Friday, November 18, 2016 11:30 a.m.
Sports and Fitness Center, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

The 2016 Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands kicks off Nov. 18, when Loyola faces Saint Joseph’s. The Hawks enter the tournament at 2-0, after defeating Toledo 77-76 in their home season opener and demolishing Columbia three days later, 85-65. After a 28-8 season in 2015-16, where the Hawks beat Cincinnati in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 before losing to Oregon in the 3rd round, St. Joe’s was picked to finish 10th this year in the preseason poll of the 14-member A-10.

The Ramblers are 3-0, with lopsided wins over Alcorn State and two non-Division 1 schools. While back-to-back wins over teams with few players taller than 6’4” might be what will most help some of the many newcomers develop more quickly, the downside of otherwise meaningless games became apparent in Loyola’s 97-59 win over Eureka. One of the Ramblers’ most promising freshman players, Matt Chastain, suffered a knee injury. The severity of the injury hasn’t been announced, but the 6’6” freshman forward who has averaged 3.7 points, 3.0 rebounds in three games will likely not be available for a while.

Phil Martelli’s squad will likely start 6’0” junior Shavar Newkirk and 6’0” sophomore Lamarr Kimble at guard, and two forwards—freshman Charlie Brown and sophomore Markell Lodge. Nick Robinson, a 6’6” freshman guard out of Kenwood Academy is likely to start for junior forward James Demery, the team’s best rebounder and the sixth man from last year’s squad, who suffered a stress fracture in his foot during the season opener.

Newkirk is a dynamic scorer, who leads the team in the early going by averaging 22.5 points per game. Kimble led the team with 19 points on Monday against Columbia, despite going 0-for-7 on three point attempts. Both Newkirk and Kimble are on the court as long as possible to guide the younger newcomers. Of the two freshmen in the starting lineup, Brown appears a little better than Robinson on offense. Lodge is primarily the defensive force in the paint, with the same number of blocks on the season (4) as rebounds, and averaging 2.5 points.

Six-foot-eight senior forward Javon Baumann, 6’6” forward Brendan Casper, and 6’3” sophomore guard Chris Clover get most of the playing time off the bench, with Casper and Clover capable of scoring in double digits. They are also defensively sound, with Casper showing skill at taking charges (three of them against Columbia) and Baumann shaping up as a very strong rim defender (six boards, two blocks, four points in 16 minutes versus Columbia). Lorenzo Edwards, a 6’7” freshman forward out of Lake Forest, and 6’9” junior forward Jai Williams may also play a few minutes. However, the loss of Demery really hurts an inexperienced team with not much height in a rebuilding year.

Loyola will most likely start Milton Doyle, Clayton Custer, Ben Richardson, Donte Ingram, and Maurice Kirby. With Chastain likely unavailable and the level of competition taking a huge step up in quality at the Paradise Jam, expect to see Doyle, Ingram, Jackson, and Satterwhite play considerably more minutes than they have in the early going. The Ramblers will need to limit the scoring by St. Joe’s backcourt duo of Newkirk and Kimble, make great interior passes, and find the shooting touch on mid-range shots against the Hawks’ talented but inexperienced frontcourt. Expect the play of Aundre Jackson and Donte Ingram to determine the outcome.

The winner of this game will face the winner of the Oral Roberts/Ole Miss game on Sunday and capture a path on the winner side of the bracket, assuring no worse than a 5th place finish; the loser plays the Ole Miss/Oral Roberts loser and can finish no better than 4th.

Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy ... 117aaa.pdf

St. Joseph's game notes: http://www.sjuhawks.com/pdf9/5089207.pd ... M_ID=31200

TV/Streaming video: (pay) http://www.flohoops.com/event/253702-u- ... sion-i-men

Radio: WTMR AM 800 (http://www.iheart.com/live/wtmr-800am-5801/)

Vegas odds: St. Joe's by 5

Nice preview......after 3 quizzes we get a Test. Didnt we recruit Lorenzo Edwards from Lake Forest?

We were on Edwards like Cigarboy on donuts- early and often.

St. Joe's beat a Columbia team that started freshman pg Mike Smith from Fenwick, who we also recruited.

I expect Skokna to play a much bigger role than Satterwhite. Cameron got meaningful minutes against Indiana NW and Eureka but played very little against Alcorn State.
Bruno is farther along in his development than Cam, and adds value as a good rebounder for his size.

Agreed Skokna is further along. But with Chastain out it definitely looks like Cam's gonna have to have his growth accelerated some...

I've tried to look at it several different ways, but according to my reading of the media guide, somehow Loyola has never before faced St. Joseph's in men's basketball. Yes, the Jesuit school in Philadelphia, a member of the Big 5, and a school with a rich hoops history (21 NCAA Tournament appearances, 16 NITs), and somehow we've never faced each other before. We were in the same league with LaSalle for 2 or 3 years, and I would have thought we'd have played every Jesuit school several times, but apparently not.

The other weird thing about St. Joe's is their arena. From 1949 to 2009, they played in a little fieldhouse with a capacity of 3200. In 2009, a renovation added another 1000 seats to make it 4200. So even with the renovation and additional seats it's smaller than Gentile. In fact, A-10 members Duquesne, Fordham, George Washington, La Salle, and St. Joe's all have smaller venues than Loyola, and Davidson and St. Bonaventure are about the size of the old Gentile Center.

Well. it is really NOT the size of the Arena. it is how many folks attend when a game is scheduled--In this aspect LOYOLA CHICAGO FAILS --St Joe--Duquesne et al have the same attractions Chicago does--They draw some--WE DO NOT !!

I. for one am sick of it !! For the record before the babies came and I started travelling I hardly missed a game !!! Lor and I travelled from Lombard, Westchester and Oak Park to be there !! Not bragging--Just sayin'--It was what we did !!!

Good catch JCT on the Hawks and Ramblers apparently never meeting before. I checked their PDF Media Guide and went all the way back to 1908 (if I remember the year right) and saw no sign of the Ramblers. I don't recall seeing any Notre Dame games either. They did play the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf though.

Any of you guys have any experience with this flohoops.com? If I'm reading this right it looks like you get 3 LU games for $20... seems like a decent deal if the video/sound quality is good?!?! Any insight? THanks.