of C-USA next season. They do lose Trey Porter as a grad transfer to Nevada, but return their top 2 scorers. Penn should be a little better next year, with the core of their team coming back. If they were to win the Ivy again I could see them ending up on the 13/14/ line next season. I'm not sure what to expect out of UNI. They lose their top 2 scorers from a .500 team, but they have been consistently good under Jacobson so I would expect them to be better next season. Both Eastern Kentucky and Kennesaw State are the clear 2 worst teams in the field. I would expect Kansas State and Missouri to be on opposite sides of the bracket and because of that, I don't see how Kansas State doesn't make the Final.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Marquette, Kansas, UL and Tennessee are playing in one of the New York ones.

Should be a great couple of games for the teams

 

[NolePride]

Florida State is in the AdvoCare Invitational @ Disney's Wide World of Sports.

Canisuis
College of Charleston
Fla St
LSU
Memphis
Okie St
UAB
Villanova

btw...here are all the rest of the early season tourney's...2018-19 College Basketball Early Season Tournaments, Events, And Neutral-Site Games