Farmers Insurance SWAC Basketball Tournament Notes and Bracket Duane Lewis 03/08/10 WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT HIGHLIGHTS　 Let the Games Begin!: The 2010 Farmers Insurance SWAC Tournament is finally upon us as the teams have been seeded and the bracket is set. Wednesday’s Quarterfinals will feature the #2 seed and two-time defending champions Prairie View A&M against #7 seed Alabama State in the opening game of the tournament at noon. PV swept the Lady Hornets this season and will look to go 3-0 against ASU in en route to defending its ‘09 tournament title. Alabama State last won a title in 2003 and will look to play spoiler in the tourney this year. #1 seed Southern clinched its first regular-season title since 2006 and will take on #8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Wednesday’s 5:30 Quarterfinal game. SU swept UAPB during the regular season and will try to make it 3-0 against the Lady Lions in pursuit of a fourth conference title. UAPB, who has yet to win a SWAC title, will try for an upset bid from its last seeded position. Thursday’s Quarterfinal will see the #3 Alabama A&M take on the #6 Alcorn State at 12 noon and the #4 Grambling State battle #5 Texas Southern in a clash of the Lady Tigers at 5:30 p.m. The Bulldogs and Lady Braves split meetings in 2010 as well as GSU and TSU. Alabama A&M and Texas Southern are both in search of its first SWAC title in school history. Alcorn State last won the tournament title in 2005 while Grambling State last won the crown in 1999. History of #1 and #2: Since the beginning of the SWAC women’s basketball tournament in 1982, the team that has clinched or shared the regular season title has gone on to claim the tournament title 16 times. Southern last claimed both the regular season and tournament title in 2006. Since 1999, the team that has won at least a share of the regular season title has won the tournament title seven times. However, watch out for #2. The #2 seed has won the last three out of four SWAC Tournament titles. Prairie View pulled off the feat in 2007 & 2008, while SU claimed the title as the #2 seed in 2006. MEN'S TOURNAMENT HIGHLIGHTS MARCH MADNESS - SWAC Style! The bracket is set for the 2010 Farmers Insurance SWAC Basketball Tournament. The Jackson State Tigers won the regular season title, its first since sharing the title in 1995-96 and first outright title since 1993. Men’s tournament action begins Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. with a clash of rivals as #2 seed Univ. Arkansas-Pine Bluff takes on #7 seed Miss. Valley St. Later on Wednesday the top seed, #1 Jackson State takes on #8 seed Grambling State in Battle of Tigers at 8 p.m. Thursday’s schedule features intra-state matchups between bitter rivals. At 2:30 p.m. #3 seed Alabama State facing arch-rival #6 Alabama A&M. In the 8 p.m. nightcap, #4 Prairie View A&M battles #5 Texas Southern. CAN #1 GO BACK-TO-BACK? Jackson State will look to become the second straight #1 seed to win the SWAC Tournament and third in the past five years (Alabama St. 2009, Southern 2006). Dating back to 1999, the top seed entering the tournament has won the tourney title just six times in 14 years. In fact, dating back to the 1978 Tournament, teams that claimed at least a share of the regular season title have pulled off the double-double only 18 of 32 times (56 percent). IS IT IN THE NUMBERS? The five other tournament champions that were not #1s came from four different seeds. A pair of #2 seeds (Alabama State - 2004; Jackson State - 2007) won the title. In 2003, Texas Southern’s Tigers won the tournament title as the #3 seed. In 2008, the #6 seeded Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils became the lowest-seeded champion since #7 Prairie View won the 1998 Tourney Title.