Predicted Order of Finish:

1. Alabama State (20-9)
2. Jackson State (16-13)
3. Alabama A&M (15-11)
4. Prairie View (13-16)
5. Mississippi Valley State (13-18)
6. Alcorn State (10-19)
7. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (10-19)
8. Texas Southern (9-20)
   
9. Grambling State (5-21)
10. Southern (5-26)

All-Conference Team:

• Christopher Jones (G) – Prairie View – Purest point guard in the SWAC, but will have to reduce his turnovers for the Panthers to be successful this season.
• Troy Jackson (G) – Alcorn State – Ruthless scorer who also shot better than 40 percent from the field in 08-09.
• Grant Maxey (F) – Jackson State – Versatile forward will likely emerge as the 09-10 SWAC Player of the Year
• Douglas Scott (F) – Southern – Tenacious rebounder, came on late last season with three double-doubles in his last five games.
• Darnell Hugee (C) – Prairie View – If he stays out of foul trouble, could be one of the best post players in Division I basketball.

6th Man. Deandre Hall (G) – Texas Southern – Turnover prone, but can do damage from interior and perimeter.

What You Need to Know.  The SWAC is among the worst conferences in all of Division I basketball. There’s no sugarcoating the lack of talent and the brutal out-of-conference schedules that the SWAC member schools play just to keep their athletic budgets afloat. But what they are lacking in appeal and talent, their upper-echelon teams make up for in competitive drive and great coaching. Alabama State took SEC opponents Auburn and Mississippi to the wire on the road last season before dropping both games by fewer than five points.

Predicted Champion.  Jackson State (NCAA Seed: #16). Jackson State has played second fiddle to Alabama State in the regular season for two years in a row. But while the Tigers return key seniors Grant Maxey and Garrison Johnson, the Hornets of ASU lost a lot in the departure of PG Brandon Brooks and forward Andrew Hayles. The JSU Tigers will prevail in the conference championship, but not without serious tests from the likes of Prairie View and Alabama State.

Top Contenders:

• Prairie View A&M – The Panthers return one of the best point guards in the conference in Christopher Jones and the best post player in Darnell Hugee. But they are both prone to mistakes on the floor, and that should hinder PVAM’s ability to win close games.
• Alabama A&M – The Bulldogs last won the SWAC crown in 2005, but have the conference’s best coach in Vann Pettaway. They just don’t have enough talent in their starting five or on the bench to keep up with the other top teams in the SWAC.

RPI Boosters:

• Nov. 21, 2009 – Alabama State at Belmont – This appears to be the most winnable game for the SWAC’s out-of-conference competition. And that’s not saying a lot.

Key Conference Games:

• Jan. 4, 2010 – Alabama A&M at Jackson State – This will be the Bulldogs’ first opportunity to prove they are a legitimate championship contender against the loaded JSU Tigers.
• Jan. 6, 2010 – Alabama State at Jackson State – The first rematch of the 2009 SWAC Basketball Championship game.
• Jan. 25, 2010 – Mississippi Valley State at Prairie View – These two teams will likely be fighting for the fourth and fifth seeds in the tournament, and could be a tournament opening-round preview.

Digging Deeper.  Truth be told – the SWAC is more of a football-heavy conference. Think of it as the SEC amongst historically black colleges and universities. Football is such a big deal in the SWAC that the conference annually leads the nation in FCS football attendance rankings.

Fun With KenPom.  There’s not a lot good to say here.  The offenses are largely terrible, with eight of last year’s ten teams ranking in the bottom fifty in the nation.  Defense isn’t appreciably better, but it is better in the SWAC, as only six teams ranked in the bottom fifty.

NCAA Tournament History.  The SWAC is 4-29 (.121) in its history, but most of the wins were clustered among its first few years in D1.  Since 1985, the league has had only one win (Southern over Georgia Tech in 1993).

Final Thoughts.  Keep your eyes on Alabama State, Jackson State and Prarie View A&M. Any other teams just won’t offer the level of good, competitive play that you expect from Division I programs.

In all of the hubbub surrounding the MEAC big win last week via Morgan State University, somewhere lost in the Bible Belt was the beginning of conference play for the SWAC. Conference play signals the end of merciless beatings on the road at the hands of power conference teams, and a chance for southwestern trash talkers to get their pipes warmed up for March.

Let’s take a look at some of the action from the week that was in the SWAC.

THIS WEEK – With conference play in full swing, three teams – Alabama State, Jackson State and Prairie View A&M are beginning to distance themselves from the rest of the SWAC competition. The Hornets and the Panthers are 3-0 so far, and the Tigers are 2-1. Both the Hornets (Alabama State) and the Panthers (Prairie View) have won at least five of their last ten.

WHAT’S HELPING

• Obviously it’s a help when you don’t have to get murdered on the road in places like Oklahoma and Kansas, and the money they made with these guaranteed games will go a long way in building the athletic program. Or subsidizing football debts, depending on which way you look at it.
• All but two teams are averaging double-digits in assists, which goes a long way in spreading defenses and creating offensive balance.

WHATS HURTING

• When they do spread the floor, they usually don’t make the shot. Particularly from three-point range. Only half of the conference is shooting better than 30 percent from long range, which is not going to be helpful for the team seeking that one shining moment as the 65th seed.
• The SWAC has a hard time defending the basket, as only Alabama A&M and Arkansas Pine-Bluff average better than two blocks per game.

WHATS NEXT?

There are a few big regional games coming up this week in the SWAC, which means you tuning into the SWAC games on ESPNU is not such a bad idea.

• Alabama St @ Alabama A&M – Saturday, Jan. 17 – Dynamic Bulldog guard Trant Simpson will look to shoot A&M to a big win against the rival Hornets on the road this weekend.
• Mississippi Valley State @ Jackson State – Saturday, Jan. 31 - The defending champion Delta Devils will likely limp into Jackson to face the possible SWAC champions of 2009.

In case you thought differently, the SWAC is still pulling up the rear in Division I basketball. Just once, you want to associate these hard working teams with other descriptors than “lopsided defeat” or “demoralizing road trip.” But, the SWAC has to make money, and we should all credit them for their hard work in trying to build solid programs.

So let’s take a look at the hardest working conference in America.

THIS WEEK – There’s a lot of losing going on in the SWAC, but there are some signs of life. Prairie View A&M appears to be following their football team and pulling together a decent team for the 08-09 campaign. Against Hawaii, Baylor and New Mexico State, the Panthers have lost by an average margin of 13 points; not bad on the road against teams that have had recent appearances in the national tournament.

After Prairie View, Alabama A&M, Alcorn State and Grambling State all have captured two victories on the season, which will likely be all they get out of conference.

WHAT’S HELPING

• It gets hard on the road when you are overmatched talent-wise, but the SWAC is maintaining a respectable approach to the intangibles. Rebounding for all but three teams is above 30 per game, and the same goes for teams averaging double-digits in assists.

WHATS HURTING

• There is truly no place like home. The SWAC Traveling Road Show does not stop until conference play, so the uneven match-ups are going to continue to give the conference a negative perception.
• Free throw shooting is horrible. Only Jackson State and Alabama A&M are above 70 percent on the season.

WHATS NEXT?

Here are a few of the upcoming key match-ups for SWAC teams. The race for 2009 is on, because the remainder of 2008 is nothing but trouble.

• Southern @ DePaul - Friday, Dec. 19 – The MEAC has found great success against DePaul the last two seasons, and hopefully, the Jags can find the same.
• Grambling @ Tulane - Monday, Dec. 29 – This is a winnable game for the Tigers against a Green Wave team that has gotten off to a .500, slow start to the season.

11.06.07

Well, we already covered the Ohio St. debacle. More CvC tonight…

Kentucky 67, Central Arkansas 40. Billy Gillispie debuted at Kentucky with the third highest victory total (27) for a coach’s first game in UK history (Rupp; Smith), while holding C. Arkansas to 20% shooting for the game, the lowest total against a UK team in 12 yrs. The Cats were paced by sometime-malcontent Joe Crawford, who was benched for the first 13 mins of the game before coming in to score 20 pts. Who is Mark Coury? The UK walk-on soph had a double-double (13/10), while Patrick Patterson, who looked great in the two exhibition games, got himself into early foul trouble and finished with four pts. Unless Patterson dominates and Carter gets healthy, inside play could be a season-long bugaboo for the Cats. For the definitive take on tonight’s action, check A Sea of Blue.

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Memphis 80, Richmond 63. After a performance last night against Maine last night that may have set the game’s evolution back a generation or so, Richmond decided to bring its game tonight. Or at least its zone defense, which seriously confounded the Tigers until a 14-2 run with 13 mins to go in the game finally put the Spiders away. Seriously, UM was only up one point at halftime, and by all accounts, looked confused. Once again, Derrick Rose was the story, with a line of 21/5 but only one assist. CDR also contributed 19/9 (on 5-14 shooting, though). Could zone be an achilles heel of the Calipari’s AASAA offense? Also, for the second consecutive night, someone went off on the Tigers, as David Gonzalvez blew up for 25 in a losing effort.

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Other Games: Gardner-Webb 69, Alabama A&M 55. So our SWAC predicted champion got beat, but how about our A&M boy Mickell Gladness? Nearly a trip-dub tonight, with 8/10/7 blks. G-W advances to play Kentucky tomorrow night.

On Tap Tonight. The Lexington Regional continues and the Storrs Regional gets started (aka the Regional that Holy Cross Can’t Play In).

• #15 Kentucky (-25.5) v. Gardner-Webb (ESPNU) - We heart Mark Coury.
  
• Connecticut (-26) v. Morgan St. (ESPNU) - Calhoun and Bozeman in a game of who is shadiest.
• Ohio Valley (NL) v. Buffalo – Could you have handpicked two crappier teams, Calhoun?

11.05.07

The 07-08 season got underway at the Memphis Regional last night for the CvC first round games.

· Richmond 44, Maine 42. Remember when the Richmond Spiders were good with Dick Tarrant on the sidelines beating the likes of Syracuse and Indiana? No longer. 100 Memphins (?) showed up early to watch a high school game break out.

· Memphis 102, UT-Martin 71. The nightcap that nobody outside of the Pyramid saw (thanks ESPNU) showed just how explosive the #1 blogpoll Tigers can be. Joey Dorsey didn’t play, but no matter. Chris Douglas-Roberts led the way with 28/8, but reviews were sparkling for the debut of superfrosh Derrick Rose (17/6/5), fueling message board chatter about the number of trip-dubs Rose will have this year. Possible Memphis concerns – 1) they let UTM’s Lester Hudson drop 35 on them (do they play D?); and, 2) 58.6% from the line (17-29).

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On Tap Tonight. The Memphis Regional continues and the Lexington Regional of the CvC gets started.

• #1 Memphis (-29) v. Richmond (ESPNU) – maybe the Fedex will open up the concessions?
• # 15 Kentucky (-27.5) v. Central Arkansas (ESPNU) - Gillispie’s debut at Rupp
• Gardner-Webb (-3.5) v. Alabama A&M – keep an eye on A&M’s Mickell Gladness

Once again, instead of the triumphant introduction to the season we have in such sports as NFL football and Major League Baseball, college basketball just sort of stumbles in and grabs a seat in the corner.

With college football and the NFL in full swing, it’ll take until Thanksgiving for anyone to notice that we’re already playing games, but that’s ok. It gives us a chance to bone up on early hits and misses (ahem, Michigan St.) while nobody’s watching.

Here’s the CvC bracket:

A few comments:

• Quick Rant. Why the hell aren’t ESPNU games part of the Full Court Package? That makes completely no sense to us as it seems a natural fit. And yes we’re extremely annoyed that Comcast will not offer ESPNU in our area.
• Predictions. Memphis will roll through its regional, keeping the nation’s longest homecourt winning streak (32) alive. Kentucky will bomb Central Arkansas but struggle with Alabama A&M and shotblocker extraordinaire Mickell Gladness in the second round. UConn will get a game from Todd Bozeman’s Morgan St. squad before faltering, then destroy Buffalo in round two. Our possible upset alert is USF over Oklahoma. The Dons probably don’t have enough to pull it off, but we expect a close game there. Still, we expect Jeff Capel’s OU team to represent the Norman region at MSG next week.
• Quick Fact. Kentucky is 0-2 in this event, with both losses coming in 2000 (UCLA, St. John’s) when it was a four-team tourney. Grab the ball, Tayshaun! That record will change this time around.

Predicted Order of Finish.

1. Alabama A&M (18-9) (13-5)
2. Mississippi Valley St. (13-13) (12-6)
3. Grambling St. (14-9) (12-6)
4. Alabama St. (15-14) (10-8)
5. Southern (13-15) (9-9)
6. Jackson St. (12-17) (8-10)
7. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8-19) (8-10)
8. Prairie View A&M (9-20) (8-10)
9. Alcorn St. (5-20) (7-11)
10. Texas Southern (5-23) (3-15)

What You Need to Know (WYN2K). Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the worst basketball conference in America! For three years running, the Southwestern Athletic Conference has found itself at the absolute bottom of every major computer ranking system (RPI, Sagarin & Pomeroy) as its ten schools have gone a collective 32-229 (.123) in OOC games during the last three seasons (easily the worst). Its sacrificial lamb league champion has received eight straight #16 seeds in the NCAAs and four of those teams were relegated to the dreaded play-in game. Just how bad is it? Consider that tournament champion Jackson St. and regular-season champion Mississippi Valley St. were the only two schools with overall winning records last year – no other conference member won more than eleven games. There are no encouraging signs of change for this season.

Predicted Champion. Alabama A&M (#16 Seed NCAA). Yes, we’re predicting a worst-to-first here, but the Bulldogs are the only SWAC school returning all five starters from last season, including dynamic sophomore guards Trant Sampson and Cornelius Hester as well as 6’11 defensive freak Mickell Gladness (6.3 bpg), who blocked an astonishing 20.5% of shots while he was on the court last season.

Others Considered. Grambling is an interesting team because they return four starters including the SWAC’s best all-around player Andre Ratliff, but they also open a brand-new 7500-seat arena and we shouldn’t discount the “new barn” effect. Mississippi Valley St. is another team to watch because they won the regular-season crown last season and return former Southern Miss coach James Green, who has inspired his teams to play maddening D, which will keep them in the hunt.

Games to Watch. There’s only one game you’ll find on tv from the SWAC, and it’s the only game that matters for this conference all season.

• SWAC Championship Game (03.15.08).

RPI Booster Games. The SWAC plays 28 games against BCS conference opponents, and 26 of those are on the road. In a weird scheduling coincidence, only Auburn deigns to venture into a SWAC gym, and it does so twice – it could lose either of these if Lebo’s team isn’t careful.

• Auburn @ Alabama St. (11.17.07)
• Auburn @ Southern (12.16.07)

Odds of Multiple NCAA Bids. Nil. It’s never happened before, and the reality of the non-conference “guarantee games” in the SWAC will ensure it doesn’t happen again this year.

All-Name Team. Alabama St.’s Grlenntys “Chief” Kickingstallionsims is a cinch for national honors, but Texas Southern’s St. Paul Latham is another worthy candidate.

Neat-o Stat. The SWAC likes to run, as half of its teams were among the top 62 fastest tempos in the nation in 06-07. By the same token, though, none can shoot the ball, as 9 of its 10 teams were among the bottom 35 teams last year in effective FG%.

65-Team Era. The SWAC is 1-21 in the era. Southern University (#13) defeated Georgia Tech (#4) 93-78 in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tourney.

Final Thought. The SWAC isn’t worth much in basketball, so we’ll give it some love for something it’s actually good at.