Friday, April 27, 2012

Banks brings back good feelings at SU

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Modern jazz played in the background, bouncing off the glass walls and high ceiling of the atrium. Old-timers poked around their house salads, sharing stories and laughs. Eventually, an entire group of smiling alumni set down their tea glasses and steamed green beans, all too happy to watch this moment unfold.

One by one, members of the Southern University men’s basketball team walked to the front of the room, where they greeted coach Roman Banks and his overachieving staff. Together, they had led the Jaguars to an improbable 13-win turnaround this season, giving students, alumni and fans the kind of warm feeling that’s been long overdue at Southern.

Friday night, at a lavish postseason banquet in downtown Baton Rouge, each player received a large, thick, Columbia blue blanket, trimmed in gold and personally monogrammed — their reward for a job well done. Wait, wait, wait. A blanket?

What, no jacket? No cheesy plaque? What in the name of Carl Stewart was this all about?

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