SWAC Basketball: Grambling State leads final regular-season power rankings
Greetings to all, it's CWells your tour guide around the SWAC. The season is drawing to a close, so that means it's time for our power rankings. This will be our final ranking of the regular season. After so much chaos and movement, things have been oddly calm and stable in the rankings. No huge jumps this week, with only a couple of teams moving up or down 1 spot. It seems as if this season will come to a quiet (if not anticlimactic) ending. I'm still holding out hope for some serious SWACtion to close things out.
Eight teams have 2 games and 4 have 1 game remaining. Grambling State has the top spot on lock and should finish as regular season Champs. Alabama State is just about on the outside looking in, their chase for the 8th spot is the only drama remaining. Sadly there was no Mississippi Valley State magic this week, they weren't able to get their second win. So let's get down to the rankings.
12. Prairie View A&M SWAC: 5-11 (Last Week: 12) (Last Weekend's Record: 0-2) (Upcoming Game: 3/9 @TSU)
The Panthers remain ice cold as they have lost 6 straight games, dropping them from contention for a tournament spot. Saturday's game against Alcorn State saw PVU put up a good fight before falling short. Brian Myles continues to rack up double-doubles, this time leading the way with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Monday's matchup with Jackson State saw the Panthers fall behind by double figures before rallying back to lose by 5. Charles Smith IV was PVU's leading scorer with 19 points. What a disappointing finish to the season for the Panthers, they were officially eliminated from making the SWAC tournament. This season will mercifully come to a close on Saturday.
11. Mississippi Valley State SWAC: 1-15 (Last Week: 11) (Last Weekend's Record: 0-2) (Upcoming Games: 3/7 @AlcSU 3/9 @JSU)
The Delta Devils remain in the 11 spot in my rankings due to Prairie View's long losing streak. Valley played one game this weekend, losing to UAPB by 9 points. MVSU couldn't overtake the Golden Lions in the second half. Rayquan Brown had another great scoring night with 39 points, including 4 three-pointers. Brown is the only bright spot for this team. One final two game road trip is all that remains for the Delta Devils. I would love to see them pick up another win this season but I don't think it will happen.
10. Florida A&M SWAC: 4-13 (Last Week: 10) (Last Weekend's Record: 0-2) (Upcoming Game: 3/9 vs BCU)
The Rattlers had another 0-2 weekend road trip. Playing on the road has been rough for FAMU as they have only won one SWAC game away from home. Against Grambling State, the Rattlers were never able to fully get into striking distance (no pun intended) losing by 7 points. Keith Lamar led the way with 24 points. FAMU played arguably their worst game of the SWAC season against Southern on Monday. They shot 34% from the field and 0-5 from the 3-point line. Keith Lamar and Jalen Speer both scored 14 points. Not much went right for FAMU this season but they have one more game left against rival Bethune-Cookman. We'll see if they can close out with a win.