HoopsHD continues its series leading up to Selection Sunday and March Madness, as we simulate what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t). Up next is the SWAC, a conference whose automatic bid winner was likely headed to the First Four in Dayton. After dominating the conference in 2018-19 and winning the the automatic bid, Prairie View A&M was once again the top seed and entered the semifinal round in Birmingham as the favorite to repeat. Would they do it? Could perennial power Texas Southern reclaim the crown? Would Southern or Jackson State surprise? It is time to find out!
SWAC SEMIFINALS
The Prairie View A&M Panthers won their second straight SWAC regular season championship this year and were looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season and third time in school history. First, they had to get by the conference’s 4-seed, Jackson State. Despite entering the game with a sub-.500 overall record, Jackson State showed up ready to play, jumping out early and building a 13-point advantage at the half. The Panthers spent the entire second half trying to fight back, and had a shot when Lenell Henry drained a 3 with 7 seconds left to cut the Jackson State lead to 74-71 and then watched the Tigers miss a pair of free throws. Without any timeouts left, however, all the Panthers could muster was a ¾ court shot at the buzzer, which did not come close, and the upset was officially in the books. Jackson State advanced to the SWAC title game while Prairie View was off to the NIT.
The second semifinal saw the 2-seed Southern University taking on Johnny Jones’ 3-seed Texas Southern Tigers. Much like the first game of the night, the lower seeded team jumped out to a decent-sized lead at the half, this time 49-40 in favor of the Tigers. The Southern University Jaguars, unlike Prairie View earlier, did not have a second half run in them. Instead, the Tigers kept their foot on the gas pedal and coasted home with a 92-67 win and a chance to make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in the last seven years. Tyrik Armstrong led the way for Texas Southern with 19 points in the victory.
SWAC CHAMPIONSHIP
It had been 13 years since Jackson State last made the Big Dance, but thanks to their upset win in the semifinals over Prairie View, they had a chance this season. Unfortunately for JSU fans, one upset was all the team had in them. Texas Southern built an 8-point lead in the first half and did just enough to hold Jackson State off in the second, despite a game-high 25 points from Jackson State’s Tristan Jarrett, winning by a final score of 86-76. Yahuza Ross had a double-double for the champions, scoring 10 points while pulling down 14 rebounds. Texas Southern was back in the Dance, and was likely getting ready for a trip to the First Four in Dayton.
