The Jackson State women’s basketball team is a runaway locomotive in the Southwestern Athletic Conference this season. The Tigers clinched their fifth consecutive regular season crown with its 77-59 win over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday.

Jackson State coach Tomekia Reed's team went undefeated Southwestern Athletic Conference. Jackson State (23-6, 18-0 SWAC) is the No. 1 seed heading into the Starry SWAC Basketball Tournament. The Lady Tigers will play at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, against Prairie View A&M (11-17, 7-11 SWAC), at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

Despite the Tigers' TSWAC dominance and impressive overall record, ESPN’s women’s basketball bracketologist Charlie Creme said they can't rest on their regular-season laurels. Jackson State, Creme says, "has to win" the SWAC Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament.

"They are around 100 in the NET," Creme said, referring a rankings metric the NCAA selection committee uses to help determine the 68-team field, "and that is not close to where teams would fall to get serious consideration for an at-large bid.”

Jackson State fans will remember that a year ago, the Tigers went 20-8, including 17-1 in the SWAC in the regular season. But Jackson State was knocked out of the SWAC tournament by Southern, 65-64, on a 35-foot, 3-point shot by Aleighyah Fontenot. Instead of an NCAA berth, the Tigers were invited to the WNIT.

In his latest March Madness bracket projection, Creme has Jackson State as the No. 15 seed traveling to the Portland 3 region to play LSU, which would be the No. 2 seed in Baton Rouge.

“It is possible that Jackson State could get to a 14 seed based on some of these other teams and how they play in their leagues," Creme said. "If you get some of the third- and fourth-place teams in leagues like the Patriot, Ohio Valley and the Southern (earning NCAA automatic bids), that moves them to the bottom of the seed list. That starts to gobble the 15 and 16 seeds, and that will push Jackson State up to a higher seed.”

Creme said he hears from a lot of mid-major teams that they will not play Jackson State for fear of losing. Creme noted that Jackson State is unafraid to play teams from Power Five conferences in advance of their SWAC schedule.

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“They are getting guaranteed money from the games against Kansas State and Texas which are probably money-makers for the school and the program,” Creme said. “Congratulations to them for going out and trying to do it and making it happen and making it work. I think it benefits them once they get into conference play. They show it can be done.”

According to copies of the game contracts obtained by the Clarion Ledger through a Freedom of Information Act public record request, Jackson State received $30,00 for playing Texas and $23,000 for playing Kansas State.

Selection Sunday for the NCAA Women's Tournament is March 17. The First Four will play on March 20-21, and the first round is March 22-23.

J.T. Keith is the HBCU sports editor for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at JKeith@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @JTKEITH1.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: March Madness: What Jackson State women's basketball must do to get in