Team preview: Alabama State

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Editor's Note: ESPN Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook to provide a comprehensive look at all 326 Division I teams. To order the complete 25th anniversary edition of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, visit www.blueribbonyearbook.com or call 1-866-805-BALL (2255).

(Information in this team report is as of October 1.)

When the Alabama State head-coaching job came open last May, there was little question who had the inside track.

Lewis Jackson not only had the endorsement of outgoing coach Robert Spivery, he also got a good recommendation from Alabama State's women's basketball coach, Freeda Freeman-Jackson.

She also happens to be Lewis Jackson's husband.

"I would like to think she put in a good word for me,'' Lewis Jackson said, laughing. Either way, Jackson, an assistant coach with the Hornets since 2000-01, was indeed hired as the new head coach -- making the Jackson's one of if not the only husband-wife head coaching combo in the nation.

Spivery and Freeda-Freeman Jackson have been two of the more successful coaches in the SWAC in recent years, so if Lewis Jackson needs to turn to them for advice, he could do worse.

Spivery guided Alabama State's men's team to the SWAC Tournament championship game four of the last five seasons, winning it twice and advancing to the NCAA Tournament twice. The Hornets are the only team in the SWAC that has won 10 or more league games five straight seasons.

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