1980 NCAA Division I basketball tournament


The 1980 NCAA Division I basketball tournament involved 48 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 42nd annual edition of the tournament began on March 6, 1980, and ended with the championship game on March 24, at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. This was the last Final Four to be held at Market Square Arena, as it was demolished in 2001. A total of 48 games were played, including a national third-place game.
[1979-80 1979-80 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team|Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team|Louisville], coached by Denny Crum, won the national title with a 59–54 victory in the final game over [1979-80 1979-80 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team|UCLA Bruins men's basketball team|UCLA], coached by Larry Brown. Darrell Griffith of Louisville was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Structurally speaking, this was the first tournament of the modern era. For the first time:
  1. An unlimited number of at-large teams could come from any conference.
  2. The bracket was seeded to make each region as evenly competitive as possible.
  3. All teams were seeded solely based on the subjective judgment of the committee.
In this, the second year the tournament field was seeded, no #1 seed reached the Final Four. Since then, it has happened three other times, in 2006, 2011, and 2023. Purdue University's next Final Four appearance after this year would occur in 2024. Five coaches from teams in the Eastern bracket would later win their first national championship.
UCLA would forfeit its second place in the standings in 1980 after players representing the school were declared ineligible by the NCAA.

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1980 tournament:
First and Second Rounds
Regional semifinals and finals
National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period.

Final Four

# — UCLA vacated its appearance in the 1980 NCAA Tournament after the NCAA had determined that the Bruins committed nine major violations. Unlike forfeiture, a vacated game does not result in the other school being credited with a win, only with the removal of any UCLA wins from all records.

Announcers