Texas Southern did it again, they have somehow found a way to make the NCAA tournament this season after barely squeaking into to the SWAC basketball tournament as an 8 seed. The Tigers got hot heading down the stretch run to find themselves in the league tournament and then continued that hot streak in the league tournament beating the top seed Alcorn State in the first round and then beating the tournament favorite Grambling Tigers to find their way into another NCAA tournament.
Head coach Johnny Jones has done a great job building the Texas Southern program into a power in the SWAC but this year is going to be like any other he has ever experienced in his time as a coach. The Tigers have a chance to make history and are doing something that only a few other teams before them have ever done. That is playing in the NCAA tournament with a losing record. Heading into their First Four game the Tigers stand at 14-20, which means heading into Championship Week they only had 11 wins.
Six games under .500 is the second-worst winning percentage of all time in the NCAA tournament. It is also the worst SWAC team to qualify for the event. This season will mark the second time that the Tigers have made the NCAA tournament with a losing record. The other time was in 2017-2018. That team finished second in the league that season and won the tournament title. This team is different in a lot of ways. How can the Tigers make history? What makes this team so special?