SWAC Tournament 2011 Schedule And Bracket

The SWAC Conference tournament will be held in Garland, Texas, starting on Wednesday and running through Saturday. Most projections have the winner of the SWAC tournament being one of the absolute worst seeds in the NCAA's, but that doesn't necessarily mean they can't pull a win out once they get there.

The Texas Southern Tigers, hailing from Houston, are the #1 seed with a 18-11 mark, including a 16-2 run in conference. Led by senior Kevin Galloway, who almost never leaves the floor, the Tigers defense was the best in the SWAC. They'll open up against the #8 seed Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions, which went 7-23 on the season, with all 7 wins coming in-conference. The Tigers went 2-0 against them this season.

The tournament will play four straight days...

That roar is Harvey's TSU Tigers

With conference tournaments in full force, NCAA Tournament bids are there to be won this week, and some teams can turn an otherwise sorry season into a good year by earning an NCAA bid. Texas Southern already has had a good season.

As for local schools, TSU has the best chance to prance in the Big Dance. That is apropos, says head coach Tony Harvey, who believes his Tigers are the best college basketball team in the area.

At 18-11, Harvey's team certainly has the best record, and the SWAC regular-season champions head to Garland this week as the favorite to earn the conference's automatic bid at the league tournament.

2011 SWAC Tournament Bracket: THE MAP FOR THE ROAD TO GLORY

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VISIT: SWACHOOPS

SWAC football is getting better

SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp

HUNTSVILLE, Al. - For as long as anyone can remember, the Southwestern Athletic Conference has been a three-headed monster when it comes to football.

Grambling, Southern and Jackson State have been by far the best programs in the league. Grambling has won 22 SWAC championships. Southern has won 18 and Jackson State 16. Nobody else even comes close.

Since 1960, the trio has won or shared ...

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SWAC invites Tennessee State to join

TSU AD Teresa Phillips

Tennessee State, currently a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, plays two or three SWAC schools annually, and league officials believe the Tigers would be a good fit. TSU athletics director Teresa Phillips, reached earlier this week, elected not to comment on the issue, but said school officials have discussed conference affiliation in recent years.

"We had a study looking at several things, including conference affiliation, but we never had a conclusion to that," Phillips said. "That conversation is always somewhere. It's always on the tip of our tongue."

SWAC commissioner Duer Sharp chose not to comment when contacted by The Times.

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SWAC suspends and Fines Jackson State's Comegy

SWAC Suspends and Fines JSU's Comegy

Birmingham, Ala. - Jackson State University head football coach Rick Comegy has been suspended for one game (Saturday, November 13 vs. The University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff) and fined $1,000.00 for violating the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s sportsmanship policy following the Tigers’ game at Alabama State on Saturday, November 6th.

Coach Comegy’s comments and actions following the contest violated SWAC policy which prohibits coaches, student-athletes, and administrators from making “Inappropriate/derogatory comments to the media about officials, coaches, student-athletes and administrators (or designee)."

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Our take on all of this...total overkill!  Coach Comegy is not the problem! The SWAC needs to adopt a policy for instant video replay in all league games and immediately procure the necessary equipment for next season.  Too bad coaches careers are being jeopardized by the lack of proficiency in the SWAC Zebras Corps.  Implementing an instant replay policy would resolve most of coaches and players concerns and provide the Zebras with a reliable tool to assist them in officiating the games.

Saturday's SWAC TV Schedule: Jackson State Tigers vs. Grambling State Tigers

Jackson State at Grambling State football game will be shown live on Saturday from Eddie Robinson Stadium in Grambling, Louisiana on SWAC TV. Fans will be able to view the game for free via the SWAC TV link from the SWAC website. Kickoff is set for 4:00 p.m. with the pregame show at 3:45.

To view SWAC TV, click on www.swac.org and follow the link on the right side of the page, or use this direct link - http://www.swac.org/allaccess/

SATURDAY'S SWAC GAMES

Alabama A&M at Texas Southern, noon
Alabama State at Prairie View A&M, 3 p.m.
Alcorn State vs. Mississippi Valley State, 4 p.m. (Soldier Field, Chicago)
Jackson State at Grambling, 4 p.m.
SWAC TV: http://www.swac.org/allaccess/

How the Legacy Bowl could ruin S.C. State football

Orangeburg, S.C. -- (Excerpts) : South Carolina State has finally come clean about the Legacy Bowl. Around a month after Florida A&M issued a statement denouncing the bowl, earlier this week, the school issued a press release confirming that it, along with the rest of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, are engaged in talks regarding a potential Legacy Bowl that would put the winner of the MEAC against the winner of the SWAC at the end of the 2011 season.

All interview requests by T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr., directed to South Carolina State President George Cooper and Athletic Director Charlene Johnson were rejected. Looking at things from Johnson and Cooper's point of view, and for that matter the MEAC's, and in their defense, the game may actually provide an initial financial benefit. But, it's also a very near-sighted move, especially for South Carolina State.

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Commissioner tries to calm Legacy controversy

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Commissioner Dr. Dennis E. Thomas refuses to answer the Press questions regarding the ESPN Legacy Bowl proposal. Thomas instead took a swipe at Bloggers and fans who have expressed strong opposition to dropping the conference automatic berth to the Football Championship Subdivision (1-AA) Playoffs.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. --Amid the storm of controversy surrounding the proposed Legacy Bowl, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference commissioner Dennis Thomas has attempted to maintain a calm front. Aside from comments made in June confirming the possibility of ESPN reviving the Heritage Bowl under a new aforementioned moniker with the MEAC and Southwestern Athletic Conference facing each other starting Dec. 17, 2011, the former South Carolina State head football coach has kept talk about the contest mostly under wraps.

"We are doing due diligence about the possibility and no decision has been made," Thomas said on Monday. "I can't make any comments until or if the deal is done. And then I can make some accurate comments about what is."

Thomas said he was hopeful a final decision on whether to participate in the game, which would require the MEAC to drop its automatic qualifying berth into the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, would take place "sometime in the fall." At that point, the final decision would be left in the hands of the conference's school presidents and chancellors.

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SWAC basketball tournament expected to bring millions to Garland, area

SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp.

Dignitaries from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Garland and Richardson officially kicked-off planning for the conference's 2011 basketball tournament Tuesday at the Garland Special Events Center. The conference, which includes 10 historically black colleges including Grambling State University, Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University, will hold the tournament at the center for three years.

SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp said he didn't know how much money the tournaments would bring to the area, but said Birmingham, Ala., which has previously hosted the event, realized about $10 million a year. Attendance at last year's tournament in Shreveport, La. was about 15,000 but he expected that to be higher in Garland. Sharp said the Dallas-area was a good fit for the tournament because it has the second-largest alumni base for the 10 universities.

The conference wants to expand and improve the three-day event which includes men's and women's tournaments. It has hired Urban Sports, a marketing firm, to plan and publicize the event. Garland school board member Linda Griffin said she is pleased to see the tournament because of the educational opportunities that are being planned for the event.

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GSU, ASU win SWAC track

The Grambling men and Alabama State’s women took home team titles at the Southwestern Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field championships on an afternoon when extracurricular activities caused a delay during the meet’s final day. The men’s competition was marred by a scuffle that broke out in the stands between the Southern and Jackson State squads following the 60-meter hurdles.

The cramped field-house seats, populated mainly with coaches and athletes, had meet officials scrambling to restore order. At the time, JSU and Southern were in second and third place, respectively, but both men’s squads were ultimately disqualified from the championship. All finishes by both men’s teams were deleted, with lower finishes moved up and point totals recalculated.

“I am extremely disappointed by today’s incident,” SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp said in a statement released Sunday evening. “Championship events are to celebrate and reward the achievements of our student athletes. Today, the actions of those involved in the altercation have not exemplified that competitive spirit of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and its member institutions. This behavior is unacceptable, and we will investigate completely before taking further disciplinary action.”

SWAC Indoor Track and Field Results

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SWAC teams feel lost on the road

Photo: UAPB First Year Men's Basketball Coach George Ivory (right) with Athletic Director Louis B. 'Skip' Perkins (left), the architect behind the Golden Lions ELEVEN guaranteed games -- through four time zones -- out of conference schedule.

The San Diego Union-Tribune referred to the UAPB Golden Lions as "mercenaries bouncing from gym to gym picking up a paycheck." The same is true of the entire SWAC with a current record of 15-101, with three teams --Southern, Texas Southern and Mississippi Valley currently at 0-38.

Duer Sharp has a problem: His basketball teams can't stop losing.

Sharp celebrated his first full year as commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference on Friday, but there wasn't much to celebrate. When you're presiding over arguably the worst of the 31 Division I basketball conferences, self-congratulation seems rather inappropriate. Sharp will be the first to say the SWAC, made up of 10 small, Southern, historically black colleges, has a problem with basketball. When those teams begin conference play tonight, the men's teams will be doing so with a combined record of 15-101. Three of those men's teams - Southern, Texas Southern and Mississippi Valley State - currently sit at 0-38. The women's teams have fared slightly better, going 20-75 since the start of the season.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff's men's team, which opens SWAC play at 7 p.m. tonight against Mississippi Valley State in Pine Bluff, could be the poster child for the problem. The Golden Lions are 1-10 after an 11-game road trip that included losses at Texas A&M (76-47), Missouri (95-41) and San Diego State (93-61). UAPB received between $75,000 and $80,000 for each game, and pocketed a total of $715,000 for the 11-game ordeal. Skip Perkins, the university's athletic director, said such "guarantee" games are necessary for keeping UAPB's cash-strapped athletic department in the black.

The SWAC's other nine schools face similar problems, and each loads its schedule with guarantee games as a solution. But some, including Sharp, worry that irreparable damage is being done in the process. "We cannot continue to have this situation," said Sharp, who plans to bring the issue to the conference's 10 school presidents at its annual meeting in May.

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