Even though Southern will be unable to participate in the upcoming SWAC Tournament, the Jaguars left no doubt they were without question the best team in the conference.
Southern (18-11, 14-2) cruised to a 67-54 win at Alcorn State Saturday to clinch the regular season championship.
“After all these guys have been through the last 48 hours and the ups and downs of this whole year, this speaks volumes of their character and their brotherhood,” Jaguars coach Roman Banks said. “I’m very emotional right now, and it’s very hard to find the words.”
It had been a tumultuous 48 hours for Southern after learning they would be banned from postseason play by the NCAA.
The ban, which went into effect last December, stems from insufficient documentation the NCAA has received from Southern related to the academic progress rates of its student athletes.
Banks said that his team would not allow that setback to impact their performance on Saturday.
“We also talked about representing our university, our students, our alumni. I think we showed what kind of character this basketball team has.”
