Alcorn State and Grambling State entered the SWAC tournament as regular-season co-champions and the top two seeds in the eight-team field.
After the weekend, both schools failed to win the league outright. Texas Southern earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after beating Grambling in the SWAC championship game.
Alcorn State, which lost in the first round of the conference tournament to Texas Southern, earned a spot as the SWAC representative in the NIT for the second consecutive season. Grambling, despite advancing further in the tournament than the Braves, was left out.
SWAC Commissioner Charles McClelland explained that in the event Alcorn State and Grambling State did not reach the NCAA Tournament the Braves would go to the NIT because it entered the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.
During the regular season, Alcorn State beat Grambling 63-60 on Jan. 30 in the team’s lone meeting.
“If both lose (in the SWAC tournament) it will go to Alcorn,” said McClelland.
