Pac-12 basketball announces historic home-and-home agreement with SWAC
The recently-announced alliance between the Pac-12 Conference, ACC, and the Big Ten won’t be the only forthcoming change to future scheduling in Pac-12 basketball.
On Monday, the league announced a partnership with the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the member schools to trade home-and-home dates in men’s and women’s basketball beginning with the 2022-23 season through the 2025-26 season.
The four-year agreement between the Pac-12 and a league filled with smaller, historically Black colleges and universities will be parsed into a pair of two-year cycles. The CU men’s team will participate in the first cycle, visiting Grambling between Nov. 10 and Nov. 13 in 2022, with Grambling returning the trip to Boulder the following year.
The matchups for all of the women’s series, as well as the men’s series in 2024-25 and 2025-26, will be announced at a later date.
“It’s a great opportunity for Colorado, and all Pac-12 student-athletes for that matter, to learn more about the proud history of HBCU schools and what they’ve meant to those that have benefited from the educational experience at these institutions,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said in a statement released by the league. “We look forward to the competition on the court and furthering the educational process through this endeavor.”
The Buffs-Grambling matchup will be one of six Pac-12-SWAC showdowns to be held Nov. 10-13 in 2022. Arizona (Southern), Oregon (Florida A&M), and USC (Alabama State) will host SWAC teams. Arizona State visits Texas Southern and Washington State travels to Prairie View A&M. Rematches will be held the following year with the sites reversed.
CU’s matchup against Grambling is the second confirmed nonconference date for the 2022-23 season, with the Buffs also scheduled to complete a three-game agreement against Tennessee in Nashville. CU and Grambling have met just once — the Buffs posted a lopsided 93-47 win at home on Dec. 29, 2007 behind 25 points from Richard Roby.
“As part of our Pac-12 Impact initiative to find ways to support and promote diversity and inclusion through sport, we could not be more proud to join with the SWAC on this first-of-its-kind initiative,” said Pac-12 deputy commissioner and lead men’s basketball administrator Jamie Zaninovich. “All credit goes to the basketball head coaches and athletics directors from both conferences for wanting to go above and beyond by creating a truly inclusive and meaningful partnership that will help raise awareness of the important role of HBCUs in higher education. On behalf of our membership, coaches and student-athletes, we thank (SWAC commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland) and our friends at the SWAC for embarking on this historic initiative with us.”
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