SWAC basketball is going to look a bit different heading into the future.
The league’s presidents and chancellors approved several changes at the annual spring meeting – two of them related to its basketball structure.
The league voted to expand the number of teams that will participate in the SWAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments from eight to ten teams on both sides for the 2025 tournaments. The 2026 SWAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments will feature all 12 men’s and women’s teams in action. This will mark the first time that the conference tournament has featured 12 teams, as it previously invited all teams when the league had 10 institutions prior to the arrival of Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman.
In addition to the change at the basketball tournaments, the structure will change for regular season contests.
A new scheduling format for men’s and women’s basketball was also approved for the 2024-25 academic year. Women’s basketball league contests will be played on Thursdays and Saturdays with men’s basketball games set for Saturdays and Mondays.
In the previous format, women’s and men’s games were on the same days, creating double-headers. Now the SWAC women will have Thursday games to themselves while the men will have Monday night spotlight alone.
About the SWAC
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is considered one of the premier HBCU conferences in the country and currently ranks among the elite in the nation in terms of HBCU alumni playing with professional sports teams.
Current championship competition offered by the league includes competition for men in Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field and Tennis.
Women’s competition is offered in the sports of Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Golf, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Soccer, Softball, Tennis and Volleyball.