SWAC men's basketball tournament

SWAC men's basketball tournament
Conference basketball championships
SportCollege basketball
ConferenceSouthwestern Athletic Conference
Number of teams8
FormatSingle-elimination tournament
Current stadiumBartow Arena
Current locationBirmingham, Alabama
Played1978–present
Last contest2024
Current championGrambling State
Most championshipsTexas Southern (11)
Official websiteSWAC Men's Basketball

The SWAC men's basketball tournament (popularly known as the SWAC tournament) is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The tournament has been held every year since 1978. It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. The winner, declared conference champion, receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. The winner, declared conference champion, receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. On seven occasions, the SWAC champion has won an NCAA Division I tournament game (two being in the first round and five in preliminary rounds).[1]

The 1977–78 season was the SWAC's first as an NCAA Division I basketball conference, but it was not until 1980 that the champion went to the Division I tournament; most notably, the 1979 champion was Alcorn State, who went 27–0 but only received an NIT bid (where they lost in the second round) as they had "not yet completed the three years of adherence to a 2.00 average entrance requirement."[2][3]

The semifinal and championship SWAC basketball tournament games are held at the Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.[4] As of the 2017 tournaments,[5] they feature an eight-team, three-day layout with the quarterfinal rounds hosted on campus sites. This changes the previous 10-team, five-day tournament format. The higher seeded teams will host a combined eight games leaving two days for travel and practice rounds. The tournament concludes with the semifinals and championship rounds inside Birmingham's Bill Harris Arena. Winners of the tournaments earn automatic bids to their respective NCAA Division I tournaments. The championship games are nationally televised live annually on an ESPN network. In 2017, the trophy was named to honor Davey Whitney, the legendary coach that had won twelve regular season SWAC championships and seven SWAC tournaments, both of which being the most in conference history.[6]

  1. ^ Becton, Stan (March 22, 2024). "Here is every HBCU that has won a men's NCAA tournament game in history". NCAA.com. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  2. ^ "SWAC Regular Season Champions, by Year". coachesdatabase.com. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
  3. ^ "Ask Sports: How did an undefeated Alcorn State team not make the 1979 NCAA Tournament?". Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  4. ^ "SWAC Announces Partnership with City of Birmingham". swac.org. July 12, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
  5. ^ "SWAC concludes Spring Meetings". swac.org. June 9, 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2024.
  6. ^ "Basketball championship trophy to carry namesake of Davey Whitney". swac.org. July 19, 2017. Retrieved 2024-05-23.