College basketball tournament
| 1981 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 1980–81 |
| Teams | 7 |
| Site | Jacksonville Coliseum Jacksonville, FL |
| Champions | VCU (2nd title) |
| Winning coach | J.D. Barnett (2nd title) |
| MVP | Kenny Stancil (VCU) |
| Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournaments← 19801982 → | |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| VCU † | 9 | – | 3 | .750 | 24 | – | 5 | .828 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Alabama | 9 | – | 3 | .750 | 25 | – | 6 | .806 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UAB | 9 | – | 3 | .750 | 23 | – | 9 | .719 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Florida | 7 | – | 5 | .583 | 18 | – | 11 | .621 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jacksonville | 4 | – | 8 | .333 | 8 | – | 19 | .296 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNC Charlotte | 3 | – | 9 | .250 | 10 | – | 17 | .370 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Georgia State | 1 | – | 11 | .083 | 4 | – | 23 | .148 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 1981 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1981 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held February 27–March 1 at the Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.
In a rematch of the 1980 final, VCU repeated as tournament champions by defeating UAB in the championship game, 62–61, to win their second Sun Belt men's basketball tournament.
The Rams, in turn, received an automatic bid for the 1981 NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the second round. Runner-up UAB received an at-large bid; the Blazers ultimately won two games before losing to Indiana in the regional semifinals.
Format
With the Sun Belt's forced departure of New Orleans prior to the season, the conference's membership decreased to seven teams. In turn, the top-seeded team was given a bye into the semifinal round. All other teams, again seeded based on regular season conference records, entered the tournament in the quarterfinal round.
The entire tournament was played at the Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.
Bracket
| Quarterfinals Friday, February 27 | Semifinals Saturday, February 28 | Championship Sunday, March 1 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | VCU | 53 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | South Florida | 45 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Jacksonville | 50 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | South Florida | 52 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | VCU | 62 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | UAB | 61 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | UAB | 80 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | UNC Charlotte | 64 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | UAB | 86 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | South Alabama | 59 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Georgia State | 41 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | South Alabama | 79 | ||||||||||||
References
- "1980–81 Sun Belt Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
| Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament | |
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| Broadcasters |
| 1981 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments | |
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| Conference | |
| National | |
- Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament
- 1980–81 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball season
- 1981 in sports in Florida
- February 1981 sports events in the United States
- March 1981 sports events in the United States
- College basketball tournaments in Florida
- Sports competitions in Jacksonville, Florida