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1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Preseason AP No. 1	Indiana Hoosiers
NCAA Tournament	1980
Tournament dates	March 6 – 24, 1980
National Championship	Market Square Arena Indianapolis
NCAA Champions	Louisville Cardinals
Helms National Champions	Louisville Cardinals
Other champions	Virginia Cavaliers (NIT)
Player of the Year (Naismith, Wooden)	Mark Aguirre, DePaul (Naismith) Darrell Griffith, Louisville (Wooden)
Player of the Year (Helms)	Darrell Griffith, Louisville
← 1978–79 1980–81 →

The 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 17, 1979, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1980 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship game on March 24, 1980, at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. The Louisville Cardinals won their first NCAA national championship with a 59–54 victory over the UCLA Bruins.

Rule changes

• Officials were ordered to more strictly enforce foul rules already on the books, including bench decorum, hand-checking and charging fouls.
• Any mistaken attempt to call a time-out after a team runs out of time-outs results in a technical foul and two free throws for the opposing team. The rule would figure prominently in the outcome of the 1993 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

Season headlines

• ESPN launched on September 7, 1979, as the first all-sports television network and began televising college basketball in November. It took advantage of college basketball's rapidly growing popularity to begin a highly profitable relationship with the NCAA which greatly expanded television coverage of college basketball in the United States.
• The basketball-centered original Big East Conference began play. Working closely with ESPN, it rapidly developed a reputation as a powerhouse of college basketball and a dominating force in the sport.
• The ECAC North Conference began play, with 10 original members. It was renamed the North Atlantic Conference in 1988 and the America East Conference in 1996.
• The ECAC South Conference was founded, consisting of schools that participated in the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Division I ECAC South tournaments for independents. The ECAC South did not play as a conference until the 1981–82 season; in the meantime, its members continued compete as independents during the regular season and seek a bid to the NCAA tournament via the ECAC's regional tournament. The conference was renamed the Colonial Athletic Association in 1985 and the Coastal Athletic Association in 2023.
• The Midwestern City Conference began play, with six original members. It was renamed the Midwestern Collegiate Conference in 1985 and the Horizon League in 2001.
• The National Invitation Tournament expanded from 24 to 32 teams.
• The NCAA tournament expanded from 40 to 48 teams. For the first time, more than two teams from each conference could be selected for the tournament. The NCAA also instituted the "round-robin rule," requiring a conference to play either a single-round-robin regular-season format and a conference tournament or a double-round-robin regular-season format to be eligible for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The expanded access of conference members to tournament bids combined with the "round-robin rule" made it difficult for Division I independents — most of which were located in the Northeastern United States — to get a tournament bid, greatly accelerating the decline in the number of independents, a decline which had begun in the 1974–75 season when the NCAA allowed more than one team per conference into the tournament for the first time. The Big East Conference formed as a result of the new tournament access requirements, and additional conferences would form by 1981.
• ESPN televised 23 games of the 1980 NCAA tournament, becoming the first television network to broadcast the early rounds of an NCAA Tournament.
• For the first time, none of the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament advanced to the Final Four.
• Louisville's "doctors of dunk" brought Denny Crum his first NCAA title with a 59–54 win over surprise finalist UCLA and coach Larry Brown. Wooden Award winner Darrell Griffith was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
• The first year of the Ralph Sampson era ended with a Virginia Cavaliers National Invitation Tournament championship – a 58–55 win over Minnesota. Sampson, a 7-foot-4-inch (224 cm) freshman center, was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Season outlook

Pre-season polls

The top 20 from the AP Poll and UPI Coaches Poll during the pre-season.

Conference membership changes

Regular season

Conferences

Conference winners and tournaments

Note: From 1975 to 1981, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), a loosely organized sports federation of colleges and universities in the Northeastern United States, organized Division I ECAC regional tournaments for those of its members that were independents in basketball. Each 1980 tournament winner received an automatic bid to the 1980 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.

Conference standings

Division I independents

A total of 43 college teams played as Division I independents. Among them, DePaul (26–2) had both the best winning percentage (.929) and the most wins.

Informal championships

Saint Joseph's finished with a 4–0 record in head-to-head competition among the Philadelphia Big 5.

Statistical leaders

Post-season tournaments

NCAA tournament

Final Four

Played at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana

National Invitation tournament

NIT semifinals and finals

Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City

Awards

Consensus All-American teams

Major player of the year awards

• Wooden Award: Darrell Griffith, Louisville
• Naismith Award: Mark Aguirre, DePaul
• Helms Player of the Year: Darrell Griffith, Louisville
• Associated Press Player of the Year: Mark Aguirre, DePaul
• UPI Player of the Year: Mark Aguirre, DePaul
• NABC Player of the Year: Michael Brooks, La Salle
• Oscar Robertson Trophy (USBWA): Mark Aguirre, DePaul
• Adolph Rupp Trophy: Mark Aguirre, DePaul
• Sporting News Player of the Year: Darrell Griffith, Louisville

Major coach of the year awards

• Associated Press Coach of the Year: Ray Meyer, DePaul
• Henry Iba Award (USBWA): Ray Meyer, DePaul
• NABC Coach of the Year: Lute Olson, Iowa
• UPI Coach of the Year: Ray Meyer, DePaul
• Sporting News Coach of the Year: Lute Olson, Iowa

Other major awards

• Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (Best player under 6'0): Jim Sweeney, Boston College
• Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in Philadelphia Big 5): Michael Brooks, La Salle
• NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Jeff Ruland, Iona

Coaching changes

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

Notes

1. Wins vacated by PCAA but still recognized by NCAA.
2. UC Irvine claims two losses against UC Santa Barbara that were vacated by PCAA as wins.

References

1. "1980 Preseason AP Men's Basketball Poll". AP Poll Archive. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
2. ^ Hartzell, Larry, "The 1978-79 Season," Hardwood History, March 22, 2011 Accessed April 6 , 2021
3. ^ "Burnsed, Brian, "A Brief History of Men's College Basketball," Champion, Fall 2018 Accessed April 6, 2021". Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
4. ^ "Playing Rules History" (PDF). ncaa.org. NCAA. p. 12. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
5. Steinberg, Russell (June 22, 2015). "The death of the independent in college basketball". sbnation.com. SBNation. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
6. *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
7. "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Record Book – Conferences Section" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
8. 2008–09 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Year by Year section Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2010-08-01
9. 2008–09 Big East Men's Basketball Media Guide – Awards section Archived 2009-04-28 at the Wayback Machine, Big East Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
10. 2008–09 Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Guide – Awards section, Big 12 Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
11. Men's Basketball Award Winners, Big Sky Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
12. 2008–09 A-10 men's basketball media guide – Awards section Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, Atlantic 10 Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
13. America East Men's Basketball Players of the Year, America East Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
14. Men's Ivy League Outstanding performers Archived 2008-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, Ivy League, retrieved 2010-08-01
15. 2008–09 MAC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Records Section, Mid-American Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
16. 2008–09 Horizon League Men's Basketball Record Book Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, Horizon League, retrieved 2010-08-01
17. 2008–09 MVC Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Missouri Valley Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
18. 2008–09 OVC men's basketball media guide, Ohio Valley Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
19. 2008–09 Pacific-10 Men's Basketball Media Guide- Honors Section Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, Pacific-10 Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
20. 2008–09 Big West Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, Big West Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
21. 2008–09 SEC Men's Basketball Record Book, Southeastern Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
22. 2008–09 SoCon Men's Basketball Media Guide – Honors Section, Southern Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
23. 2008–09 Southland Conference Men's Basketball Media Guide, Southland Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
24. "Teagle, Metcalf get top SWC honors". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. February 27, 1980. p. 33. Retrieved December 28, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
25. 2006–07 SWAC Men's Basketball Media Guide
26. 2007–08 Sun Belt Men's Basketball Media Guide, Sun Belt Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
27. Atlantic Sun men's basketball record book, Atlantic Sun Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
28. 2008–09 WCC Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, West Coast Conference, retrieved 2010-08-01
29. Varsity Pride: ECAC Men's Basketball Tournaments This was also the inaugural season of the .
30. sports-reference.com 1979-80 Atlantic Coast Conference Season Summary
31. sports-reference.com 1979-80 Big East Conference Season Summary
32. sports-reference.com 1979-80 Big Eight Conference Season Summary
33. sports-reference.com 1979-80 Ivy Group Season Summary
34. sports-reference.com 1979-80 Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference Season Summary
35. sports-reference.com 1979-80 Missouri Valley Conference Season Summary
36. "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
37. sports-reference.com 1979-80 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
38. "Men's Basketball 2018-19" (PDF). Southland Conference. p. 105. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
39. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/conferences/wac/1980.html
40. "1979-80 Men's Independent Season Summary". Sports Reference. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
42. 2009–2010 ACC Men's Basketball Media Guide Archived 2010-12-31 at the Wayback Machine, Updated August 21, 2010
43. The Week (november 28–30)
44. "Basketball Notes". The Spartanburg Herald-Journal. January 16, 1980. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
45. "King resigns Tulsa post". Lawrence Journal-World. February 2, 1980. Retrieved August 31, 2010.

• 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
• 1979–80 in American college basketball