{"id":35653,"date":"2015-04-21T12:03:29","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T16:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=35653"},"modified":"2015-04-21T12:03:29","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T16:03:29","slug":"basketball-tournament-fields-for-the-2015-gulf-coast-showcase-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2015\/04\/basketball-tournament-fields-for-the-2015-gulf-coast-showcase-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"Basketball Tournament Fields for the 2015 Gulf Coast Showcase Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/GCS_Logo-300x248.jpg\" "\\"Print\\"")
Sixteen NCAA Division I basketball programs will descend upon Southwest Florida this Thanksgiving as the third-annual Gulf Coast Showcase is staged at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla. The men\u2019s eight-team tournament, designed to showcase the top mid-major programs from across the country, will be held\u00a0Nov. 23-25; it will be immediately followed by an eight-team, high-major women\u2019s tournament from Nov. 27-29. bd Global, LLC, a Lexington, Ky.-based sports marketing firm, is managing the weeklong event.<\/p>\n
Murray State, which won 25 straight games this past season, headlines the men\u2019s field. The Racers were ranked as high as No. 24 in the nation and finished with a\u00a029-6 record and only the fifth undefeated conference mark in OVC history but were upended in the league championship game and missed the NCAA Tournament in what was a very unpopular decision by the NCAA Men\u2019s Basketball Tournament Committee.<\/p>\n
In the Gulf Coast Showcase, Murray State will be challenged by Central Michigan (23-9 last year and won the MAC West Division) and Western Kentucky (20-12 and a fourth-place finish in Conference USA).<\/p>\n
2015 GULF COAST SHOWCASE MEN\u2019S FIELD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Central Michigan (Mid-American Conference)<\/li>\n
- Drake (Missouri Valley Conference)<\/li>\n
- Duquesne (Atlantic 10 Conference)<\/li>\n
- Milwaukee (Horizon League)<\/li>\n
- Murray State (Ohio Valley Conference<\/li>\n
- Pepperdine (West Coast Conference)<\/li>\n
- Weber State (Big Sky Conference)<\/li>\n
- Western Kentucky (Conference USA)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
“We created the men\u2019s event to be a premium tournament strictly for college basketball\u2019s top mid-major schools,\u201d said bd Global President Brooks Downing. \u201cOur men\u2019s field is our deepest in three years with quality programs from around the country. To then follow it up with the best regular season women\u2019s tournament in the country, it will certainly be an exciting week at Germain Arena.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s tournament features a strong field in which all eight teams played in postseason last year, including three teams that participated in the NCAA Tournament. Dayton advanced to the Elite Eight and led eventual National Champion and defending Gulf Coast Champion Connecticut at halftime before falling in its bid to advance to the Final Four. Louisville and Stanford both spent the entire season ranked among the Top 25 and each advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.<\/p>\n
2015 GULF COAST SHOWCASE WOMEN\u2019S FIELD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Dayton (Atlantic 10 Conference)<\/li>\n
- Louisville (Atlantic Coast Conference)<\/li>\n
- LSU (Southeastern Conference)<\/li>\n
- Maine (America East Conference)<\/li>\n
- Marist (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)<\/li>\n
- Missouri State (Missouri Valley Conference)<\/li>\n
- Purdue (Big Ten Conference)<\/li>\n
- Stanford (Pac-12 Conference)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cThe mission of the Gulf Coast Showcase is to annually showcase the best teams in women\u2019s hoops,\u201d said Debbie Antonelli, ESPN analyst and Gulf Coast Showcase Tournament Host. \u201cLast year, UConn rolled to the tournament title but we have eight great programs for 2015 and any of those eight could be playing for the crown\u00a0on Sunday\u00a0night.\u201d<\/p>\n
2014 Tournament Wrap-Up<\/strong><\/p>\nMore than 20,000 fans attended the tournament last November, and the first night of the women\u2019s tournament set a tournament record with 3,987 fans in attendance as UConn debuted in Southwest Florida.<\/p>\n
Four women\u2019s teams from the 2014 Gulf Coast Showcase advanced to the NCAA Tournament led by eventual National Champion Connecticut. Minnesota, Green Bay and Arizona State also earned berths with the Sun Devils advancing to the Sweet Sixteen.<\/p>\n
Four players from last season\u2019s women\u2019s tournament were named AP All-Americans. UConn\u2019s Breanna Stewart and Minnesota\u2019s Amanda Zahui B. were both first-team honorees while UConn teammates Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Moriah Jefferson were named to the second team. Stewart was named the AP National Player of the Year for the second straight season.<\/p>\n
On the men\u2019s side, both Green Bay and Hawaii advanced to its respective conference championship games (Green Bay fell to Valparaiso in the Horizon final and Hawaii lost to UC Irvine in the Big West final).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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