1981–82 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

1981–82 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
1981–82 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional Champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Final Four
Conference	Metro Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 20
AP	No. 20
Record	23–10 (8–4 Metro)
Head coach	Denny Crum (11th season);
Assistant coaches	Jerry Jones; Wade Houston; Bobby Dotson;
Home arena	Freedom Hall
	Seasons ← 1980–81 1982–83 →

1981–82 Metro Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 9 Memphis State †	10	–	2	.833	23	–	4	.852
No. 20 Louisville	8	–	4	.667	23	–	10	.697
Tulane	8	–	4	.667	19	–	9	.679
Virginia Tech	7	–	5	.583	20	–	11	.645
Cincinnati	4	–	8	.333	15	–	12	.556
Florida State	4	–	8	.333	11	–	17	.393
Saint Louis	1	–	11	.083	6	–	21	.222

† 1982 Metro Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1] *Memphis State vacated NCAA Tournament games due to NCAA sanctions. Disputed record (24–5)

The 1981–82 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 1981-82 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 69th season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in the Metro Conference and were coached by Denny Crum, who was in his eleventh season. The team played its home games at Freedom Hall.

Louisville defeated Alabama Birmingham 75–68 to win the NCAA tournament Mideast Regional and advance to the Final Four (their 5th) where they fell to eventual runner-up Georgetown 50–46. The Cardinals finished with a 23–10 (8–4) record.^[2]

Roster

1981–82 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F/C	41	Wiley Brown	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Sylvester, Georgia
G	14	Greg Deuser	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Sr	New Albany, Indiana
G	5	Jerry Eaves	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Louisville, Kentucky
F	30	Manuel Forrest	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Louisville, Kentucky
G	4	Lancaster Gordon	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Jackson, Mississippi
G	25	James Jeter	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	Fr	Louisville, Kentucky
C	33	Charles Jones	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	So	Scooba, Mississippi
G/F	12	Kent Jones	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	Fr	Scooba, Mississippi
F/C	22	Rodney McCray	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jr	Mount Vernon, New York
F/C	21	Scooter McCray	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Jr	Mount Vernon, New York
G/F	45	Danny Mitchell	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Eckerty, Indiana
C	40	Marty Pulliam	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Sr	Harrodsburg, Kentucky
F	43	Derek Smith	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So	Hogansville, Georgia
G	20	Milt Wagner	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Camden, New Jersey
G/F	44	Poncho Wright	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Sr	Indianapolis, Indiana

Head coach

Denny Crum (UCLA)

Assistant coach(es)

Jerry Jones (Valparaiso)
Wade Houston (Louisville)
Bobby Dotson (Western Kentucky)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[3]

Schedule

NCAA tournament

Mideast region

First round			Second round			Regional semifinals			Regional finals

8	Southwest Louisiana	57

9	Tennessee	61
			9	Tennessee	51

			1	Virginia	54



						1	Virginia	66

						4	UAB	68



			4	UAB	80

			5	Indiana	70
5	Indiana	94

12	Robert Morris	62
									4	UAB	68

									3	Louisville	75
6	Kentucky	44

11	Middle Tennessee State	50
			11	Middle Tennessee State	56

			3	Louisville	81



						3	Louisville	67

						2	Minnesota	61



			2	Minnesota	62

			10	Tennessee-Chattanooga	61
7	N.C. State	51

10	Tennessee-Chattanooga	58

Final four

National semifinals			National championship game

E1	North Carolina	68

MW6	Houston	63
			E1	North Carolina	63

			W1	Georgetown	62
ME3	Louisville	46

W1	Georgetown	50

References

^ sports-reference.com 1981-82 Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference Season Summary
^ "Louisville Basketball Media Guide". University of Louisville Athletic Association. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
^ "1982 NCAA Final Four program". March 1982. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)

[1] sports-reference.com 1981-82 Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference Season Summary

[2] "Louisville Basketball Media Guide". University of Louisville Athletic Association. Retrieved December 22, 2012.

[3] "1982 NCAA Final Four program". March 1982. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Venues	Belknap Gymnasium (1933–1944) Jefferson County Armory (1945–1956) Freedom Hall (1956–2010) KFC Yum! Center (2010–present)
Rivalries	Cincinnati Kentucky Memphis
Culture & lore	Billy Minardi Classic Cardinal Bird The Rivalry: Red v. Blue
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 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
NAIA and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics