SWAC Tournament Odds, Preview, and Prediction

• Prairie View A&M is the #1 seed and Jackson State is #2 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, which starts Wednesday at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Ala.
• Prairie View A&M and Jackson State both went undefeated in SWAC play during the regular season
• A breakdown of the SWAC Tournament along with wagering advice can be found below

After going though conference play in the regular season unbeaten and riding 13-game winning streaks, Prairie View A&M and Jackson State headline the eight-team field in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament, which will be played from Wednesday, March 19th, to Saturday, March 13th, at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

The eight-team event begins with two quarterfinals. The #2 seed, Jackson State (11-5), faces #7 Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4-20) at 2:00 pm ET and #1 seed Prairie View A&M (14-4) plays #8 Mississippi Valley State (2-21) at 8:30 pm.

The other quarterfinals are set for Thursday with #3 Texas Southern (13-8) taking on #6 Alcorn State (6-12) at 2:00 pm and #4 Grambling State (11-11) playing #5 Southern University (8-10) at 8:30 pm.

The semifinals are scheduled for Friday with the tournament’s lone NCAA Tournament bid decided in the championship game on Saturday.

2021 SWAC Tournament Odds

Odds as of March 8th. 

The Co-Champs

Prairie View A&M Panthers went 13-0 inside the SWAC and Jackson State was 11-0. They were declared co-champions because of their identical – and perfect – 1.000 winning percentages.

https://twitter.com/Underated_Waun/status/1368436121793921025

Junior guard Jawaun Daniels leads Prairie View A&M as he is averaging 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds a game while shooting 55.3% from the field and 44.3% from 3-point range.

Cam Mack, another junior guard, is averaging 12.1 points, dishing out a whopping 8.4 assists and making 2.9 steals a game. Sophomore guard Jeremiah Gambrell Jr. has an 11.4 scoring average.

Tristan Jarrett is rated as the SWAC’s best player by KenPom.com. The senior guard has averages of 20.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals while accounting for 31.5% of Jackson State’s possessions while on the floor and 35.3% of its shots.

Tristan Jarrett has SIX threes in the game! 🔥@GoJSUTigersMBB | #BleedTheeBlue pic.twitter.com/J9CNIW3Pli

— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 23, 2021

Junior forward Jayveous McKinnis is a force inside, averaging 12.2 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots.

Jarrett and McKinnis are fine two-way players. Both spark a defense that is allowing a conference-best 96.9 points per 100 possessions, according to KenPom.com. That ranks 84^th in the nation.

Prairie View A&M last lost at TCU on Dec. 30. The previous defeat for Jackson State came Dec. 20 at Iowa State.

Texas Southern Top Challenger

Texas Southern also enters the tournament on a hot streak. It has won six games in a row and 11 of its last 12 following a 2-7 start.

Senior guard Michael Weathers leads four players with double figure scoring averages at 16.2 a game. He is filling up plenty of other stat columns, too, with averages of 5.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.4 steals.

@_MKJ24 Michael Weathers with the assist – Chris Baldwin with the DUNK ..@TSUmenshoops in control! pic.twitter.com/djX1kQFaac

— Texas Southern University (TSU) Athletics (@TXSOTigers) February 2, 2021

Junior forward John Walker (12.1, 5.3), senior forward Galen Alexander (10.6, 5.0) and junior forward Jordon Karl Nicholas (10.3, 6.5) are combining for 33.0 points and 16.8 rebounds per contest.

Texas Southern’s 98.5 adjusted offensive efficiency is No. 1 in the SWAC.

Southern U. a Sleeper

Southern U. could be a sleeper and a worthwhile value play on a small wager despite its sub-.500 record. It won four games in a row before dropping back-to-back road frays to Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern to end the regular season.

Junior wing Samkelo Cole is the top scorer with an 11.8 average. Junior guard Jayden Saddler has been the top all-round player with averages of 11.5 points, 5.3 assists, 1.6 steals and shooting percentages of 61.7 on field goals and 44.4 on 3s.

Jayden Sadler (@jaydensaddler) Gets his layup up and it gets goaltended with 5 seconds left for Southern University to tie the game up 62-62 and force an Overtime against UAPB on the road (ignore bottom overlay it wasn’t being updated in the game) pic.twitter.com/tWYcEkUoLY

— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) February 13, 2021

Who’ll Get The Bid?

Thanks to the coronavirus, the SWAC holds the unique distinction of two teams going undefeated in conference play in the regular season.

It would be most fitting if Prairie View A&M and Jackson State met in the championship game. The teams are evenly matched, but Jackson State’s strong defense and the presence of Jarrett makes it the pick in this tournament.

Pick: Jackson State (+300)