Grambling State University made history by winning its NCAA Tournament debut and making the SWAC a pretty penny.
GSU’s 88-81 win over Montana State in the First Four on Wednesday night was the first NCAA Tournament win for the program. It also earned the SWAC roughly $2 million dollars over the next six years.
Pete Thamel, ESPN’s Senior College Football Writer, explained it compactly via Twitter on Wednesday night.
“The value of a unit for the men’s NCAA tournament this year is $341,802,” Thamel tweeted on X. “The value changes by the year, but that means a payout of nearly $2 million for the NEC and the SWAC over the next six years by Wagner and Grambling State winning in the First Four.”
Wagner, of course, defeated MEAC champion Howard University 71-68 on Tuesday. Howard University’s three-point loss means the MEAC will not earn that unit this year.
While many people – particularly in the HBCU world – look at playing in the First Four as a sign of disrespect, it has paid dividends for HBCUs.
Texas Southern and North Carolina Central played each other in the First Four back in 2019, with the SWAC champs getting the better of the MEAC champs that season. Prior to that win, the SWAC had not had an NCAA Tournament win since Southern took down Georgia Tech back in 1993. Texas Southern won back-to-back First Four Games in 2021 and 2022 before losing to Farleigh-Dickinson in the 2023 First Four. Wednesday night’s win means the SWAC will be dispersing multiple units to its members for several years.
Before Howard took on Wagner, the 2022 Norfolk State squad and the 2023 Howard squad both avoided playing in the First Four – but both teams still managed to get seeded 16th. And both teams lost to their top-seeded opponents, meaning there will be no additional dispersal for those two units. The MEAC is still getting a unit from NSU’s win in 2021, but that is the only current unit being distributed under the current formula as its second most-recent win came win Hampton beat Manhattan back in 2015.
Eight of the combined 15 wins HBCUs have in the NCAA Division I Tournament are Play-In/First Four Games.
HBCUs in NCAA Tournament (Division I)
Alcorn State: 3 (1980– South Alabama, 1983 – Xavier, 1984 – Houston Baptist)
Coppin State: 1 (1997 – South Carolina)
Florida A&M: 1 (*2004 –Lehigh )
Grambling State: 1 (*2024 – Montana State)
Hampton: 2 (2001 – Iowa State, *2015 – Manhattan)
Norfolk State: 2 (2012 – Missouri, *2021 – Appalachian State)
North Carolina A&T: 1 (2013 – *Liberty)
Texas Southern University: 3 (*2019 – NC Central, *2021 –Mount Saint Mary’s, *2022 – Texas A&M – Corpus Christi)
Southern University: 1 (1993 – Georgia Tech)
*Play-in/First Four