| THE UNIVERSITY ::
Enrollment of approximately 15,300.
84 undergraduate degree programs, 47 masters' programs,
and 4 doctoral programs in Criminal Justice, Educational
Leadership, Counselor Education and Clinical Psychology. |
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| THE PROGRAM ::
The backbone of the Sam Houston State basketball program
is the administration, the fans and the city. |
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| LETTERS ::
Rick’s decision to attend Sam
Houston State has been the best move of his life yet.
Coach Marlin’s responsibility is to produce a winning
program, but he brought much more to the table. |
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With six senor lettermen
returning for the 2002-03 season, the Sam Houston State
University men’s basketball season set itself a goal--to
make history. The Bearkats achieved that goal.
On Friday, March 21, 2003, Sam Houston made its first
NCAA Division I National Championship tournament
appearance. The Bearkats battled the Florida Gators, a
squad ranked number one in the nation just six weeks
earlier. The game was played before CBS television
cameras in Tampa, FL.
The appearance as one of the 64 teams in the NCAA
tournament brought national attention to the Huntsville
campus as no event before. TV, radio and print
journalists from coast to cast interviewed Bearkat
coaches and athletes and SHSU orange pride was rampant
throughout the Southwest. The Gators won 85-55 with
fantastic three point shooting to end the year from Sam
Houston but what a ride it was.
The Bearkats earned their berth in the NCAA playoffs
with a 69-66 overtime victory over Stephen F. Austin on
Friday, March 14, in the Southland Conference
championship game. The contest was telecast nationally
on ESPN2 cable. The home Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum
crowd numbered 5,269 fans, only the second time in
school history for more than 5,000 fans to attend a
Bearkat home basketball game.
The victory marked not only the Bearkats’ fist
post-season tournament trophy but also Sam Houston’s
first time to reach the tournament finals. Until 2003,
SHSU had never advanced past the semifinals, reaching
the second round twice (in 200 and 2001).
Earlier during “Championship Week”, Sam Houston defeated
sixth seeded and defending tournament champion McNeese
State 64-58 in the semifinals. A crowd of 4,764 fans
attended the contest in Huntsville.
Sam Houston State earned the number one seed in the
tournament with its second Southland Conference regular
season championship in four years. The Bearkats compiled
a 17-3 league record, trying the SLC mark from
conference victories in one season. McNeese State won
the SLC with 17-3 records in both 2001 and 2002 while
Nicholls State and Louisiana-Monroe went 17-1 in 1995
and 1993, respectively.
With a 23-7 season record, Sam Houston State has
produced its highest NCAA Division I victory total. The
2000 SLC champion Bearkats went 22-7. The 2003 Bearkats
produced Sam Houston State’s longest NCAA Division I
winning streak, wining ten in a row. The streak stared
on Jan. 23 with an 83-66 victory in Huntsville over
Louisiana-Monroe and ended Feb. 27 with a 27-71 overtime
loss to the ULM Indians in Monroe. At the time, the
ten-game winning streak was the fourth longest current
streak in NCAA Division I men’s basketball.
Sam Houston State ranked fifth during the regular season
in NCAA division I men’s basketball in field goal
percentage defense (.387). The Bearkats stood eighth in
the nation in blocked shots 174). Sam Houston State
ranked 24th nationally in assists per game (15.7).
Since Bob Marlin took over as head coach in 1999, the
Bearkats have rolled up the best record among Southland
Conference teams. Sam Houston State stands 85-57 (.599(
overall, 59-37 (.615) in Southland Conference league
play, and 22-18 (.550) in non-conference games. The
Bearkats are the only team in the league with a winning
record against non-league teams in that time span.
Marlin was named 2003 Southland Conference Men’s
Basketball “Coach of the Year.”
The Bearkats reaped several major post-season honors.
Senior forward Donald Cole (6-8, 222) was named
Southland Conference “Player of the Year,” first team
all-Southland Conference, southland Conference
All-Tournament and Southland Conference Tournament “Most
Valuable Player.” With his honorable mentions selection
on the 2003 Associated Press All-American squad, Cole
became only the third Sam Houston State athlete to earn
All-American honors at the NCAA Division I level (and
was the first for men’s basketball).
Senior point guard Robert Shannon (5-11, 162) was named
second team All-Southland Conference. Shannon led the
Southland Conference in assists this season for the
second year in a row. Both Cole and Shannon were
recognized as Sam Houston Stat’s 2003 “Co-Most Valuable
Players.”
Junior center Eddy Fobbs (6-11, 232) was a third team
All-Southland Conference selection and was named to the
Southland All-Tournament squad. He led the Southland
Conference in blocked shots.
The Bearkats went 15-0 at home in Bernard G Johnson
Coliseum in 2003. Only three previous times has Sam
Houston State gone unbeaten in Johnson Coliseum - 1982
(17-0), 1986 (15-0) and in 1988 (11-0). |
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