Jacksonville has undergone an extreme makeover in the three seasons since head coach Cliff Warren took over the once-proud program.

The Dolphins have improved dramatically in Atlantic Sun play from 1-19 in 2005-06 to 11-7 in 2006-07 and 12-4 in 2007-08. They reached a league championship game for the first time since the 1989 Sun Belt final, but Belmont buried 13 threes en route to a 79-61 victory and its third straight conference crown.

The players are enjoying the success, but know they are still a long way removed from the program's glory days when future NBA Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore led Jacksonville the 1970 NCAA championship game.

"We're improving slowly, small steps at a time," junior center Marcus Allen told the Florida Times-Union. "We know everything's not going to be a knockout punch."

Warren didn't take shortcuts by signing a handful of JUCO transfers for a quick fix. His starting lineup this season included two sophomores and a freshman. The only senior on the roster is guard Evan Jefferson, whose scoring average (5.9 points per game) was the lowest among the starting five.

"We're doing things the right way and we're going in the right direction," Warren said. "Does it mean we've arrived? No. But we're building ourselves a solid foundation."

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