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LOCATION: Pine Bluff, AR
CONFERENCE: Southwestern Athletic (SWAC)
LAST SEASON: 3-24 (.111)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 1-15 (9th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 1/4
NICKNAME: Golden Lions
COLORS: Black & Gold
HOMECOURT: Health & Physical Complex (4,500)
COACH: Harold Blevins (Arkansas-Pine Bluff '65)
record at school 26-75 (4 years)
career record 26-75 (4 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Van Holt
Lamont Daniels
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) NA-9-10-4-3
RPI (last 5 years) N/A-N/A-N/A-N/A-309
1998-99 FINISH: Ineligible for postseason play.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Last season, Arkansas-Pine Bluff coach Harold Blevins vowed his team would be competitive in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Golden Lions managed just three conference wins in 1998, but with four starters back, Blevins was confident their win total would increase. Instead, it decreased. For the second straight year, Arkansas-Pine Bluff was one of the nation's worst teams, its RPI only one away from bottom-dweller Liberty. The Golden Lions won just three games, including just one in the SWAC, that coming against Mississippi Valley State. Arkansas-Pine Bluff opened the season with six straight losses. Then, after beating the Delta Devils, lost 10 in a row and eight of its last nine to finish 3-24, one win less than the previous season. Seventeen of Arkansas-Pine Bluff's 24 losses were by double-digits, including a 56-point shellacking at Missouri, a 52-point blowout at Mississippi State, a 44-point bombing at Memphis and a 40-point loss to SWAC champion Alcorn State. The Golden Lions finished fifth in the league in scoring (70.1), ninth in scoring margin (minus-15.6), seventh in field-goal percentage (.397), eighth in free-throw percentage (.589) and eighth in three-point field-goal percentage (.269).
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT D BENCH/DEPTH D
FRONTCOURT D INTANGIBLES D
The task that coach Harold Blevins faces is a daunting one. Even with some talented returnees and newcomers, Arkansas-Pine Bluff's early pre-conference schedule would test the best of teams. When you add in the always-tough SWAC schedule, the Golden Lions are still years away from being competitive at any level. |
Arkansas-Pine Bluff was ninth in scoring defense (85.7), ninth in field-goal percentage defense (.453), ninth in rebounding margin (minus-8.1) and seventh in three-point field goals made (4.56). Suffice to say Blevins has tried to put last year behind him. With four starters back, along with nine returning lettermen, this could be the year the Golden Lions start their revival. "We've got a good group of players returning," Blevins said. Leading Arkansas-Pine Bluff's charge is 6-7 sophomore center Jeremy Jefferson, who led the Golden Lions in scoring (13.4), rebounding (6.9) and finished second in blocked shots (21) despite playing just 14 games. Jefferson became eligible at the semester break last season. The Golden Lions' other returning starters include 6-5 senior forward Shawn Eldridge (11.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg), 6-6 junior forward Michael Vickers (8.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and 5-10 sophomore guard Ben Coleman, (8.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg). Coleman finished ninth in the league in three-point field-goal percentage (.327) making 51 of 156. Arkansas-Pine Bluff will miss forward Terrance Duncan, one of the Golden Lions' most versatile players a year ago. Arkansas-Pine Bluff's other returning players are 6-4 senior forward Calvis Craig (0.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg), 6-2 junior guard Derion Gipson (4.1 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 30 assists), 5-11 senior guard Damon Horton (4.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 26 assists), 5-7 senior guard Antonio Moore (1.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 58 assists), 6-3 ophomore guard Melvin O'Neil (4.1 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 17 assists), 6-2 sophomore guard Jermaine Rollins (3.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 24 assists), 6-5 junior forward Effrence Smith (5.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 23 blocked shots), and 6-0 junior guard Marcus Swygart (3.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg). Smith finished 10th in the league in blocked shots, averaging 0.92 per game. Newcomers Patrick Chambers, Troy Brown, Dan Brown and Derrick Floyd are expected to contribute immediately. "I think (Jeremy) Jefferson really emerged last season and he'll be helped tremendously by (Patrick) Chambers and (Troy) Brown," Blevins said. Chambers and Troy Brown, who both missed last season because of academic reasons, should take some of the pressure off of Jefferson. Chambers, a 6-6 senior forward, was the team's second-leading scorer (13.2) and rebounder (7.2) during the 1997-98 season. Brown, a 6-5 junior, averaged 6.8 points in a reserve role during the same season. Dan Brown, a 6-4 swingman, averaged 19.5 points and 4.0 rebounds last season at Lincoln Junior College in Chicago, while Floyd, a 6-2 guard, possesses great quickness. Arkansas-Pine Bluff will be hard-pressed to have success early with a pre-conference schedule that includes road trips to Southeastern Conference foes Auburn and Mississippi State, along with visits to Tulsa, Southern Methodist, Drake, Arkansas-Little Rock and Baylor.
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