2008 Paradise Jam Women's Basketball Tournament Pairings
TAMPA, Fla. - The University of South Florida women's basketball team will head outside of the Continental United States for the second straight season ? and the third time in the past four year's ? when it takes part in the Paradise Jam held at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI, Nov. 27-29. In doing son, the Bulls will face three team's that advanced to the postseason last year.
USF will open the event on Nov. 27 at 9:30 p.m. (AST)/10:30 p.m. (EST) against California and then will take on Iowa on Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. (AST)/8 p.m. (EST). The Bulls will close out the tournament on Nov. 29 against Texas Tech at 7 p.m. (AST)/8 p.m. (EST).
Last season USF took part in the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico where the Bulls defeated Oregon (68-58) and Belmont (74-55).
Cal comes into the 2008-09 season after finishing the 2007-08 campaign with an impressive 27-7 record and a 15-3 ledger in the Pacific 10 Conference. The Bears, who lost to Stanford (56-35) in the Pac-10 title game, advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round before losing to George Washington (55-53).
Cal, which is the former school of USF center Jessica Lawson, returns its top three scorers in Ashley Walker (15.3 ppg), Devanei Hampton (13.5 ppg) and Alexis Gray-Lawson (11.5 ppg). In addition, Walker and Hampton were 1-2 on the team in rebounding grabbing 9.3 and 8.0 rebounds per game respectively.
The Bears will more than likely enter the 2008-09 season among the nation's Top 10. ESPN.com women's basketball analyst, Charlie Cr?me currently has the Bears ranked No. 7 in his “Pre-Preseason Top 25.”
The Bulls' second round opponent, Iowa, is coming off a 21-11 season and recorded a 13-5 record in the Big 10 last year. The Hawkeyes dropped its NCAA Tournament first round match-up against Georgia (67-61).
Iowa returns its top two scorers in Kristi Smith (13.3 ppg) and Wendy Ausdemore (11.6 ppg) who also led the team on the glass last season grabbing 5.1 rebounds per game.
USF will close the event against Big 12 member Texas Tech. The Lady Raiders finished the 2007-08 season with a 17-16 slate and a 4-12 mark in conference play after advancing to the Women's National Invitation Tournament first round where they lost to TCU (81-74). Texas Tech, however, did record a big signature ? and bragging rights - win when it defeated in-state foe Texas 70-58.
Like the Bulls' previous two opponents in the tournament, the Lady Raiders also return their scoring leaders from last season. Dominic Seals is back after netting 13.9 points per game along with Jordan Murphee who tallied 9.8 points per contest. Seals also led Texas Tech on the glass grabbing 8.3 rebounds per game.
This past season, USF recorded a 16-16 overall record and advanced to its fifth consecutive postseason tournament where it took part in the WNIT.
The Bulls will return their leading scorer ? and All-BIG EAST Conference second team selection ? Shantia Grace for the 2008-09 campaign. Grace, who will be a legitimate candidate for the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, given to the best senior guard in America under 5-8, averaged 19.1 points per game during the 2007-08 season. She finished the year on a tear scoring better than 25 points in six of USF's final 11 games and averaged 25 points per game in her last four outings including 34 points against Florida Gulf Coast in the Bulls' WNIT game.
In addition, the Sarasota native also led USF in assists. Grace handed out 124 on the season, or 4.0 per game, which was good enough for eighth in the BIG EAST this year. She finished the season with 435 career assists which is tops on the Bulls' all-time ledger.
The Paradise Jam consists of two separate tournaments. Each is a four-team, three-game round robin event. One is called the "Island Division Tournament” and the other is called the “Reef Division Tournament.” Both are Multiple Team Event (MTE) tournaments. An MTE tournament counts as only two games against a team's annual maximum of 29 games, despite playing three games at the tournament.
In the 2007 Paradise Jam, Connecticut defeated Duke to claim the Island Division crown. Stanford narrowly defeated Temple for third place and Old Dominion finished ahead of Purdue with a win in the consolation game. All six teams competed in the 2008 NCAA tournament, which saw Stanford defeat Connecticut to advance to NCAA Championship game.
In the Reef Division Championship game, Wake Forest defeated Wichita State to take home the crown. In the consolation game, Texas A&M overcame Indiana to finish second.
USF will come into the Paradise Jam with a 6-1 record all-time in games played outside the Continental United States and have won it's last five straight. The Bulls' all-time games outside the Continental United States are listed below:
Northern Lights Invitational, Anchorage, AK
USF 79, Alaska-Anchorage 44 Dec. 17, 1982
Ohio State 101, USF 74 Dec. 18, 1982
San Juan Shootout, San Juan, PR
USF 121, UPR-Mayaguez 41 Dec. 19, 2005
USF 60, Northern Arizona 55 Dec. 20, 2005
USF 72, Colorado 59 Dec. 21, 2005
Caribbean Challenge, Cancun, Mexico
USF 68, Oregon 58 Dec. 18, 2007
USF 74, Belmont 55 Dec. 19, 2007
