Atlanta, Ga. – The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), founded by eight Black men from six colleges in Texas in 1920, is considered one of the premier HBCU conferences in the country.
“I think we are taken for granted a lot,” reiterated Southern University senior guard Olivia Delaney of St. Petersburg, Fla., in defending her conference. Her coach Carlos Funchess added, “This league is tough. We have quality players and coaches in this league.”
“It’s not about A&M but the entire HBCU culture,” reiterated Alabama A&M Women’s Basketball Coach Dawn Thornton. “What we are doing at our HBCUs right now deserves to be celebrated. Every school in the conference deserves to be celebrated.”
This was only my first SWAC postseason tournament coverage in person, a six-day S&A (survive and advance) gauntlet.
“Night in, night out, great crowds,” reported SWAC Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland. “It was one of our better tournaments.”
The games were very competitive and, as March Madness annually presents, whether it’s an HBCU tournament or a PWI, being the top seed is no guarantee or a bye into the championship game.
Bethune-Cookman men’s basketball won the SWAC regular-season title by three games but fell to Prairie View A&M in the quarterfinals last Wednesday.
“I don’t know how many times someone has clinched the top spot with three games to go,” Head Coach and Athletic Director Reggie Theus pointed out afterwards. “We accomplished stuff that never happened at this school.”
Alabama A&M women’s basketball also was the tournament’s top seed and reached the semifinals before falling to Southern last Friday.
Southern (WBB) and Prairie View (MBB) won their respective tournament championships last Saturday and both earned the SWAC automatic bids into this week’s NCAA tournament, where historically Black schools are often seeded low. Both Howard University basketball teams captured their MEAC tournament crowns last weekend and also will suffer a similar fate.
“It’s not just HBCUs” that get the NCAA annual snub,” explained Commissioner McClelland, a former selection committee member.
Southern makes its second consecutive NCAA appearance. Coach Carlos Funchess told us after his team won the title, “It’s going to be tough to get a real high seed unless you beat some Power 4 schools. You got to win games…beat better programs to get a 13th seed or something like that to get a true opportunity to beat someone” in the big tournament, he pointed out.
The Prairie View A&M Panthers men are making their first NCAA appearance since 2019. Coach Byron Smith said after his postgame conference about the low seeding:
“I think mainstream media controls a lot of the narratives in college athletics. I think if they could be a little bit more objective and not subjective, if they could be more open-minded and look at the Southwestern Athletic Conference and the MEAC, I think they will see that we have quality young people. We have great coaches in our league.”
HBCU Sports reported Sunday that several mainstream outlets such as ESPN and The Sporting News projected Prairie View A&M and Howard (MBB), and Southern and Howard (WBB), as No. 16 seeds. If successful, these teams would then play the top seeds in their regions.
Howard is No. 16 (Midwest) and plays UMBC on Tuesday, while Prairie View A&M, also a No. 16 seed (South), plays Lehigh on Wednesday in the men’s First Four play-in games (final results were not available at press time).
The women’s HBCU champions: No. 14 Howard plays Ohio State on Saturday, and Southern plays Samford in the No. 16 play-in game.
Grambling Women’s Basketball Coach Courtney Simmons bluntly told us, “I don’t think it will ever change. I think the best thing the NCAA could have done for low majors like SWAC and MEAC is to give us a play-in game. Now that gives us the opportunity to be able to play against teams that are equally as talented as us.
“Then you go on to play South Carolina and it gives you an opportunity (to advance),” she stressed.
“That should be a conversation,” concurred Smith.
“I’m proud of Prairie View and Southern University,” surmised McClelland after the men’s tournament title game. “On the women’s side, two great teams, Southern University and Alabama State,” he pointed out on the WBB title game played earlier that Saturday.
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