SWAC Basketball Season Finales, Tournament Seedings, Tie-Breaker Rules
SWAC men's and women's basketball fans will have a full slate of games to watch or attend on Saturday, March 4. The men's division had plenty of drama going into the season finale.
SWAC Men's Division
The top-eight teams in the current men's SWAC standings are as follows:
- Grambling (14-3)
- Alcorn State (14-3)
- Southern (11-6)
- Jackson State (11-6)
- Alabama A&M
- Prairie View A&M (8-9)
- Texas Southern (7-10)
- Bethune-Cookman (7-10)
Grambling and Alcorn are battling for the No. 1 seed. The Braves will head to Pine Bluff for their showdown against the Golden Lions. The G-Men will host Alabama State in the season finale. Neither the Tigers nor the Braves can take these struggling teams for granted if they want top billing in Birmingham at the SWAC Basketball Tournament.
The wild cards for the men's division are Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6-11) and Alabama State (6-11). Wins by the Golden Lions or Hornets could send the SWAC in a free fall for the 7th and 8th seeds occupied by TSU and Bethune-Cookman if they lost.
The Texas Southern (7th seed) visiting Prairie View A&M (6th seed) match is the most critical match-up for conference tournament seeding. If one of the teams loses and Bethune-Cookman (8th seed) or UAPB (9th seed) wins, the loser would drop to the 8th or below in the tourney. The tie-breakers would come into play for the SWAC to determine the men's tournament bracket.
SWAC Women's Division
Jackson State (16-1) won its fourth-straight SWAC regular season title, embarking on defending its 2022 SWAC Tournament Championship as this season's No.1 seed.
The top-eight women's programs in the SWAC are as follows:
- Jackson State (16-1)
- Alabama State (12-5)
- Alabama A&M (12-5)
- Prairie View A&M (11-6)
- Southern (11-6)
- Arkansas-Pine Bluff (9-8)
- Bethune-Cookman (9-8)
- Alcorn State (8-9) and Grambling (8-9); Alcorn owns the tie-breaker.
The 2023 SWAC men's and women's basketball tournament will occur at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 8–11. The tournament winners will receive the conference's automatic invitation to the 2023 NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball tournament.
SWAC Basketball Tiebreaker Policy
The NCAA automatic qualifier shall be the winner of the Conference postseason tournament:
- In the event the tournament cannot be played or is not played to completion, the Conference regular champion shall be the automatic qualifier.
- In the event of a tie for seeding, the following procedures will be used:
Two-team ties:
a). Head-to Head competition
b). Point Differential between the tied teams if the season series is split
c). Record against highest seeded team (proceed downward) until the tie is broken
d). Coin Toss
Ties involving three or more teams:
a). Record between teams that are tied (Won-Lost-Record)
b). If still tied, record against the highest seed & proceed downward
c). Coin Toss
*In the event of a three-way tie or more, after the tie is broken and reduced to two teams, revert back to the two-team tie breaker policy.