SWAC Tournament

The SWAC tournament champion wins a spot in the NCAA tournament, where the season's champion is crowned. In theory, SWAC teams that do not win the conference could be invited NCAA tournament as at-large teams, but in practice the only team that can expect to continue playing is the champion; the SWAC, being a conference filled with smaller schools, virtually never places two teams in the NCAA. The 2009 SWAC Men's Basketball Tournament winner was Alabama State. After winning the SWAC regular season and tournament championships, Alabama State was given won of the two lowest seeds in the NCAA tournament, and promptly lost their first game to non-power Morehead State by 15 points in the so-called play-in game. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=290762011

2010 SWAC Tournament

The 2010 SWAC Men's Basketball Tournament will be contested in the CenturyTel Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, from March 10 to March 13. http://www.mahalo.com/tasks/your-ncaa-task-swac-tournament The eight-team tournament kicks off with a pair of quarterfinal games on March 10, the first at 2:30 p.m., the second at 8 p.m. The second half of the quarterfinals come a day later, with another slate of games scheduled for 2:30 and 8 p.m. The semifinals start on Friday, March 12, with the two games once more starting at 2:30 and 8 p.m., respectively. The SWAC final will tip off at 7:30 p.m. the next night, Saturday, March 13. http://www.swac.org/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/swac/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2010bracket

As the tournament approaches, first-place Jackson State has the best chance of taking the title in 2010. Although they got off to a rough start to the 2010 season, second-place Arkansas-Pine Bluff has won most of their in-conference games and could pose a threat to Jackson State. Other above .500 teams with title hopes are Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern, and Alabama State. The remaining three teams in the tournament are likely to be Mississippi Valley State, Alabama A&M, and Grambling State. Two teams, almost assuredly Southern and Alcorn State, will be left out of the conference tournament due to their poor performance in the regular season. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/conference?confId=26