2023 SWAC men's basketball tournament

The 2023 SWAC Men's Basketball Tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the 2022–23 season in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The tournament was held from March 8–11, 2023.^[1] The tournament winner, Texas Southern, received an automatic invitation to the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, the latter becoming just the third 20-loss team to make the tournament. The tournament was sponsored by Cricket Wireless.

2023 SWAC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2022–23
Teams	8
Site	Bartow Arena Birmingham, Alabama
Champions	Texas Southern (11th title)
Winning coach	Johnny Jones (3rd title)
Television	ESPN+, ESPNU
SWAC men's basketball tournaments ← 2022 2024 →

2022–23 SWAC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Alcorn State	15	–	3		.833			18	–	14		.563
Grambling State	15	–	3		.833			24	–	9		.727
Jackson State	12	–	6		.667			14	–	19		.424
Southern	11	–	7		.611			15	–	17		.469
Alabama A&M	10	–	8		.556			15	–	18		.455
Prairie View A&M	9	–	9		.500			13	–	19		.406
Bethune–Cookman	8	–	10		.444			12	–	20		.375
Texas Southern †	7	–	11		.389			14	–	21		.400
Alabama State	6	–	12		.333			8	–	23		.258
Arkansas–Pine Bluff	6	–	12		.333			10	–	21		.323
Florida A&M	5	–	13		.278			7	–	22		.241
Mississippi Valley State	4	–	14		.222			5	–	27		.156
† 2023 SWAC tournament winner

Seeds

Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tie–breaker system that seeded teams with identical conference records. Only the top eight teams in the conference qualified for the tournament.

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker^[2]
1	Alcorn State	15–3	1–0 vs Grambling State
2	Grambling State	15–3	0–1 vs Alcorn State
3	Jackson State	12–6
4	Southern	11–7
5	Alabama A&M	10–8
6	Prairie View A&M	9–9
7	Bethune–Cookman	8–10
8	Texas Southern	7–11
DNQ	Alabama State	6–12	2–0 vs AR-Pine Bluff
DNQ	Arkansas–Pine Bluff	6–12	0–2 vs Alabama State
DNQ	Florida A&M	5–13
DNQ	Mississippi Valley State	4–14

Schedule

Game	Time*	Matchup^#	Score	Television
Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 8, 2023
1	2:00 p.m.	No. 2 Grambling State vs. No. 7 Bethune–Cookman	87–72	ESPN+
2	8:30 p.m.	No. 1 Alcorn State vs. No. 8 Texas Southern	62–66
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 9, 2023
3	2:00 p.m.	No. 3 Jackson State vs. No. 6 Prairie View A&M	62–60^OT	ESPN+
4	8:30 p.m.	No. 4 Southern vs. No. 5 Alabama A&M	63–77
Semifinals – Friday, March 10, 2023
5	2:00 p.m.	No. 5 Alabama A&M vs. No. 8 Texas Southern	61–74	ESPN+
6	8:30 p.m.	No. 2 Grambling State vs. No. 3 Jackson State	78–69
Championship – Saturday, March 11, 2023
7	4:30 p.m.	No. 8 Texas Southern vs. No. 2 Grambling State	61–58	ESPNU
*Game times in CST. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.^[3]

Bracket

	Quarterfinals March 8–9					Semifinals March 10					Championship March 11
	1	Alcorn State	62
	8	Texas Southern	66
						8	Texas Southern	74
						5	Alabama A&M	61
	4	Southern	63
	5	Alabama A&M	77
											8	Texas Southern	61
											2	Grambling State	58
	2	Grambling State	87
	7	Bethune-Cookman	72
						2	Grambling State	78
						3	Jackson State	69
	3	Jackson State	62*
	6	Prairie View A&M	60

* Denotes overtime period

References

1. "2023 Cricket SWAC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments". swac.org. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
2. "SWAC Basketball Tiebreaker Policy". SWAC.org. SWAC.
3. "2023 SWAC Basketball Tournament Brackets Mar. 8-11 (PDF) - Southwestern Athletic Conference" (PDF). swac.org. Retrieved February 18, 2023.