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.Hartzell, Larry, "The 1978-79 Season," Hardwood History, March 22, 2011 Accessed April 6, 2021 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 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.*
'Associated Press'RankingTeam1 Indiana (28)2 Kentucky (5)3 Duke (18)4 Ohio State (7)5 Notre Dame (1)6 North Carolina7 Louisiana State8 UCLA9 DePaul10 Louisville11 Purdue12 Syracuse13 Virginia14 Texas A&M15 Brigham Young16 St. John's17 Oregon State18 Marquette19 Georgetown20 Kansas UPI CoachesRankingTeam1 Indiana2 Ohio State3 Notre Dame4 North Carolina5 Kentucky6 Duke7 UCLA8 Louisiana State 9 DePaul Virginia11 Purdue12 Syracuse13 Texas A&M14 Louisville15 St. John's16 Oregon State17 Brigham Young18 Iowa19 Marquette20 UNLV
Conference membership changes
SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference Division I independent Big East Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference Division I independent Midwestern City Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference Division I independent Big East Conference Division I independent NAIA independent Division I independent Southern Conference Division I independent Midwestern City Conference SIAC (D-II) Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Division I independent Big East Conference Division I independent Atlantic Coast Conference Big Sky Conference West Coast Athletic Conference Division I independent Western Athletic Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference Division I independent Midwestern City Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference West Coast Athletic Conference Big Sky Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference Trans America Athletic Conference Midwestern City Conference Division I independent Midwestern City Conference Eastern Athletic Association (Eastern 8) Division I independent Division I independent Big East Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference Division I independent Eastern Athletic Association (Eastern 8) Division I independent Big East Conference Division II independent West Coast Athletic Conference Division I independent Big East Conference Division I independent Big East Conference Division II independent Division I independent Division I independent Sun Belt Conference Division I independent ECAC North Conference Division I independent Sun Belt Conference Division I independent Midwestern City Conference
Regular season Conferences Conference winners and tournaments
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference — with members Delaware State, Howard, North Carolina A&T, and South Carolina State — became a Division I conference this season. Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State, and North Carolina Central opted not to reclassify with the conference and remained in Division II.