After putting forth his best overall season in his four years at Memphis, it was announced Tuesday that Tiger forward Shaq Goodwin was invited to the 2016 Portsmouth Invitational.
The Portsmouth Invitational is an annual tournament that has invited 64 college basketball seniors to Portsmouth, Virginia, for a four-day tournament every April since 1953. The tournament serves as a way for seniors to get more exposure ahead of June’s NBA Draft, with pro teams sending scouts to the event each year.
During the 2015-16 season, Goodwin posted careers bests in points, rebounds and blocks per game, with averages of 14.2, 7.3 and 1.8 respectively, and was the team’s second leading scorer, behind only freshman standout Dedric Lawson.
The event is a particularly valuable opportunity for Goodwin, who currently finds himself removed from all NBA mock drafts. Draft service DraftExpress ranks Goodwin has the No. 57 senior in the class of 2016, and hasn’t appeared on one of the site’s mock drafts since June of 2015, when he was projected to be selected 48th had he entered the 2015 draft.
With Goodwin so far removed from the top 60 players in the 2016 draft, this one event won’t put him on draft boards, but it can give him exposure which could open up NBA D-League and overseas opportunities.
Team rosters have not yet been announced, but the event starts April 13, with games running each day until the championship game on April 16. Regardless of wins and losses, each team will play three games throughout the tournament. Last year’s tournament was won by Cherry Bekaert, led by 19 points from Penn State’s DJ Newbill.
University of Memphis forward Shaq Goodwin dunks the ball in a game against Jacksonville State in the 2014-15 season. Goodwin averaged 10.7 points per game in his four seasons at Memphis.
