TSU basketball picked to repeat as SWAC champs

HOUSTON, Texas -- Last year, multi-sport star Derrick Griffin didn't begin basketball practice for Texas Southern until two days before the Tigers' first game. The lack of a preseason didn't hinder the 6-7, 230-pounder who became the SWAC player of the year.

Suspended from the football team earlier this season, Griffin's focus is strictly on playing basketball for the Tigers, who on Wednesday were picked to repeat as the conference's regular season champions in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Prairie View A&M is picked sixth among the 10 teams.

"Our talent is better this year than it has been since I've been here," said fifth-year TSU coach Mike Davis, whose Tigers return only one starter in Griffin. But Davis redshirted four transfers that will contribute this season, including 6-4 Zach Lofton and 6-10 Marvin Jones, who began his college career at Kent State.

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