Southern basketball notebook: Tre'lun Banks has no time to celebrate his graduation; no decision yet on suspended players

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Skipping college graduation for basketball is becoming a bit of a Banks family tradition.

Like his father, Roman, did for his graduation, Southern senior point guard Tre’lun Banks skipped Friday’s ceremony in which he would have received his diploma in favor of attending the Jaguars’ morning practice sessions.

Banks earned his degree in 31/2 years. He could have graduated last spring but put it off until December so he could play his senior season.

“It’s big when you graduate. Everybody wants to walk, but I feel like we had so much going on,” Banks said. “I feel like this team is in need, especially with a lot of players being gone and with me being a senior leader, there was just too much that needed to be done.”

Roman Banks, Southern's coach, said it was his son's decision to pass on his graduation ceremony. Roman skipped his at Northwestern State to continue his preparation for a run at a professional career.

“(Tre’lun) wanted to make sure he finished, but he wanted to be out here,” Roman said. “It was his decision. His mom wanted to see him walk, but that wasn’t in his plan.”

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