The Southern women's basketball team has made a habit of finishing near the top of the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings, so the resume fit the bill when it was picked to finish first in the preseason poll released last month.

The Jaguars finished third in last year's regular season before winning the SWAC Tournament for the third time in four years. They followed that up with a win in the NCAA Tournament, but coach Carlos Funchess doesn't put much stock in the preseason prediction.

"It kind of surprised me," Funchess said of the preseason poll. "We have three or four good returning players, but we've still got a bunch of new kids. There are a lot of teams that all return a bunch of kids, so it's going to be interesting to see how it shakes out. It's going to be a battle every game, as usual."

Southern finished 20-14 last season and was 12-6 in conference before defeating Jackson State, regular-season champion Alabama A&M and Alabama State in the SWAC Tournament. The Jaguars top returning players are a pair of juniors in 6-foot-1 forward DeMya Porter and 5-10 guard Jocelyn Tate.

Porter is a first-team all-SWAC pick after earning second-team honors at the end of last season when she averaged a team-best 9.6 points per game along with 5.2 rebounds.

Tate scored 7.8 ppg and led the team in rebounding (5.7 rpg) and steals (66). At the conference tournament, she made the game-winning basket in a 51-49 semifinal win over Alabama A&M, and she went on to be named the tournament MVP.

The preseason polls had Tate as the defensive player of the year and a member of the all-SWAC second team.

"It's good to see (Tate) get some respect for her defense because she's a true two-way player," Funchess said.

Other returning players include forward Zaria Hurston, who scored 13 points against Alabama State in the SWAC title game, shooting guard Jestiny Dixon and center Anaja Hall. The Jaguars lineup also will be bolstered by the return of two players who missed all of last season in guards Diamond Hunter and Taniya Lawson. Both have plenty of SWAC experience and will be playing their final seasons.

The top newcomers are point guard Alisha Nunley and Deniya Thornton. Nunley is the sister of former Southern men's player Andre Nunley, who played for Old Dominion last season. Thornton, who hails from St. Amant, averaged 15.8 points last season at Loyola (New Orleans), where she was a second-team NAIA All-American.

The formula for Southern will be the same as always under Funchess. The Jaguars will emphasize defense with a rotation of 10 or 11 players giving all of them a chance to make an impression.

"Nothing will change with our playing style," Funchess said. "We've got to get some games under our belt and get some chemistry. We've got to get better and stronger as the season goes on. Hopefully, we can stay injury-free because that's a big part of it."

The pre-conference schedule will include six teams ranked in the AP preseason poll. The Jaguars open their season at No. 22 Oklahoma State on Monday before traveling to No. 23 Illinois on Saturday.