Birmingham, Alabama.- The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced the 2022-23 men’s basketball predicted standings and preseason All-SWAC team and individual award winners at the league’s Virtual Media Day event on Friday morning. All conference honors and preseason votes were voted on by the league’s head coach and director of sports information.
The Texas Southern were tabbed as the favorites heading into the 2022–23 season. After the Tigers, Alcorn Province (2nd), Southern (3rd), Prairie View A&M (4th) and Florida A&M (5th) round out the top 5 in preseason voting.
Grambling State (6th), Jackson (7th), Bethune Cookman (8th), Alabama A&M (9th), Alabama (10th), Arkansas Pine Bluff (11th), and the Mississippi Valley (12th) were tabbed to finish 6 through 12 respectively.
TSU led the selection in all preseason polls with 14 votes, followed by Southern (3 votes), Alcorn State (2 votes) and Arkansas Pine Bluff (2 votes). Prairie View A&M (1), Jackson State (1), and Bethune-Cookman (1) tallied his #1 votes of 1 vote each.
Bethune Cookman’s Joe French was named Preseason Player of the Year, and Texas Southern’s Karl Nicholas was named Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
The Frenchman finished the season fourth in SWAC, averaging 15.7 points per game. He shot 45.3 percent off the sixth-best field ranking in the conference. Most impressively, he shot his 44.1% from behind the arc, which was his best mark in SWAC. The Frenchman maintained efficiency despite his 170 three-point shot attempts per game, his second-most in the conference, of which he attempted 75.
Nicholas ranked second on the team with 9.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He was a key contributor to his team Texas Southern winning his 2022 SWAC Men’s Basketball Tournament title. Nicolas was named SWAC Impact He was named Player of the Week (9 December) after posting impressive performances while playing in non-conference. He contributed his 11 points to the Tigers during the 2022 SWAC Tournament Championship game.
Below is the complete list of preseason polling rankings, selections from all conferences, and individual award winners.
March 14, 2022; Dayton, Ohio, USA. Head Coach Johnny Jones of the Texas Southern Tigers is on court with his team during practice the day before the start of the First Four of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at UD Arena. Required Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
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2022-23 SWAC Men’s Basketball Predicted Order of Finish
- South Texas – 258 (14)
- Alcorn Province- 231 (2)
- Southern-215 (3)
- Prairie View A&M-171 (1)
- Florida A&M- 164
- Grambling State – 150
- Jackson- 149 (1)
- Bethune-Cookman-132 (1)
- Alabama A&M- 116
- Alabama- 99
- Arkansas-Pine Bluff-76 (2)
- Mississippi Valley- 32
1st place vote in brackets
November 28, 2021; Newark, New Jersey, USA. Bethune Cookman Wildcats guard Joe French, 30, passed Seton Hall Pirates guard Jameel Harris, 15, in the second half at the Prudential Center. Required Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
- Joe French, Bethune Cookman
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
- Carl Nicholas, Texas Southern
Preseason All-SWAC First Team
- Joe French, Bethune Cookman
- Tyrone Lyons, Southern
- Cameron Christon, Grambling State
- Garrett Hicks, Alabama A&M
- Carl Nicholas, Texas Southern
December 22, 2021; Wichita, Kansas, USA. Prairie View A&M Panthers guard Jeremiah Gambrel, 10, looks for holes around Wichita State Shockers forward Kenny Port, 11, in the second half of Charles Koch’s arena. Mandatory credit: William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports
Preseason All-SWAC Second Team
- Dominic Brewton, Alcorn
- Jeremiah Gambrel, Prairie View A&M
- Keondle Montgomery, Alcorn
- Bryson Etienne, Southern
- John Walker III, Texas Southern
