1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
The 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 28, 1980, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1981 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship Game on March 30, 1981, at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Indiana Hoosiers won their fourth NCAA national championship with a 63–50 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels.
| 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season | |
|---|---|
| Preseason AP #1 | Kentucky Wildcats |
| NCAA Tournament | 1981 |
| Tournament dates | March 12, 1981 – March 30, 1981 |
| National Championship | The Spectrum Philadelphia |
| NCAA Champions | Indiana Hoosiers |
| Helms National Champions | Indiana Hoosiers |
| Other champions | Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (NIT) |
| Player of the Year (Naismith, Wooden) | Danny Ainge, BYU (Wooden) Ralph Sampson, Virginia (Naismith) |
Rule Changes
- On free throw attempts, players can now enter the free-throw lane after the foul shooter releases the ball. Previously, players had to wait until the ball touched either the rim or backboard before entering the lane.
- The time allotted to replace a disqualified (fouled out) player was reduced from 60 to 30 seconds.
- Starting in the 1981–82 season, the national third-place game was abolished.
- Conferences were allowed to experiment with the three-point shot in conference games only. The Southern Conference was the first to use the shot in their conference games, adopting a distance of 22 feet.
Season headlines
- After a nearly even first half, the Indiana Hoosiers pulled away from the North Carolina Tar Heels to clinch the school's fourth National championship, 63–50 in Philadelphia. The win marked Hoosiers coach Bob Knight's second championship and marked UNC coach Dean Smith's sixth trip to the Final Four without a championship. Indiana was led by a dominant second half by sophomore Isiah Thomas.[1]
- There was some question as to if the March 30th championship game would be postponed or cancelled as President Ronald Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr.. Once it was confirmed that President Reagan would survive, the game was played as scheduled.[2]
- Oregon State senior Steve Johnson set an NCAA record for season field goal percentage with a .746 mark. Johnson would also graduate with the NCAA career field goal percentage record (.678)[3]
- Nolan Richardson led Tulsa to a 15-game improvement over the previous year in his first year at the helm. The Golden Hurricane went 26–7 and won the NIT. Richardson came to Tulsa fresh off of a 1980 NJCAA Championship and brought four of his former Western Texas College starters to Tulsa, including Paul Pressey.[4]
- The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference played its first season as a member of NCAA's Division I.
Season outlook
Pre-season polls
The top 20 from the AP and UPI polls during the pre-season.[5]
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Regular season
Conference winners and tournaments
Note: From 1975 to 1982, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), a loosely organized sports federation of Northeastern colleges and universities, organized Division I ECAC regional tournaments for those of its members that were independents in basketball. Each 1981 tournament winner received an automatic bid to the 1981 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in the same way that the tournament champions of conventional athletic conferences did. The ECAC North was a separate, conventional conference.[30]
Statistical leaders
| Player | School | PPG | Player | School | RPG | Player | School | FG% | Player | School | FT% | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zam Fredrick | S. Carolina | 28.9 | Darryl Watson | Miss. Valley St. | 14.0 | Steve Johnson | Oregon St. | 74.6 | Dave Hidahl | Portland St. | 92.7 | |||
| Mike Ferrara | Colgate | 28.6 | Wayne Sappleton | Loyola (IL) | 13.4 | Kevin Magee | UC Irvine | 67.1 | Jack Moore | Nebraska | 92.2 | |||
| Kevin Magee | UC Irvine | 27.5 | Michael Cage | San Diego St. | 13.1 | Orlando Woolridge | Notre Dame | 65.0 | Steve Bontrager | Oral Roberts | 90.1 | |||
| Lewis Lloyd | Drake | 26.3 | Kevin Magee | UC Irvine | 12.5 | Buck Williams | Maryland | 64.7 | Jim Stack | Northwestern | 90.0 | |||
| Rob Williams | Houston | 25.0 | LaSalle Thompson | Texas | 12.3 | Thomas Best | Lafayette | 64.3 | John Leonard | Manhattan | 89.1 | |||
Post-Season Tournaments
NCAA Tournament
Indiana won its fourth NCAA title with a 63–50 win over North Carolina and coach Dean Smith. Precocious sophomore Isiah Thomas was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player in a title game delayed due to the shooting of President Ronald Reagan.
Final Four
Played at The Spectrum in Philadelphia
| National Semifinals | National Finals | ||||||||
| E1 | Virginia | 65 | |||||||
| W2 | North Carolina | 78 | |||||||
| W2 | North Carolina | 50 | |||||||
| ME3 | Indiana | 63 | |||||||
| ME3 | Indiana | 67 | |||||||
| MW1 | LSU | 49 | |||||||
- Third Place – Virginia 78, LSU 74
National Invitation Tournament
Coach Nolan Richardson led Tulsa to the NIT Championship in his first year as a division I head coach – an 86–84 win over Syracuse. The Golden Hurricane's Greg Stewart was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
NIT Semifinals and Final
Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| Syracuse | 70 | ||||||||
| Purdue | 63 | ||||||||
| Syracuse | 84 | ||||||||
| Tulsa | 86 | ||||||||
| West Virginia | 87 | ||||||||
| Tulsa | 89 | ||||||||
- Third Place – Purdue 75, West Virginia 72
Awards
Consensus All-American teams
| Player | Position | Class | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Aguirre | F | Junior | DePaul |
| Danny Ainge | G | Senior | Brigham Young |
| Steve Johnson | C | Senior | Oregon State |
| Ralph Sampson | C | Sophomore | Virginia |
| Isiah Thomas | G | Sophomore | Indiana |
| Player | Position | Class | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Bowie | C | Sophomore | Kentucky |
| Jeff Lamp | F | Senior | Virginia |
| Durand Macklin | F | Senior | LSU |
| Kelly Tripucka | F | Senior | Notre Dame |
| Danny Vranes | F | Senior | Utah |
| Al Wood | F | Senior | North Carolina |
Major player of the year awards
- Wooden Award: Danny Ainge, BYU
- Naismith Award: Ralph Sampson, Virginia
- Associated Press Player of the Year: Ralph Sampson, Virginia
- UPI Player of the Year: Ralph Sampson, Virginia
- NABC Player of the Year: Danny Ainge, BYU
- Oscar Robertson Trophy (USBWA): Ralph Sampson, Virginia
- Adolph Rupp Trophy: Ralph Sampson, Virginia
- Sporting News Player of the Year: Mark Aguirre, DePaul
Major coach of the year awards
- Associated Press Coach of the Year: Ralph Miller, Oregon State
- Henry Iba Award (USBWA): Ralph Miller, Oregon State
- NABC Coach of the Year: Jack Hartman, Kansas State & Ralph Miller, Oregon State
- UPI Coach of the Year: Ralph Miller, Oregon State
- CBS/Chevrolet Coach of the Year: Dale Brown, LSU
- Sporting News Coach of the Year: Dale Brown, LSU
Other major awards
- Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (Best player under 6'0): Terry Adolph, West Texas State
- Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in Philadelphia Big 5): John Pinone, Villanova
- NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in NYC): Gary Springer, Iona
References
- "And A Little Child Led Them". Sports Illustrated. 1981-04-06. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
- What a night to be in Bloomington
- "2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). (p. 22). NCAA. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
- "This Court Transplant Took". Sports Illustrated. 1982-03-01. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
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- ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. ISBN 0-345-51392-4.
- "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
- 2008–09 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Year by Year section, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 Big East Men's Basketball Media Guide – Awards section Archived 2009-02-04 at the Wayback Machine, Big East Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Guide – Awards section, Big 12 Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- Men's Basketball Award Winners, Big Sky Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 A-10 men's basketball media guide – Awards section, Atlantic 10 Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- America East Men's Basketball Players of the Year, America East Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- Men's Ivy League Outstanding performers Archived 2008-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, Ivy League, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 MAC Men's BAsketball Media Guide – Records Section, Mid-American Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 MEAC men's basketball media guide Archived 2012-09-22 at the Wayback Machine, MEAC, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 Horizon League Men's Basketball Record Book, Horizon League, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 MVC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Missouri Valley Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 OVC men's basketball media guide, Ohio Valley Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 Pacific-10 Men's Basketball Media Guide- Honors Section, Pacific-10 Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 Big West Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, Big West Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 SEC Men's Basketball Record Book, Southeastern Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 Southland Conference Men's Basketball Media Guide, Southland Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- "GSU cagers land on all-SWAC team". The Shreveport Times. March 5, 1981. p. 31. Retrieved August 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- "GSU honors Williams, Jackson". The Shreveport Times. April 23, 1981. p. 33. Retrieved August 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- 2007–08 Sun Belt Men's Basketball Media Guide, Sun Belt Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- Atlantic Sun men's basketball record book, Atlantic Sun Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2008–09 WCC Men's Basketball Media Guide, West Coast Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- 2009–10 WAC Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, Western Athletic Conference, retrieved 2010-08-06
- Varsity Pride: ECAC Men's Basketball Tournaments
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