NCAA Basketball Preview 2014-15: SWAC
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This is a preview that is much like doing a root canal, it's painful, but necessary.
The SWAC has been the standard of NCAA futility as they have not had a team make the NCAA Tournament as anything but a 16-seed this millennium. Alcorn State was a 15-seed in 1999 and the most outstanding player of the tournament was Richard Hamilton. Their standard of poor play predates the original pay-in game that begin in 2001, with SWAC team participating in the opening round eight out of a possible 14 teams.
To add injury to insult, four SWAC teams were ineligible for postseason play last season due to low APR scores. That left only six of the 10 teams in the conference eligible to make the NCAA Tournament despite every team taking part in the SWAC Tournament.
The good news is, the scores are up in the SWAC as Alabama State is the only team in the conference ineligible to make the field of 68. The fact that Alabama State is ineligible will not help the SWAC try to avoid the play-in game as they tied with Southern for the best overall record in the conference at 19-13.
Southern might be the SWAC's best hope of getting a team that is not a 16 in the tournament in many years. In the 2013 NCAA Tournament, Southern put a massive scare into the top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs before falling by eight points in a dogfight of a game.
Southern will have five seniors this season, many of whom played significant minutes in that game. Southern is a team with freakish athleticism and finally has some size with two 6-10 big men in the low post.
Texas Southern represented the SWAC in the big dance last season, but will be rebuilding this season. Six of their 12 players on the 2013-14 roster were seniors including AAric Murray who averaged 21.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per games last season.
Any team not named Southern that would go to the NCAA Tournament will almost certainly head to Dayton for the First Four. Every other SWAC team I have yet to mention had a win percentage below .500 as the conference went 23-93 in Division I games not played in conference. Just for giggles, I will throw out there Alabama A&M as a possible surprise team as they went 14-16 last season four freshman on the team.
The SWAC looks doomed to be in the 16 slots again this year, but Southern might just have enough in the tank to avoid heading to Dayton.
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