1980–81 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 9

1980–81 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 9 Indiana	14	–	4	.778	26	–	9	.743
No. 13 Iowa	13	–	5	.722	21	–	7	.750
No. 19 Illinois	12	–	6	.667	21	–	8	.724
Purdue	10	–	8	.556	21	–	11	.656
Minnesota	9	–	9	.500	19	–	11	.633
Ohio State	9	–	9	.500	14	–	13	.519
Michigan	8	–	10	.444	19	–	11	.633
Michigan State	7	–	11	.389	13	–	14	.481
Wisconsin	5	–	13	.278	11	–	16	.407
Northwestern	3	–	15	.167	9	–	18	.333

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1980–81 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University. Their head coach was Bobby Knight, who was in his 10th year. The team played its home games in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.

The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 26-9 and a conference record of 14-4, finishing 1st in the Big Ten Conference. As Big Ten Conference Champions, IU was invited to participate in the 1981 NCAA Tournament as a 3-seed; the Hoosiers advanced to the championship game where Bobby Knight and the Hoosiers won their fourth national title.^[1]

Roster

No.	Name	Position	Ht.	Year	Hometown
11	Isiah Thomas	G	6–1	So.	Chicago, Illinois
20	Jim Thomas	G	6–3	So.	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
23	Chuck Franz	G	6–2	So.	Clarksville, Indiana
24	Randy Wittman	G/F	6–6	So.	Indianapolis, Indiana
30	Ted Kitchel	F	6–8	So.	Galveston, Indiana
31	Tony Brown	G	6–2	So.	Chicago, Illinois
32	Landon Turner	F/C	6–10	Jr.	Indianapolis, Indiana
33	Eric Kirchner	F	6–8	Sr.	Edelstein, Illinois
34	Steve Risley	F	6–8	Sr.	Indianapolis, Indiana
40	Glen Grunwald	F	6–9	Sr.	Franklin Park, Illinois
42	Craig Bardo	G	6–5	Fr.	Carbondale, Illinois
43	Mike LaFave	F	6–9	Fr.	Indianapolis, Indiana
44	Phil Isenbarger	F	6–8	Sr.	Muncie, Indiana
45	Ray Tolbert	F/C	6–9	Sr.	Anderson, Indiana
54	Steve Bouchie	F	6–8	So.	Washington, Indiana

Schedule/Results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/29/1980*	No. 5	Ball State	W 75-69	1-0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
12/1/1980*	No. 5	Murray State	W 59-41	2-0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
12/6/1980*	No. 5	No. 2 Kentucky Indiana–Kentucky rivalry	L 66-68	2-1	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
12/9/1980*	No. 7	at No. 9 Notre Dame	L 64-68	2-2	Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN
12/12/1980*	No. 7	California Indiana Classic	W 94-58	3-2	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
12/13/1980*	No. 7	Baylor Indiana Classic	W 83-47	4-2	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
12/15/1980*	No. 7	vs. Oral Roberts	W 65-56	5-2	Market Square Arena Indianapolis, IN
12/20/1980*	No. 11	at No. 8 North Carolina	L 56-65	5-3	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
12/23/1980*	No. 15	at Kansas State	W 51-44	6-3	Ahearn Field House Manhattan, KS
12/28/1980*	No. 15	vs. Rutgers Rainbow Classic Quarterfinals	W 55-50	7-3	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, HI
12/29/1980*	No. 15	vs. Clemson Rainbow Classic Semifinals	L 57-58	7-4	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, HI
12/30/1980*	No. 15	vs. Texas-Pan American Rainbow Classic Consolation Round	L 60-66	7-5	Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, HI
1/8/1981		Michigan State	W 55-43	8-5 (1-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
1/10/1981		No. 12 Illinois Rivalry	W 78-61	9-5 (2-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
1/15/1981		at No. 9 Michigan	L 52-55	9-6 (2-1)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
1/18/1981		at Ohio State	W 67-60	10-6 (3-1)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
1/22/1981		No. 14 Iowa	L 53-56	10-7 (3-2)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
1/24/1981		at Northwestern	W 93-56	11-7 (4-2)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
1/29/1981		at No. 19 Minnesota	W 56-53	12-7 (5-2)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
1/31/1981		Purdue Rivalry	W 69-61	13-7 (6-2)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/5/1981	No. 17	Wisconsin	W 89-64	14-7 (7-2)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/7/1981	No. 17	at Purdue Rivalry	L 66-68	14-8 (7-3)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
2/12/1981		Northwestern	W 86-52	15-8 (8-3)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/14/1981	No. 20	at Wisconsin	W 59-52	16-8 (9-3)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
2/19/1981	No. 16	at No. 12 Iowa	L 65-78	16-9 (9-4)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
2/21/1981	No. 16	Minnesota	W 74-63	17-9 (10-4)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/26/1981	No. 16	Ohio State	W 74-58	18-9 (11-4)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
2/28/1981	No. 16	Michigan	W 98-83	19-9 (12-4)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
3/5/1981	No. 14	at No. 16 Illinois Rivalry	W 69-66	20-9 (13-4)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
3/7/1981	No. 14	at Michigan State	W 69-48	21-9 (14-4)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
NCAA Tournament
3/14/1981*	No. 9 (3)	vs. No. 18 (6) Maryland Second Round	W 99-64	22-9 (14-4)	University of Dayton Arena Dayton, OH
3/20/1981*	No. 9 (3)	No. (7) UAB Sweet Sixteen	W 87-72	23-9 (14-4)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
3/22/1981*	No. 9 (3)	No. (9) St. Joseph's (Pa.) Elite Eight	W 78-46	24-9 (14-4)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
3/28/1981*	No. 9 (3)	No. 4 (1) LSU Final Four	W 67-49	25-9 (14-4)	The Spectrum Philadelphia, PA
3/30/1981*	No. 9 (3)	No. 6 (2) North Carolina Championship	W 63-50	26-9 (14-4)	The Spectrum Philadelphia, PA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Awards and honors

Bob Knight, Big Ten Coach of the Year
Isiah Thomas, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[2]
Ray Tolbert, Big Ten Player of the Year

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1981	1	2	Isiah Thomas	Detroit Pistons
1981	1	18	Ray Tolbert	New Jersey Nets
1981	5	115	Glen Grunwald	Boston Celtics
1981	8	180	Steve Risley	Phoenix Suns
1982	10	225	Landon Turner	Boston Celtics
1983	1	22	Randy Wittman	Washington Bullets
1983	2	40	Jim Thomas	Indiana Pacers
1983	2	41	Ted Kitchel	Milwaukee Bucks
1983	4	78	Steve Bouchie	Detroit Pistons
1983	7	141	Tony Brown	Indiana Pacers

^[3]

Notes

This was guard Isiah Thomas' sophomore season. Fresh off a national championship and the 1981 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament MVP, Thomas declared early for the 1981 NBA Draft and was selected #2 overall by the Detroit Pistons.
On July 25, 1981, forward Landon Turner was injured in a car crash and suffered a fractured spine and paralysis in both legs.^[4]

References

^ "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
^ "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
^ http://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=N&yr=1981
^ http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/sports/turner-indiana-u-star-seriously-hurt-in-crash.html

[1] "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 16, 2015.

[Tourney_History-2] "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Retrieved 31 March 2008.

[3] ttp://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=N&yr=1981

[4] ttp://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/sports/turner-indiana-u-star-seriously-hurt-in-crash.html

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[3]

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v t e Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
Venues	Old Assembly Hall (1900–1917) Men's Gymnasium (1917–1928) The Fieldhouse (1928–1960) New Fieldhouse (1960–1971) Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (1971–present) Cook Hall (practice)
Rivalries	Illinois Kentucky Purdue
Culture & lore	2011 Kentucky upset A Season on the Brink (film) Blue blood status Crimson Guard Crossroads Classic "Indiana, Our Indiana"
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics