In just his second season, Alcorn State University head coach Landon Bussie accomplished a feat the program hasn’t achieved in 20 years: The Braves became the regular season Southwestern Athletic Conference champions for the first time since the 2001-2002 season.
Alcorn State went 15-15 overall and 14-4 in SWAC play with a 6-3 record at home. The Braves will enter the SWAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed, projected as having the best chance at reaching the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Bussie received honors as SWAC Men’s Coach of the Year for his efforts this season. His team showed great progress from his first year. During the 2020-2021 season, the Braves went 6-13 overall and 6-7 in SWAC play. The team went just 4-3 at home and ended the season on a four game losing streak.
Alcorn State named Bussie as head coach in April of 2020, whereupon he helped navigate the program through a COVID-19 season last year. Games were postponed and canceled, however, due to COVID outbreaks in different programs.
The Braves ended this regular season on a six-game winning streak to come into the conference tournament as hot as possible—an impressive feat for Bussie to accomplish in only his second year of his first head-coaching job.
This coaching helped Justin Thomas, who led the Braves in scoring this season and played in 26 games with 25 starts, earn Second-Team All-SWAC honors.
Not a stranger to the SWAC, Bussie served as an assistant coach for Prairie View A&M University for two seasons. In both seasons Prairie View won the regular season title and played in the NCAA Men’s Tournament in the 2018-2019 season.
Alcorn State will open the SWAC Tournament against No. 8 seed Prairie View, and if they advance, the team will have to wait a day to learn their next opponent. The Braves will face the winner of the No. 4 seed Florida A&M University and No. 4 seed Alabama A&M University game.
During the regular season, both Prairie View and Florida A&M were two of the four teams that defeated the Braves. On the other side of the bracket, only No. 6 seed Grambling State University beat Alcorn State during the regular season.
Jackson State is the No. 7 seed and opens the tournament against No. 2 seed Texas Southern University. Grambling State plays No. 3 Southern University to begin the tournament.
The SWAC Men’s and Women’s Tournament is being played in Birmingham, Ala., at the Bartow Arena. All the games will be broadcast on ESPN+, except for the men’s championship game will be televised on ESPNU.
Read more sports coverage at jfp.ms/sports.
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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.