1979–80 Úrvalsdeild karla

The 1979–80 Úrvalsdeild karla was the 29th season of the Úrvalsdeild karla, the top tier men's basketball league on Iceland. The season started on October 13, 1979 and ended on March 17, 1980. Valur won its first title by posting the best record in the league with a win against KR in the last day of the season.

Competition format

The participating teams first played a conventional round-robin schedule with every team playing each opponent twice "home" and twice "away" for a total of 20 games. The top team won the national championship whilst the bottom team was relegated to Division I.

Regular season

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Valur	20	16	4	1813	1689	+124	32	Champion
2	Njarðvík	20	15	5	1692	1581	+111	30
3	KR	20	11	9	1672	1608	+64	22
4	ÍR	20	10	10	1813	1833	−20	20
5	ÍS	20	5	15	1699	1815	−116	10
6	Fram	20	3	17	1577	1740	−163	6	Relegated

Source:

Notable occurrences

On 17 November, John Johnson set a Úrvalsdeild record when he scored 71 points in Fram's 104-92 victory against ÍS. At the time it was also the most points scored by a player in the country, breaking Danny Shouse's record of 70 points in the annual Reykjavík Basketball Tournament in September 1979. Shouse would break the record later in the year when he scored 100 points in the second-tier Division I.
On 17 November, Njarvíkur's player Gunnar Þorvarðarson scored a basket as the final buzzer sounded in a game against rivals Valur. Initially referee Sigurður Valur called the basket off while referee Þráinn Skúlason maintained that Gunnar had released the ball before the buzzer sounded. After a 20-minute conversation in a locked room with other game officials it was ruled that the basket was valid, giving Njarðvík á 88-87 victory.

References

"Valur Íslandsmeistari". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). March 18, 1980. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
"Johnson var í banastuði". Vísir (in Icelandic). 19 November 1979. p. 19. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
"Ruslakjaftur Ívars Websters lykillinn að 100 stiga leik Danny Shouse". Vísir.is. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 2017-07-28. (in Icelandic)
"Hverjir ná í Danny Shouse?". Vísir. 26 February 1980. Retrieved 2017-07-28. (in Icelandic)
"Sigurkarfa Njarðvíkinga dæmd gild eftir tuttugu mínútur". Dagblaðið (in Icelandic). 19 November 1979. Retrieved 8 December 2019.

External links

v t e Úrvalsdeild karla
KKÍ Pyramid Domestic MVP Foreign MVP Playoffs MVP Domestic All-First Team Best Defensive Player Best Young Player Best Coach
2023–24 Úrvalsdeild karla teams	Álftanes Grindavík Breiðablik Hamar Haukar Höttur Keflavík Njarðvík Stjarnan Tindastóll Valur Þór Þorlákshöfn
Úrvalsdeild karla seasons	1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Other competitions	Basketball Cup Super Cup League Cup

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