BIRMINGHAM -- The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) has announced its 2008-09 basketball television schedule, highlighted by a matchup of last season’s men’s regular season and tournament champions, and ending with both the men’s and women’s tournament finals shown live during ESPN’s Championship Week.

A total of 18 games will be televised live either on ESPN2,  ESPNU, the Big Ten Network or FSN South. Defending men’s regular season champion Alabama State will kickoff the TV schedule on Monday, Jan. 5  against Grambling State in the nightcap of a men’s and women’s doubleheader on ESPNU.

Prairie View A&M’s Lady Panthers, the defending women’s regular season champion, will play at Arkansas-Pine Bluff as part of a Monday, Jan. 26 doubleheader on ESPNU.

This year’s television schedule also features a Saturday afternoon game on ESPN2 between defending men’s tournament champion Mississippi Valley State playing at Jackson State on Jan. 31.

On Mon. Feb. 9, Mississippi Valley State will play at Alabama State in battle of last season’s champions. The men’s and women’s finals of the 2009 SWAC Tournament will be shown live on ESPNU on March 14.

A trio of games will also be shown on the Big Ten Network and one game on FSN South.