:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/56921407/usa_today_9697166.0.jpg)
After Hurricanes Irma and Maria decimated the Caribbean Islands and severely impacted millions of lives, the Colorado Buffaloes will now play in the 2017 Paradise Jam at Liberty University in Virginia instead of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Among the thousands upon thousands of homes and infrastructure ravaged by such fearsome storms, the host city of St. Thomas and the surrounding area were deemed unfit for American basketball teams to play in the mid-November tournament.
The Paradise Jam organizers were looking for a replacement this week and they settled on Liberty University, a school known more for their president’s Islamophobia than they are for their athletic programs.
The Tournament will be played on November 17-20. Colorado will be joined by Liberty, Drexel, Wake Forest, Quinnipiac, Drake, Houston and Mercer.
Hopefully the Buffs will be able to compete in that tournament and gain experience for their young roster. More importantly, though, hopefully the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands and of the greater Caribbean Islands will get the support they need to rebuild what was lost.