The No. 1 ranked Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), Texas Southern University (TSU) men’s basketball team declared victory against the Southern University Tigers on March 14, at the Toyota Center for the SWAC Men’s Championship Title beating the Southern Tigers 62-58
TSU actually had the SWAC championship title in its pocket the night in the 90-77 semifinal win over Prairie View A&M. The Southern Tigers were actually playing in a barred phase due to poor academic performance. In February, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) banned all Southern University athletic programs from postseason play because of poor grades.
For the record if Southern would have beat TSU, in the SWAC Championship game, the Southern Tigers would have not advanced to the NCAA. The Saturday win for the TSU Tigers just made their automatic SWAC bid to the NCAA bid just that sweeter.
This is the second consecutive year for the TSU Tigers (22-12, 16-2 SWAC) to step into the NCAA March Madness. They will go up against the powerful Arizona Wildcats. The Wildcats are second seeded (31-3). The action will take place in Portland, Ore in the second round of the NCAA West Region.
TSU should not be taken lightly. In regular season, the Tigers had some surprising wins against Michigan State (74-61) and Kansas State (58-56). Plus the Tigers’ not-so- secret weapons, the self-assured coach, Mike Davis who is ready for any opportunity and challenged.
He told a local CBS sports radio show that the big non-conference wins gave his guys a sense of pride. “I told the guys they have to play against really good basketball teams so they can understand the process. When we played Michigan State and won, Kansas State and Mexico State, our guys realized you can win basketball games without having a lot of great talent,” said Davis.
