1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

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)	Ralph Sampson, Virginia (Naismith); Danny Ainge, BYU (Wooden)
Player of the Year; (Helms)	Mark Aguirre, DePaul
	← 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 Division I men's 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, Pennsylvania. The win marked Hoosiers had coach Bob Knight's second championship and marked North Carolina head coach Dean Smith's sixth trip to the Final Four without a championship. A dominant second half by sophomore Isiah Thomas led Indiana to the championship.^[1]
The possibility of postponing or cancellng the March 30 NCAA championship game arose after an assassination attempt in which John Hinckley, Jr., shot President Ronald Reagan that day in Washington, D.C. Once it was confirmed that Reagan would survive, the game was played as scheduled.^[2]
The NCAA used the Rating Percentage Index (RPI), a computer ranking system, for the first time as an aid in evaluating teams for at-large selections and seeding in the NCAA tournament.^[3]
Two No. 1 seeds (LSU and Virginia) advanced to the NCAA tournament Final Four for the first time.^[3]
The NCAA tournament included a national third-place game — pitting the two teams that lost in the semifinals against one another — for the last time.
The NCAA Final Four was held in Philadelphia and the Final Four logo included a depiction of the Liberty Bell. It was the first time that a Final Four logo incorporated an image specific to the Final Four venue.^[3]
Oregon State senior Steve Johnson set an NCAA record for season field goal percentage with a .746 mark. Johnson graduated with the NCAA career field goal percentage record (.678)^[4]
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 1981 National Invitation Tournament. 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.^[5]
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference played its first season as a Division I conference.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The top 20 from the AP and UPI polls during the pre-season.^[6]

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^[7]	Conference player of the year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (City)	Tournament winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	Virginia	Ralph Sampson, Virginia^[8]	1981 ACC men's basketball tournament	Capital Centre (Landover, Maryland)	North Carolina
Big East Conference	Boston College	John Bagley, Boston College^[9]	1981 Big East men's basketball tournament	Carrier Dome (Syracuse, New York)	Syracuse
Big Eight Conference	Missouri	Andre Smith, Nebraska^[10]	1981 Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournament	Kemper Arena (Kansas City, Missouri) (Semifinals and Finals)	Kansas
Big Sky Conference	Idaho	Brian Kellerman, Idaho^[11]	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)	Len Hatzenbeller, Drexel	1981 East Coast Conference men's basketball tournament	The Palestra (Philadelphia)	St. Joseph's
Eastern Athletic Association (Eastern 8)	Duquesne & Rhode Island	Earl Belcher, St. Bonaventure^[12]	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
Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC)			1981 ECAC South Region tournament	Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, Virginia)	James Madison
ECAC North	Northeastern	Mike Ferrara, Colgate^[13]	1981 ECAC North men's basketball tournament	Cabot Center (Boston)	Northeastern
Ivy League	Princeton	Larry Lawrence, Dartmouth^[14]	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^[15]	1981 MAC men's basketball tournament	Crisler Arena (Ann Arbor, Michigan)	Ball State
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference	North Carolina A&T	Larry Spriggs, Howard	1981 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament	Winston–Salem Memorial Coliseum (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)	Howard^[16]
Midwestern City Conference	Xavier	Darius Clemons, Loyola (IL) & Rubin Jackson, Oklahoma City^[17]	1981 Midwestern City Conference men's basketball tournament	Final at Riverfront Coliseum (Cincinnati)	Oklahoma City
Missouri Valley Conference	Wichita State	Lewis Lloyd, Drake^[18]	1981 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament	Levitt Arena (Wichita, Kansas)	Creighton
Ohio Valley Conference	Western Kentucky	Jerry Beck, Middle Tennessee St.^[19]	1981 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament	E. A. Diddle Arena (Bowling Green, Kentucky)	Western Kentucky
Pacific-10 Conference	Oregon State	Steve Johnson, Oregon State^[20]	No Tournament
Pacific Coast Athletic Association	Fresno State	Kevin Magee, UC Irvine^[21]	1981 Pacific Coast Athletic Association men's basketball tournament	Anaheim Convention Center (Anaheim, California)	Fresno State
Southeastern Conference	LSU	Rudy Macklin, LSU^[22]^[23]	1981 SEC men's basketball tournament	Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (Birmingham, Alabama)	Mississippi
Southern Conference	Appalachian State, Davidson & UT-Chattanooga	Charles Payton, Appalachian State^[24]	1981 Southern Conference men's basketball tournament	Roanoke Civic Center (Roanoke, Virginia)	UT-Chattanooga
Southland Conference	Lamar	Mike Olliver, Lamar^[25]	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^[26]^[27]	1981 SWAC men's basketball tournament	LSU Assembly Center (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)	Southern-BR
Sun Belt Conference	VCU, South Alabama & UAB	Ed Rains, South Alabama^[28]	1981 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum (Jacksonville, Florida)	VCU
Trans America Athletic Conference	Houston Baptist	Benton Wade, Mercer^[29]	1981 TAAC men's basketball tournament	Hirsch Coliseum (Shreveport, Louisiana)	Mercer
West Coast Athletic Conference	Pepperdine & San Francisco	Quintin Dailey, San Francisco^[30]	No Tournament
Western Athletic Conference	Utah & Wyoming	Danny Ainge, BYU^[31]	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 Division I men's basketball tournament in the same way that the tournament champions of conventional athletic conferences did. The ECAC North was a separate, conventional conference.^[32]

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

Player	School	PPG	Player	School	RPG	Player	School	FG%	Player	School	FT%
Points per game			Rebounds per game			Field-goal percentage			Free-throw percentage
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

**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

Coaching changes

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

Team	Former Coach	New Coach
Appalachian State	Bobby Cremins	Kevin Cantwell
Brown	Joe Mullaney	Mike Cingiser
Drake	Bob Ortegel	Gary Garner
Georgia Tech	Dwane Morrison	Bobby Cremins
Gonzaga	Dan Fitzgerald	Jay Hillock
Hardin–Simmons	Jim Shuler	Jim Hatfield
Mississippi State	Jim Hatfield	Bob Boyd
Providence	Gary Walters	Joe Mullaney
Rice	Mike Schuler	Tommy Suitts
Richmond	Lou Goetz	Dick Tarrant
Saint Joseph's	Jim Lynam	Jim Boyle
Samford	Cliff Wettig	Mike Hanks
Seton Hall	Bill Raftery	Hoddy Mahon
Tulane	Roy Danforth	Ned Fowler
UCLA	Larry Brown	Larry Farmer
UMass	Ray Wilson	Tom McLaughlin
Vanderbilt	Richard Schmidt	C. M. Newton