March 4, 2007

The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced the pairings for their Conference Tournament Sunday afternoon. Despite the topsy turvy nature of the SWAC regular season, one thing is certain: if the Alabama State University men's team is going to win the SWAC title and advance to the NCAA tournament, they'll be doing it the hard way.

By virtue of Saturday night's loss to Grambling, ASU (10-19, 8-10 SWAC) will be the 8th seed in the men's draw, which means a first round match up with regular season champions Mississippi Valley State (16-14, 13-5 SWAC) on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. The Hornets lost to MSVU twice this season, 59-57 and 52-44.

"We're excited about the opportunity to play Valley," said ASU head coach Lewis Jackson. "Both games came down to the wire and could have gone either way.

"Closing games has been a problem for us all season. Only three of our conference losses have been by more than six points," Jackson continued. "So we've been in games, we just have to finish stronger."

Freda Freeman-Jackson is counting on Shantae Robinson to lead her young team

The Hornets will lean on sophomore guard Andrew Hayles who appears to be peaking at the right time. Hayles has poured in 75 points over the last three games, raising his season scoring average to 14.6 points per game.

"Andrew has really stepped up in terms of shooting the ball," Jackson said. "We'll need him to continue his scoring, while improving the other parts of his game - defending and rebounding. That will give us the best chance of competing for a championship."

On the women's side, Freda Freeman-Jackson's Lady Hornets (12-17, 9-9 SWAC) are seeded fifth and will face 4th seed Arkansas-Pine Bluff (10-19, 10-8 SWAC) in the first round on Thursday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. Earlier this season, ASU lost to UAPB 61-55 on the road but beat the Delta Devils 72-60 at home.

"It's a good match up for us," Freeman-Jackson said. "They are similar to us, and they play very hard. It will be a tough game."

Freeman-Jackson's biggest challenge might not be the opponent, but how her extremely young team - six freshman log significant minutes - will handle to playing on a larger stage.

"It (youth) is definitely a concern for us," Freeman-Jackson said. "We have no idea how they'll handle the tournament setting and all of the things surrounding it."

ASU will lean on the experience of senior center Danielle Sanders, sophomore slasher L'Teisha Holloway, and, especially, junior point guard Shantae Robinson.

"Shantae is playing some of her best basketball of the season," Freeman-Jackson said after Robinson's 16 point, 11 assist effort against Grambling State. "When she scores like that, teams are not able to double team other players. It allows everyone else to be more effective."

The winners of the SWAC tournament, to be held March 7-10 at the Birmingham-Jefferson (Ala.) Civic Center, will earn the conference's automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament

SWAC Tournament Brackets in PDF Format
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