Southern won the SWAC championship by knocking off Prairie View A&M on Saturday. Here are five things you didn’t know about the NCAA Tournament-bound Jaguars:
1. They’re 22-4 in their last 26 games. Since a 1-5 start, Southern has been on fire. The Jags rolled through the SWAC schedule at 15-3 and captured the tournament title by knocking off Alabama A&M and Prairie View A&M, who were a combined 14-22 in conference.
2. They made the NCAAs in part because Texas Southern was ineligible. Like UConn, TSU missed out on the tournament because of a bogus Academic Progress Rate rule that effectively punishes today’s players for the academic failures of those who came before them. Texas Southern was 16-2 in the league but won’t get a chance to dance because earlier TSU teams didn’t record a high enough APR score.
3. They have a dynamic duo in the backcourt. Senior guard Derick Beltran averages 15.9 points per game, while junior guard Malcolm Miller is a fraction behind him at 15.8. They’re going to be tough to stop in the tournament.
4. They’ve won 7 of 8. Southern is coming in hot, with its only loss in that span on the road at Texas Southern, which we’ve already established is a pretty good basketball team.
5. They’ve got an intense rivalry with Grambling. The two historically black schools face off in the Bayou Classic every year in football, which is often televised on NBC. But the greater rivarly may come at halftime, during the always intense “Battle of the Bands,” which might be viewed as a de-facto marching band national championship.
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