2002–03 Sam Houston State Bearkats men's basketball team

2002–03 Sam Houston State Bearkats men's basketball
2002–03 Sam Houston State Bearkats men's basketball
Southland West Division Champions; Southland Tournament Champions
NCAA tournament
Conference	Southland Conference
	West
Record	23–7 (17–3 Southland)
Head coach	Bob Marlin;
Assistant coaches	Neil Hardin; Jason Hooten; Oderra Jones;
Home arena	Bernard Johnson Coliseum

2002–03 Southland Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
†	17	–	3	.850	23	–	7	.767
Stephen F. Austin	16	–	4	.800	21	–	8	.724
Texas–Arlington	13	–	7	.650	16	–	13	.552
Southwest Texas State	11	–	9	.550	17	–	12	.586
McNeese State	10	–	10	.500	15	–	14	.517
Lamar	10	–	10	.500	13	–	14	.481
Louisiana-Monroe	10	–	10	.500	12	–	16	.429
Southeastern Louisiana	9	–	11	.450	11	–	16	.407
UTSA	7	–	13	.350	10	–	17	.370
Northwestern State	6	–	14	.300	6	–	21	.222
Nicholls State	1	–	19	.050	3	–	25	.107

† 2003 Southland tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2002–03 Sam Houston State Bearkats men's basketball team represented Sam Houston State University in the 2002–03 college basketball season. This was head coach Bob Marlin's fifth season at Sam Houston State. The Bearkats competed in the Southland Conference and played their home games at Bernard Johnson Coliseum. They finished the season 23–7, 17–3 in Southland play to capture the regular season championship. They also were champions of the 2003 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament to earn the conferences automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. They earned a 14 seed in the South Region and were defeated by 3 seed Florida in the first round.^[1]

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
C		Donald Cole	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Sr	Lincoln	Port Arthur, Texas

Source^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov 22, 2002*		at TCU	L 81–91	0–1	Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (4,616) Fort Worth, Texas
Dec 18, 2002*		at Arkansas	L 67–78	2–3	Bud Walton Arena (9,368) Fayetteville, Arkansas
Southland regular season
Dec 28, 2002		Lamar	W 61–47	4–3 (1–0)	Bernard Johnson Coliseum (1,461) Huntsville, Texas
Dec 30, 2002		at McNeese State	W 85–78	5–3 (2–0)	Burton Coliseum (1,700) Lake Charles, Louisiana
Southland tournament
Mar 12, 2003*		McNeese State Semifinals	W 64–58	22–6	Bernard Johnson Coliseum (4,128) Huntsville, Texas
Mar 14, 2003*		Stephen F. Austin Championship game	W 69–66 ^OT	23–6	Bernard Johnson Coliseum (5,068) Huntsville, Texas
NCAA tournament
Mar 21, 2003*	(15 S)	vs. (2 S) No. 10 Florida First round	L 55–85	23–7	St. Pete Times Forum (20,224) Tampa, Florida
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=South.

Source^[3]

Sam Houston Bearkats men's basketball
Venues	Sam Houston State Gymnasium (1917–1956) Bearkat Gymnasium (1956–1976) Bernard Johnson Coliseum (1976–present)
Culture & lore	Sammy Bearkat The Famous Bearkat Band
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25