Sports

Men’s basketball picked to win SWAC championship

by Sports Information

Expectations are high on “The Hill” this fall as the Prairie View A&M men’s basketball team was picked to win the 2012-13 Southwestern Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship on Wednesday morning.
This marked the highest preseason prediction by the Panthers since the 2003-04 campaign.
All five starters return from last year’s squad which finished third overall in the SWAC standings. Entering his seventh year at the helm of the program, head coach Byron Rimm II is excited about the potential of this year’s team as they return nine letterwinners in addition to adding eight newcomers.
While the newcomers continue to gel and learn Rimm’s system, the Panthers have a solid mix of experienced veterans to lean on led by senior guards Jourdan DeMuynck, Ryan Gesiakowski and Ronald Wright.
Junior guard Louis Munks also returns along with sophomore Montrael Scott and Jimmie Duplessis as the Panthers won’t have a problem with depth.
Also joining the squad and expected to provide leadership this year is transfer point guard Carl Blair, who comes to Prairie View A&M from the University of Oklahoma.
Inside the paint, junior forward Jules Montgomery returns after posting a team-high 26 blocks in his first season at Prairie View A&M.
Junior post Demondre Chapman is also back as he shot 50 percent from the field last year in addition to senior center Mayol Riathin.
The Panthers also increased their depth in the paint as 6-9 junior Josh Eleby, 6-8 junior Patrick Agho, 6-7 freshman Wesley Afolayan and 6-8 junior Rasi Jenkins join the fold.
In addition to the SWAC Preseason rankings, Prairie View A&M has also been picked high in several preseason publications as they were picked to win the SWAC by Lindy’s Sports and CBSSports.com. In addition, they were also selected to finish second by Athlon Sports
“I’m excited about this year as on paper, this is probably one my best teams since I’ve been here,” said Rimm. “We’ve been voted number one (in the SWAC) in a few publications and that’s great but our approach at practice is to work hard every day and improve every game.”