The 1981 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held February 27–March 1 at the Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.[1]
| 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) |
| 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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
editWith 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
edit| 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
edit- ^ "1980–81 Sun Belt Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016.