1980 NCAA Division I basketball championship game

1980 NCAA Tournament Championship Game

National championship game
UCLA Bruins Louisville Cardinals Pac-10 Metro (22–9[2]) (32–3) 54 59 Head coach: Larry Brown Head coach: Denny Crum
AP: NR Coaches: NR AP: 2 Coaches: 4
1st half 2nd half Total UCLA Bruins 28 26 54 Louisville Cardinals 26 33 59
Date	March 24, 1980
Venue	Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana
MVP	Darrell Griffith, Louisville
Favorite	Louisville
United States TV coverage
Network	NBC
Announcers	Dick Enberg (play-by-play) Billy Packer and Al McGuire (color)

The 1980 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game was the finals of the 1980 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament and it determined the national champion for the 1979-80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The game was played on March 24, 1980, at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, and featured the Midwest Regional Champion, #2-seeded Louisville and the West Regional Champion, #8-seeded UCLA.

The Cardinals narrowly defeated the Bruins to win their first national championship in program history.

Participating teams

UCLA Bruins

Main article: 1979–80 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team

• West
  • UCLA (8) 87, Old Dominion (9) 74
  • UCLA 77, DePaul (1) 71
  • UCLA 72, Ohio State (4) 68
  • UCLA 85, Clemson (6) 74
• Final Four
  • UCLA 67, Purdue (6) 62

Louisville Cardinals

Main article: 1979–80 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

• Midwest
  • Louisville (2) 71, Kansas State (7) 69 (OT)
  • Louisville 66, Texas A&M (6) 55 (OT)
  • Louisville 86, LSU (1) 66
• Final Four
  • Louisville 80, Iowa (5) 72

Starting lineups

UCLA	Position		Louisville
Michael Holton 3	G		Jerry Eaves 3
Rod Foster 2	G		† Darrell Griffith 1
James Wilkes 3	F		Derek Smith 2
Kiki Vandeweghe 1	F		Wiley Brown
Mike Sanders 4	C		Rodney McCray 1
† 1980 Consensus First Team All-American
Players selected in an NBA draft  (number indicates round)

Source[3]

Game summary

NBC

March 24

Box Score

#W8 UCLA Bruins 54, #MW2 Louisville Cardinals 59
Scoring by half: 28–26, 26–33
Pts: Rod Foster 16 Rebs: Kiki Vandeweghe 7 Asts: Rod Foster 5		Pts: Darrell Griffith 23 Rebs: Rodney McCray 11 Asts: 3 tied with 3

Market Square Arena - Indianapolis, Indiana

Aftermath

UCLA would later be forced to vacate their appearance in the championship game and the 1980 NCAA tournament after players representing the school were declared ineligible by the NCAA.[4] The Bruins would not return to the championship game until 1995, where they defeated Arkansas to win their most recent national championship.

Louisville would return to the national championship game six years later, where they upset Duke to win another title. They would also return to the title game in 2013, where they defeated Michigan to win what was their third title. However, Louisville was forced to vacate their third title due to a massive sex scandal involving players on the team, and as a result the Cardinals had four seasons worth of wins wiped from the record books.

References

1. "UCLA Will Not Appeal NCAA Ban: Basketball Team Is on Probation, Ineligible for Tournament". Los Angeles Times. December 9, 1981. ProQuest 152965876.
2. The Bruins' five NCAA tournament wins and championship game appearance were later vacated after the NCAA had determined UCLA committed nine violations.[1]
3. "UCLA vs. Louisville Box Score, March 24, 1980". Sports Reference. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
4. U.C.L.A. ON PROBATION IN BASKETBALL – New York Times (UPI) December 9, 1981