Prairie View A&M Panthers

The Prairie View A&M Panthers play out of the William Nicks Building on one of the nation's most historic HBCU campuses. The Panthers hold a national championship banner from their NAIA days and have added three SWAC Tournament titles since joining Division I, most recently capturing the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament win. Prairie View has quietly become one of the SWAC's most improved programs in recent seasons. It's a proud old name doing brand-new things in March.

Founded in 1876 as one of the country's original Black land-grant colleges, Prairie View A&M won the 1962 NAIA national championship with a perfect 5-0 tournament record. The Panthers joined NCAA Division I basketball in 1980 as SWAC members and have since won three conference tournament titles — 1998, 2019, and 2026 — reaching the NCAA Tournament each time. The 2026 team went a step further, beating Lehigh for the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament win. That breakthrough capped a decades-long climb from Division I newcomer to genuine March threat.