Following the men’s Cayman Islands Classic action, the eight female teams concluded two days of fierce, high-level competition on the John Gray Gymnasium floor.
On 28 Nov., the women’s tournament kicked off with Oklahoma State edging out Charlotte 74-65 followed by the Miami women slipping past George Washington 83-77.
The remaining two games of the day saw St. John’s squeeze by Georgia Tech with a final score of 77-75 and Florida Gators managing a slightly more comfortable win against Memphis, closing the day 74-60.
The high-level action continued on the second and final day, beginning with another close contest as Oklahoma State battled Miami for an 87-84 victory.
George Washington bounced back with an 81-67 win over Charlotte, while Florida Gators secured their second win of the tournament by defeating Georgia Tech 65-56.
Closing out the tournament strong, St. John’s topped Memphis with an 84-73 victory, earning their second win.
A young but growing tournament
Joe Wright, CEO of the Cayman Islands Classic, says the feedback from the teams has been positive, with several of them expressing interest in returning.
Wright added that the vision for next year’s tournament is bigger, sharing, “We’re going to try to raise the bar next year and get a 12-team field for the men’s and women.”
Reflecting on the inception of the tournament in 2017 to now, Wright admitted, “The first year was fun because we were in kind of disbelief that it was going to happen and now that it is happening and has grown throughout the years – [even through a COVID-19 pause] – we came back [and] we feel like we’re still a young tournament.”
“We’re still one of the youngest tournaments out of all the preseason tournaments out there, so we feel like now we’re starting to move, [and] people are starting to know,” Wright added.
The tournament’s significance was highlighted by Victor ‘Voot’ O’Garro, president of the event host Caymax Sports, who noted that while basketball is on the rise locally, the Cayman Islands Classic provides an essential “international flavor”.
O’Garro acknowledged the importance of this tournament saying, “We are hoping to get more young people – [males and females] – interested in basketball, because basketball has a future”, citing the financial and educational opportunities it offers.
Beyond the sport itself, O’Garro emphasised the event’s substantial impact on sports tourism, reflecting on the large teams that travel from the United States to Cayman for the tournament, generating considerable revenue for hotels, food and accommodation.
George Hemmingsen, the new men’s tournament director, echoed the enthusiasm, stating his role is to learn from what Wright and O’Garro have done with the tournament thus far and continuing to grow that “little by little”.
“They’ve already done an amazing job, so we don’t have to do much, it’s now just tweaking little things, making it even better and getting more teams to come down to just see how beautiful it is down here,” Hemmingsen added.
