In two years, UCA men’s basketball coach Rand Chappell has developed an “upper echelon” program.

Chappell took over a program that had won five games and guided the team to back-to-back 20-win seasons.

His latest team ended its season March 13 as it fell 73-69 to Lynn in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Montevallo, Ala. The loss gave UCA a 23-8 mark on the year — its best record since the 1991-92 season.

“This was a great year for us,” Chappell said. “We played a lot of tough, exciting games. Our conference was extremely tough and I think winning the West Division was a great accomplishment for us.”

The 1991-92 Bears finished 28-5 and fell just short of an NAIA title for the second straight year. The 1990-91 Bears finished 29-5, ending the season the same exact way.

This year’s Bears were the first to claim a Gulf South Conference West Division title, albeit a share of the title with Delta State.

UCA didn’t stop making history there. The Bears also made their first trip to the NCAA Tournament and won their first NCAA Tournament game over West Georgia last Saturday.

“I always act like I’m disappointed ‘cause I guess I set my sights real high,” Chappell said. “But any year you can make it to the NCAA Tournament, you’ve had a pretty good season. We felt like we could’ve squeaked another one out though.”

Senior Lamar Grimes hit a 3-pointer as time expired in that game to give the Bears the 74-71 win.

“The win over West Georgia was a great win over a super team,” Chappell said. “It was everything you wanted in an NCAA Tournament game.”

Grimes ends his two-year career at UCA as the team’s leading scorer for the past two seasons. He averaged 16.1 points per game this season and 14.1 a year ago.

The Bears will also lose four more of their leading scorers in Lee Reliford, Chris Gray, DeWayne Hart and Nedzad Biberovic.

Reliford was the team’s second leading scorer, averaging 14.2 per game. He also pulled down 8.7 boards a game to lead the Bears in that category.

Gray oftentimes guarded the most explosive player on the opposing team and led the Bears’ defense that led the nation a year ago in field goal percentage defense. On top of all his defensive responsibility, Gray averaged 12.3 points a game this year and shot 42 percent from the 3-point line.

Hart ends a long career at UCA. The lone senior who was with the program for more than two years, he battled through injuries and coaching changes to play a significant role on both of Chappell’s teams. He hit key free throws and shots during the Bears’ post-season run. Hart played in 26 games and averaged 7.4 points per game.

Biberovic also came on down the stretch for the Bears. The 6-foot-11 big man caused many a problem for opposing players looking to score inside.

“I don’t know how to pronounce his name,” Alabama-Huntsville coach Lennie Acuff said after a recent game with the Bears. “But he really makes a difference on the inside.”

Biberovic picked up his scoring average as the season wound down but ended the year averaging 3.8 points per game and 4.8 rebounds a game.

Michael Monroe was dismissed from the team after 22 games. Monroe averaged 7.4 points a game.

Jarman Sample left the team for personal reasons after 23 games in which he averaged 4.8 points.

“This group of seniors put us on the national scene,” Chappell said. “These guys have done a very good job. This was a great group that accomplished a lot. I don’t think anyone expected they’d go 43-18 after the last few season’s [UCA] had.

“Two years ago when we started to recruit these guys, they took a huge leap of faith coming here a year after winning five games. What they were able to do was a tremendous accomplishment.”

Maybe a more tremendous task will be re-tooling the team for next season. The Bears’ leading scorer coming back will be Darryl Jones who averaged 7.7 points per game.

The next leading scorer who’ll return is Matt Williamson, who averaged 3 points per game.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Chappell said. “It looks like it’s going to be a rebuilding year, but we’re looking to reload. We’ve still got some solid guys who will work hard in the off-season and I’m excited about getting out and recruiting.”

Chappell has already hit the recruiting trail. He is at the Junior College National Tournament scouting talent.

“I think we’ll have five or six scholarships open,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll recruit a class that makes us competitive. We’re looking to find some guys that fit well with talent, good work ethic and personality that’ll fit with our returners.”

Chappell said he hopes the recruiting class will keep the Bears going in the right direction.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to mesh a new group that will be just as successful.”