James “Hollywood” Robinson Named Alabama’s 2018 SEC Basketball Legend
Former Alabama standout James “Hollywood” Robinson is one of 14 former greats who has been selected as 2018 Allstate® Southeastern Conference Basketball Legends.
Robinson played at the Capstone from 1990-93 and went on to become one of the most exciting players to ever wear the Alabama uniform. He finished his collegiate career as a two-time All-American, a three-time All-SEC performer and someone whose name is found throughout the Alabama record books.
Robinson burst onto the college basketball scenes with one of the more memorable rookie campaigns in Alabama history. He set the UA freshman scoring record with 554 points while averaging 16.4 ppg during the 1990-91 campaign. He became the first Tide freshman to lead the team in scoring since 1953 and was named a Freshman All-American that season. He helped lead the Crimson Tide to an SEC Tournament championship, NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance and a final ranking of No. 19 in the nation.
He followed his first season by scoring 661 points (19.1 ppg) as a sophomore in 1991-92, which still stands as the second-most points scored in a season by an Alabama player. That year, Alabama reached the NCAA Tournament second round and finished as the No. 13-ranked team in the country. Robinson was tabbed an honorable mention All-American as a junior in 1992-93, when he averaged 20.3 ppg and scored 598 total points – the ninth-most in a season in program lore.
A native of Jackson, Miss., Robinson finished his career with 1,813 points which ranks seventh in program history. In addition to his scoring records, he also ranks among the Alabama all-time leaders in threes made (225) and attempted (607), field goals attempted (1,427) and career steals per game (1.3).
After entering his name in the 1993 NBA Draft, Robinson was selected with the 21st overall pick in the first round by the Portland Trailblazers. He went on to play eight seasons in the NBA with four different teams.
Joining Robinson as members of the 2018 class are: Jonathon Modica, Arkansas; Joel Eaves (head coach), Auburn; David Lee, Florida; Chad Kessler, Georgia; Joe Crawford, Kentucky; John Brady, LSU; Rob Evans, Ole Miss; Ray White, Mississippi State; Doug Smith, Missouri; Carey Rich, South Carolina; Howard Wood, Tennessee; Barry Davis, Texas A&M; Godfrey Dillard, Vanderbilt.
Robinson, along with the entire class, will be honored at the 2018 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, which will be held March 7-11, at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. Each legend will be honored at halftime of his school’s first game at the tournament.
This marks the 20th year of the SEC Basketball Legends program. Alabama’s SEC Legends include, in order, Reggie King, 1999; Wendell Hudson, 2000; T.R. Dunn, 2001; Leon Douglas, 2002; Buck Johnson, 2003; Derrick McKey, 2004; Gary Waites, 2005; Jim Farmer, 2006; Mike Nordholz, 2007; Leon Marlaire, 2008; Melvin Cheatum, 2009; Charles Cleveland, 2010; Robert Horry, 2011; Jack Kubiszyn, 2012; Wimp Sanderson, 2013; Eddie Phillips, 2014; Charles “C.M.” Newton, 2015; Ennis Whatley, 2016 and George Linn, 2017.