The University of Arkansas Pine Bluff won its first game in the NCAA men's basketball tournament , defeating Winthrop, 61-44, in the opening-round game in Dayton, Ohio on March 16. However, the reward for that win was a matchup with top seed Duke, which crushed the Golden Lions, 73-44 in a first-round game on March 19. The Golden Lions earned their initial berth in the "Big Dance" after beating Texas Southern, 50-38, in the Southwestern Athletic Conference title game on March 13 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Allen Smith, a Pine Bluff native, was named the Most Valuable Player of the SWAC tournament. The Golden Lions entered the "Big Dance" with a record of just 17-15, as they ended the regular season with a losing mark (14-15), which isn't bad since they started the season 0-11 http://www.uapblionsroar.com/news/2010/3/14/ During that stretch, the Golden Lions played two ranked teams - Georgia Tech (65-53) and Kansas State(90-76). They entered the NCAA Tournament, having won 11 of their last 12 games. Arkanas-Pine Bluff reached one other SWAC title game in 2006, losing to Alabama A&M. Founded in 1873, Arkanas-Pine Bluff is one of the smallest schools in Division I with an enrollment of just over 3,200. The historically black school is he second -oldest public institution in the state in Arkansas behind the University of Arkansas. <ref>http://www.uapb.edu/

Arkansas Pine Bluff originally joined the SWAC in 1936, but left in 1970 and did not re-join the conference until 1998. The Golden Lions are guaranteed of finishing with a winning record for the first time since moving back into the SWAC. In the early part of the last decade, they were one of the worst teams in the country, posting a combined record of 9-101 from 2000-2004. They been a little better recently, going 13-18 in each of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/ARPB/