Kent State Basketball Programs to Compete in 2016 Gulf Coast Showcase
6/10/2016 6:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball
Gulf Coast Showcase Official Release (pdf)
Men's Bracket           Women's Bracket
ESTERO, Fla. — The Kent State men's and women's basketball teams will each travel to Southwest Florida during the week of Thanksgiving to play in the 2016 Gulf Coast Showcase, as event organizer bd Global announced the pairings for both tournaments on Friday.
The action tips with the men's tournament, which features 12 games played over three days, Nov. 21-23, and includes three teams that won 20-plus games last season in Hofstra, Houston and Vermont. Following a day off on Thanksgiving Day, the women's tournament will be played Nov. 25-27 and is headlined by national runner-up Syracuse and a pair of top-10 teams in Baylor and Ohio State. Both tournaments will be held at Germain Arena.
Men's Tournament (Nov. 21-23)
In its fourth year, the Gulf Coast Showcase is designed to showcase the nation's top mid- major programs. Kent State will meet South Dakota in a first round matchup at 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 21. Bradley, George Mason, Hofstra, Houston, Vermont and Wofford round out the 2016 field of teams.
"To have a brand like Houston along with Colonial-champ Hofstra, a 23-win team in Vermont and a 19-win team like Kent State again shows the strength of this men's mid-major tournament," said Brooks Downing, president of bd Global.
The Golden Flashes will compete in a mid-season neutral court tournament for the third straight season after traveling to El Paso, Texas for the WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational in 2014 and competing in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic a year ago.
Head coach Rob Senderoff is one of only three coaches to guide Kent State to 100 victories and enters the 2016-17 season with four returning letterwinners from last year's team that finished with a 19-13 record. Two-time All-Mid-American Conference First Team selection Jimmy Hall (16.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg), who is one of only four players to score 1,000 points in his first two seasons as a Golden Flash, returns after decided to remove his name from cosideration for the 2016 NBA Draft. Deon Edwin (6.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg) provides starting experience on the perimeter, and Jaylin Walker (7.7 ppg) and Jalen Avery (2.33 assist-to-turnover ratio) look to make strides in their sophomore year.
Women's Tournament (Nov. 25-27)
A deep women's field features seven teams that won at least 26 games a season ago. Kent State will take on Baylor in the opening game of the tournament at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 25. Hometown Florida Gulf Coast, DePaul, George Washington, Ohio State, Syracuse and Western Kentucky will also compete in this year's event.
"The strength of the women's field speaks for itself. This is 'the best' women's college basketball tournament in the sport, bar none," Downing said.
"This is the deepest and most experienced top-to-bottom field in the four-year history of the Gulf Coast Showcase," said Debbie Antonelli, ESPN analyst and Women's Tournament Director. "The quality of the teams and the level of coaching is like an NCAA Regional. We have two top-five programs, four of the eight have been to the Final Four and Baylor has won two national championships in recent years. I'm very excited to assist in bringing three days of big-time women's college basketball to Southwest Florida."
For the second straight year, the tournament will support the Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida. The hospital is the only children's hospital between Tampa and Miami and provides vital health care for the region's sick and injured children and their families. The hospital currently boasts a 98-bed inpatient facility located within HealthPark Medical Center in south Lee County. Construction is currently underway on a new facility set to open in early 2017. The new building will provide 300,000 square feet of space, 128 pediatric and NICU beds with space to expand to 160 beds, a 17-bay emergency department, a freestanding pediatric pharmacy and in- hospital school classroom. The final round of fundraising is on-going with the $100 million goal close to being met.
Head coach Todd Starkey will begin the process of building Kent State back into one of the MAC's premier programs as he enters his first season on the sidelines. All-MAC Honorable Mention forward Jordan Korinek (15.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg) leads the group of returners, while Larissa Lurken (13.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg) nears 1,000 points and becoming Kent State's all-time three-point leader as she enters her senior year.
Ticket and Fan Travel Information
Tickets for the 2016 Gulf Coast Showcase are on-sale now at GermainArena.com or through Ticketmaster. All-Tournament passes for either the men's tournament or women's tournament are available for $74, $99 or $149 per tournament. Single session tickets, ranging from $10
General Admission to $45 Courtside for each two-game session, will go on-sale later this summer. Each day of the tournament will feature an afternoon session (starting at 11 a.m.) and evening session (5 p.m.) and tickets will be good for both games of a given session.
Fan travel information, including preferred hotel rates at Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, is available on GulfCoastShowcase.com.
About bd Global
bd Global, LLC is a representation, event management, and public relations firm operating on an international platform within the sports marketing industry. bdG manages multiple college basketball events in the United States each season, and previously has managed events across North America and the Caribbean, including college basketball events in Phoenix, Boston, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Southwest Florida, Dallas, Houston and Las Vegas. www.bdglobalsports.com.
