PINE BLUFF, Ark. – When Allen Smith was growing up, he used to go watch basketball at his local college, but the less said about those Arkansas-Pine Bluff teams, the better.

“I used to go to sleep at the games, actually. I was a little kid,” Smith said. “They were getting blown out by 80 points and all that. It was rough.”

Now, Smith is preparing to play for UAPB in the NCAA tournament.

The Golden Lions will take on Winthrop in the tournament's first game tonight, with the winner advancing to play top-seeded Duke. UAPB earned the program's first NCAA bid by winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament, and the players were decked out in championship hats and shirts Sunday while watching the selection show in a cramped lounge near the school's football field.

“I've always wanted to play Duke, but I wanted to play Duke at Duke, just to see how the atmosphere was. I'll take it how I can get it,” said Smith, a 5-foot-10 junior. “It's going to be great. We've just got to get past this play-in game first. That's the first thing on the agenda. Beat Winthrop.”

No matter what happens Tuesday, UAPB has traveled quite a road to reach this point. As recently as 2003-04, the Golden Lions went 1-26. This season, they didn't play a home game until mid-January and started 0-11.

In the SWAC, however, the Golden Lions were contenders. They earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, beat fifth-seeded Texas Southern in the title game, and entered the NCAA tournament with a 17-15 record.

“This is as big as it gets for our community, our alumni and our students,” athletic director Skip Perkins said. “I'm still a little numb right now. The turnaround is remarkable. It wasn't even over 10 years ago we were barely winning one or two games at all.”

UAPB improved from those depths, losing in the SWAC tournament title game in 2006 under coach Van Holt. George Ivory took over as coach before the 2008-09 season.