1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season

The 1980–81 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 28, 1980, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1981 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship game on March 30, 1981, at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Indiana Hoosiers won their fourth NCAA national championship with a 63–50 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Rule Changes

 * On free throw attempts, players can now enter the free-throw lane after the foul shooter releases the ball. Previously, players had to wait until the ball touched either the rim or backboard before entering the lane.
 * The time allotted to replace a disqualified (fouled out) player was reduced from 60 to 30 seconds.
 * Starting in the 1981–82 season, the national third-place game was abolished.
 * Conferences were allowed to experiment with the three-point shot in conference games only. The Southern Conference was the first to use the shot in their conference games, adopting a distance of 22 feet.

Season headlines

 * At 7:06 p.m. on November 29, 1980, Ronnie Carr of Western Carolina scored a 23 ft field goal against Middle Tennessee State. Not counting shots made during a February 1945 game between Columbia and Fordham that experimented with the three-point field goal, Carr became the first player to score on a three-point shot. The three-pointer was used as an experiment by several conferences until the rule was adopted nationally for the 1986-87 season.
 * After a nearly even first half, the Indiana Hoosiers pulled away from the North Carolina Tar Heels to clinch the school's fourth national championship, 63–50, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The win marked Hoosiers had coach Bob Knight's second championship and marked North Carolina head coach Dean Smith's sixth trip to the Final Four without a championship. A dominant second half by sophomore Isiah Thomas led Indiana to the championship.
 * The possibility of postponing or cancellng the March 30 NCAA championship game arose after an assassination attempt in which John Hinckley, Jr., shot President Ronald Reagan that day in Washington, D.C. Once it was confirmed that Reagan would survive, the game was played as scheduled.
 * The NCAA used the Rating Percentage Index (RPI), a computer ranking system, for the first time as an aid in evaluating teams for at-large selections and seeding in the NCAA tournament.
 * Two No. 1 seeds (LSU and Virginia) advanced to the NCAA tournament Final Four for the first time.
 * The NCAA tournament included a national third-place game — pitting the two teams that lost in the semifinals against one another — for the last time.
 * The NCAA Final Four was held in Philadelphia and the Final Four logo included a depiction of the Liberty Bell. It was the first time that a Final Four logo incorporated an image specific to the Final Four venue.
 * Oregon State senior Steve Johnson set an NCAA record for season field goal percentage with a .746 mark. Johnson graduated with the NCAA career field goal percentage record (.678)
 * Nolan Richardson led Tulsa to a 15-game improvement over the previous year in his first year at the helm. The Golden Hurricane went 26–7 and won the 1981 National Invitation Tournament. Richardson came to Tulsa fresh off of a 1980 NJCAA Championship and brought four of his former Western Texas College starters to Tulsa, including Paul Pressey.
 * The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference played its first season as a Division I conference.

Pre-season polls
The top 20 from the AP and UPI polls during the pre-season.

Conference winners and tournaments
Note: From 1975 to 1982, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), a loosely organized sports federation of colleges and universities in the Northeastern United States, organized Division I ECAC regional tournaments for those of its members that were independents in basketball. Each 1981 tournament winner received an automatic bid to the 1981 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in the same way that the tournament champions of conventional athletic conferences did. The ECAC North was a separate, conventional conference.

Informal championships
NOTE: All five teams finished with a 2–2 record in head-to-head competition, resulting in a five-way tie.

NCAA tournament
Indiana won its fourth NCAA title with a 63–50 win over North Carolina and coach Dean Smith. Precocious sophomore Isiah Thomas was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player in a title game delayed due to the shooting of President Ronald Reagan.

Final Four
Played at The Spectrum in Philadelphia


 * Third Place – Virginia 78, LSU 74

National Invitation tournament
Coach Nolan Richardson led Tulsa to the NIT Championship in his first year as a division I head coach – an 86–84 win over Syracuse. The Golden Hurricane's Greg Stewart was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

NIT Semifinals and Final
Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City


 * Third Place – Purdue 75, West Virginia 72

Major player of the year awards

 * Wooden Award: Danny Ainge, BYU
 * Naismith Award: Ralph Sampson, Virginia
 * Helms Player of the Year: Mark Aguirre, DePaul
 * Associated Press Player of the Year: Ralph Sampson, Virginia
 * UPI Player of the Year: Ralph Sampson, Virginia
 * NABC Player of the Year: Danny Ainge, BYU
 * Oscar Robertson Trophy (USBWA): Ralph Sampson, Virginia
 * Adolph Rupp Trophy: Ralph Sampson, Virginia
 * Sporting News Player of the Year: Mark Aguirre, DePaul

Major coach of the year awards

 * Associated Press Coach of the Year: Ralph Miller, Oregon State
 * Henry Iba Award (USBWA): Ralph Miller, Oregon State
 * NABC Coach of the Year: Jack Hartman, Kansas State & Ralph Miller, Oregon State
 * UPI Coach of the Year: Ralph Miller, Oregon State
 * CBS/Chevrolet Coach of the Year: Dale Brown, LSU
 * Sporting News Coach of the Year: Dale Brown, LSU

Other major awards

 * Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (Best player under 6'0): Terry Adolph, West Texas State
 * Robert V. Geasey Trophy (Top player in Philadelphia Big 5): John Pinone, Villanova
 * NIT/Haggerty Award (Top player in New York City metro area): Gary Springer, Iona

Coaching changes
A number of teams changed coaches during the season and after it ended.