1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Preseason AP No. 1	Kentucky Wildcats
NCAA Tournament	1981
Tournament dates	March 12 – 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)
Player of the Year (Helms)	Mark Aguirre, DePaul
NCAA Division I basketball seasons «1979–80  1981–82»

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.

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]

Associated Press Ranking Team 1 Kentucky (30) 2 DePaul (18) 3 Louisville (2) 4 Maryland (2) 5 Indiana (2) 6 UCLA (2) 7 Oregon State (1) 8 Virginia (1) 9 Ohio State (1) 10 Notre Dame 11 Missouri 12 Louisiana State 13 North Carolina 14 Iowa 15 Texas A&M 16 Georgetown 17 St. John's 18 Brigham Young 19 Syracuse 20 Arkansas

UPI Coaches Ranking Team 1 Kentucky 2 DePaul 3 Louisville 4 Indiana 5 Maryland 6 Oregon State 7 Virginia 8 UCLA 9 Ohio State 10 Missouri 11 North Carolina 12 Notre Dame 13 Louisiana State 14 Texas A&M 15 Iowa 16 Georgetown 17 Brigham Young 18 Kansas State 19 St. John's 20 Arizona State

Regular season[]

Conference winners and tournaments[]

Conference	Regular Season Winner[6]	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	Virginia	Ralph Sampson, Virginia[7]	1981 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament	Capital Centre (Landover, Maryland)	North Carolina
Big East Conference	Boston College	John Bagley, Boston College[8]	1981 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament	Carrier Dome (Syracuse, New York)	Syracuse
Big Eight Conference	Missouri	Andre Smith, Nebraska[9]	1981 Big Eight Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) (Semifinals and Finals)	Kansas
Big Sky Conference	Idaho	, Idaho[10]	1981 Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Kibbie Dome (Moscow, Idaho)	Idaho
Big Ten Conference	Indiana	None Selected	No Tournament
East Coast Conference	American (East) Lafayette & Rider (West)	, Drexel		The Palestra (Philadelphia)	St. Joseph's
Eastern Athletic Association (Eastern 8)	Duquesne & Rhode Island	Earl Belcher, St. Bonaventure[11]	1981 Eastern 8 Men's Basketball Tournament	Civic Arena (Pittsburgh)	Pittsburgh
Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC)	Division I ECAC members played as independents during the regular season (see note)		1981 ECAC Metro Region Tournament	Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, New York)	LIU-Brooklyn
			1981 ECAC South Region Tournament	Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, Virginia)	James Madison
ECAC North	Northeastern	Mike Ferrara, Colgate[12]	1981 ECAC North Men's Basketball Tournament	Cabot Center (Boston)	Northeastern
Ivy League	Princeton	, Dartmouth[13]	No Tournament
Metro Conference	Louisville	David Burns, Saint Louis & Derek Smith, Louisville	1981 Metro Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Freedom Hall (Louisville, Kentucky)	Louisville
Mid-American Conference	Ball State, Northern Illinois, Toledo, W. Michigan & Bowling Green	Harvey Knuckles, Toledo[14]		Crisler Arena (Ann Arbor, Michigan)	Ball State
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference	North Carolina A&T	James Ratiff, Howard		Winston–Salem Memorial Coliseum (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)	Howard[15]
Midwestern City Conference	Xavier	Darius Clemons, Loyola (IL) & Rubin Jackson, Oklahoma City[16]	1981 Midwestern City Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Final at Riverfront Coliseum (Cincinnati)	Oklahoma City
Missouri Valley Conference	Wichita State	Lewis Lloyd, Drake[17]	1981 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Levitt Arena (Wichita, Kansas)	Creighton
Ohio Valley Conference	Western Kentucky	Jerry Beck, Middle Tennessee St.[18]		E. A. Diddle Arena (Bowling Green, Kentucky)	Western Kentucky
Pacific-10 Conference	Oregon State	Steve Johnson, Oregon State[19]	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Athletic Association	Fresno State	Kevin Magee, UC Irvine[20]	1981 Pacific Coast Athletic Association Men's Basketball Tournament	Anaheim Convention Center (Anaheim, California)	Fresno State
Southeastern Conference	LSU	Dominique Wilkins, Georgia[21]	1981 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament	Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (Birmingham, Alabama)	Mississippi
Southern Conference	Appalachian State, Davidson & UT-Chattanooga	Charles Payton, Appalachian State[22]	1981 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Roanoke Civic Center (Roanoke, Virginia)	UT-Chattanooga
Southland Conference	Lamar	Mike Olliver, Lamar[23]	1981 Southland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	McDonald Gym (Beaumont, Texas) (Semifinals and finals)	Lamar
Southwest Conference	Arkansas	Rob Williams, Houston	1981 Southwest Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	HemisFair Arena (San Antonio, Texas)	Houston
Southwestern Athletic Conference	Alcorn State & Southern-BR	Harry Kelly, Texas Southern & Robert Williams, Grambling State[24][25]		LSU Assembly Center (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)	Southern-BR
Sun Belt Conference	VCU, South Alabama & UAB	Ed Rains, South Alabama[26]	1981 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum (Jacksonville, Florida)	VCU
Trans America Athletic Conference	Houston Baptist	, Mercer[27]	1981 TAAC Men's Basketball Tournament	Hirsch Coliseum (Shreveport, Louisiana)	Mercer
West Coast Athletic Conference	Pepperdine & San Francisco	Quintin Dailey, San Francisco[28]	No Tournament
Western Athletic Conference	Utah & Wyoming	Danny Ainge, BYU[29]	No Tournament

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]

Informal championships[]

Conference	Regular Season Winner	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Tournament	Tournament Venue (City)	Tournament Winner
Philadelphia Big 5	La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph's, Temple, & Villanova	None selected	No Tournament

NOTE: All five teams finished with a 2–2 record in head-to-head competition, resulting in a five-way tie.

Statistical leaders[]

Points Per Game				Rebounds Per Game				Field Goal Percentage				Free Throw Percentage
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			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			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			Lafayette	64.3			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[]

Consensus First Team

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

Consensus Second Team

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
• Helms Player of the Year: Mark Aguirre, DePaul
• 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 New York City metro area): Gary Springer, Iona

Coaching changes[]

This section needs expansion. You can help by . (May 2021)

A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.

Team	Former Coach	Interim Coach	New Coach	Reason
Hardin–Simmons			Jim Hatfield
Mississippi State	Jim Hatfield		Bob Boyd

References[]