off bottom

One coach after another came to the podium that day prior to the start of the 2003-04 season to champion the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s biggest task at hand &045; get away from that NCAA play-in game.

Two seasons are in the books since then, and no such luck.

Actually, last season the SWAC did get off the bottom and avoided the play-in. Credit head coach Rob Spivery and his Alabama State squad for getting through a wild conference tournament to win it and landing a 16th seed.

But in three of the last four seasons, it’s been the SWAC against someone in the play-in, and the SWAC stands 0-3. Alcorn did it in 2002, Texas Southern in 2003 and Alabama A&M on Tuesday.

It’s still something that doesn’t sit well with the conference, and hopefully everyone will revisit the issue &045; on both men’s and women’s sides. There isn’t a play-in game yet in women, but just wait.

It’s coming.

&8220;It’s a great concern, a serious concern for the SWAC,&8221; Alcorn head women’s coach Shirley Walker said. &8220;You’ve had Grambling going in with 22 wins. I’m very concerned about it. I would like to know why we continue to go in there. We’re doing everything we can to try and keep up our RPI.

&8220;Somebody needs to look at that real close at what we’re doing and where we’re going. It’s very frustrating for our men and women.&8221;

That’s because the play-in game and its format is almost set up for failure. Take the Tuesday game with Alabama A&M and Oakland. The Bulldogs finished the four-day tournament Sunday, hopped on a plane Monday for Dayton, Ohio, and played Tuesday.

Had they won, mind you, it would have been another plane, another city and a date with North Carolina three days later.

Suddenly, drawing that 16th seed outright doesn’t sound like a bad deal, huh?

Why the play-in? It’s all in your RPI.

Among all Division I conferences, the SWAC ranked last in both men and women this season. In men, the SWAC’s .4270 rating was 31st and well below the Big Sky’s .4483 at 30th.

Alabama A&M was also the lowest-rated team in the field of 65 and ranked 220th out of 330 Division I teams. The NCAA figures your RPI on Division I winning percentage, schedule strength and opponents’ schedule strength.

The men’s side of the SWAC was down this year. Five teams had RPI ratings in the bottom 30.

But the women have struggled, too. The last three seasons the SWAC champ has drawn the No. 16 seed in the tournament.

Alcorn’s men was the last to get lower than a 16th seed in 1999. Remember when Southern earned a 13th seed and upset Georgia Tech in the first round in 1993?

What’s happened since then? Hard to say. It’s talent, scheduling, facilities &045; maybe more &045; and not a mere lack of respect.

Everyone has to come together and devise a plan of action before the conference gets left behind for good.

Adam Daigle

is sports editor of The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at (601) 445-3632 or at

adam.daigle@natchezdemocrat.com

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