SEEKING IMPROVEMENT—Hammond native Chris Cyprian, shown above dribbling around SFA’s Eric Bell, is among the Lions that head coach Jim Yarbrough is counting on to lead Southeastern to the top of the SLC East Division. The Lions take tonight off before returning to action Saturday at Nicholls State.

For a moment there, after knocking off Southland Conference favorite Sam Houston State on the road, it looked like the Southeastern Lions might just be on to something big this season.

Three games later, however, the Lions find themselves right where the preseason pundits had them pegged to be — right in the middle of the pack in the Southland Conference East.

Lions coach Jim Yarbrough admits there's some frustration in that after the Lions let Stephen F. Austin steal one from them on their home floor, then suffered another severe bout of stage fright at Texas-Arlington.

After the smoke cleared from Wednesday night's league action, the Lions (10-7, 2-2) find themselves in a familiar spot — "exactly where we were after the first four games last year," Yarbrough notes — in third place in the East Division behind Lamar and Northwestern State.

Any number of quality excuses apply, beginning with a rugged opening schedule against the cream of the SLC crop. The result has been two close, tough losses and two close, tough wins — pretty much the agenda for the rest of the league race.

"There's no question we've played the upper echelon of the league, and I think we belong," Yarbrough said. "I think we're right there."

This rugged five-game opening stretch concludes Saturday with a Cox Sports TV game at 5 p.m. at Nicholls State — another chamber of horrors game for the Lions. Southeastern lost for the 10th consecutive time in UTA's "stage" arena Saturday, and now invade Stopher Gymnasium, where they are 2-5 over the past 10 years.

"I think you fool yourself into thinking, ‘Gosh, how good can a team who plays in a place like this be?’" Yarbrough said of UTA's bizarre crowd-on-one-side arena and Nicholls’ high school-gym-on-steroids.

"Well let me tell you something," Yarbrough said. "We played in a high school gym when I was at the College of Charleston that backed up next to a Chinese restaurant, and we were pretty doggone good in that place.

"So don't be fooled by looks, just go out there and play your butts off because if you don't something bad's going to happen."

The schedule may be taxing, but the Lions’ biggest problem so far has been consistency. Leading scorer Kevyn Green, for instance, is always a focal point for opposing defenses and his response has been up and down. Stephen F. Austin's gritty defense held him to four points — 11 below his average — and 2-for-11 shooting in beating the Lions in the U.C.

Then Green went on the road to Texas State and Arlington and poured in 52 points in two games, shooting a blistering 12-for-23 (52 percent) from 3-point range.

"If he's not Player of the Week, we're not going to have a Player of the Week this year," Yarbrough said Saturday — and Green wasn't; SFA's Josh Alexander was.

"We always talk about having the team of the week anyway," Yarbrough said. "But he's had two great games."

Perhaps the biggest key to the Lions making a run will be getting Hammond native Chris Cyprian untracked. In his first three games since recovering from a broken hand, Cyprian has displayed moments of electrifying athleticism — like when he came down the floor and simply jumped OVER an SFA defender to avoid a charging call.

But he's also scored just five points per game, shot 6-for-21 from the field (29 percent) and a brutal 1-for-13 from 3-point range. And there's no doubt he's better than that.

"Cyprian is doing some good things for us, but he's searching a little bit," said Yarbrough, who loves Cyprian's team-oriented approach but said there have been several time when Cyprian has passed up open shots he should be taking.

"It's been a 20-month layoff for him with the sitting out (after transferring) and the injury," Yarbrough said. "I've got to help define his role a little bit. If we can get Cyprian coming on in that supporting role, he gives us a little more depth and a little more juice from the outside."

Green and Cyprian seem to typify this team so far — moments of brilliance, yet to be sustained. But it's those good patches Yarbrough hopes define the real Lions, who have to be looking forward to the next stretch of the season, when the schedule turns more favorable with six of the next seven games at home.

"It's given us a thick skin and it's shown us where we stand in league play," Yarbrough said of the early stretch. "We've played against a bunch of different styles. So it's been good for us.

"We've got tough guys, that's the good news. We've got some heart, and we never quit and I think we've got some ability. But we've just got some rough edges and individually and collectively I think we can improve.

"It's going to be interesting to see if this team can grow up and get better and improve over the next 13 games, and if it can, I'm very optimistic we'll have an exciting year and make some noise."