1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

The 1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 65th season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in the Metro Conference and were coached by Denny Crum. The team played home games at Freedom Hall.

1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Metro Conference Champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Metro Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 19
AP	No. 13
Record	24–8 (9–1 Metro)
Head coach	Denny Crum (8th season)
Assistant coaches	Bill Olsen Wade Houston Jerry Jones
Home arena	Freedom Hall
Seasons ← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 Metro Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 13 Louisville	9	–	1		.900			24	–	8		.750
Florida State	7	–	3		.700			19	–	10		.655
Memphis State	5	–	5		.500			13	–	15		.464
Virginia Tech †	4	–	6		.400			22	–	9		.710
Cincinnati	4	–	6		.400			13	–	14		.481
Saint Louis	3	–	7		.300			10	–	17		.370
Tulane	2	–	8		.200			8	–	19		.296
† 1979 Metro Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll[1]

The team completed a 24–8 record and reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 1979 NCAA Tournament.

Roster

1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 5 Jerry Eaves 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Fr Ballard Louisville, Kentucky G 15 Greg Deuser 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Fr Floyd Central New Albany, Indiana F 21 Scooter McCray 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Mount Vernon Mount Vernon, New York G 23 Tony Branch 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Elston Michigan City, Indiana F 24 Daryl Cleveland 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Thomas County Central Thomasville, Georgia G 34 Roger Burkman 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Franklin Central Indianapolis, Indiana G 35 Darrell Griffith 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Louisville Male Louisville, Kentucky C 40 Marty Pulliam 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Fr Mercer Country Senior Harrodsburg, Kentucky C 41 Wiley Brown 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr Worth County Sylvester, Georgia F 43 Derek Smith 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Fr Hogansville Hogansville, Georgia G/F 44 Poncho Wright 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Fr Marshall Indianapolis, Indiana	Head coach Denny Crum (UCLA) Assistant coach(es) Jerry Jones Bill Olsen Wade Houston Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 24, 1978*	No. 4	vs. Penn State Sea Wolf Classic	W 89–58	1–0	Buckner Fieldhouse  Fort Richardson, Alaska
Nov 25, 1978*	No. 4	vs. Lamar Sea Wolf Classic	W 90–68	2–0	Buckner Fieldhouse  Fort Richardson, Alaska
Nov 26, 1978*	No. 4	vs. No. 12 NC State Sea Wolf Classic	L 66–72	2–1	Buckner Fieldhouse  Fort Richardson, Alaska
Dec 2, 1978*	No. 5	Tennessee	W 82–61	3–1	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 6, 1978*	No. 7	No. 6 Michigan	W 86–84	4–1	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 9, 1978*	No. 7	Idaho	W 101–54	5–1	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 12, 1978*	No. 4	at Ohio State	L 69–85	5–2	St. John Arena  Columbus, Ohio
Dec 16, 1978*	No. 4	West Virginia	W 106–60	6–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 23, 1978*	No. 12	Providence	W 88–70	7–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 28, 1978*	No. 10	Wisconsin Louisville Holiday Classic	W 70–53	8–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 29, 1978*	No. 10	Mississippi State Louisville Holiday Classic	L 73–80	8–3	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 4, 1979*	No. 16	Chattanooga	W 94–70	9–3	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 6, 1979*	No. 16	Louisiana-Lafayette	W 73–60	10–3	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 8, 1979*	No. 16	Marshall	W 112–64	11–3	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 13, 1979*	No. 12	at Maryland	W 99–84	12–3	Cole Fieldhouse  College Park, Maryland
Jan 16, 1979*	No. 7	at Dayton	W 77–76	13–3	UD Arena  Dayton, Ohio
Jan 18, 1979	No. 7	at Cincinnati Rivalry	W 82–77	14–3 (1–0)	Riverfront Coliseum  Cincinnati, Ohio
Jan 20, 1979	No. 7	at Florida State	W 67–65	15–3 (2–0)	Tully Gymnasium  Tallahassee, Florida
Jan 24, 1979	No. 5	Saint Louis	W 80–65	16–3 (3–0)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 28, 1979	No. 5	Virginia Tech	W 82–72	17–3 (4–0)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 31, 1979	No. 6	Florida State	W 84–71	18–3 (5–0)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 3, 1979	No. 6	Cincinnati Rivalry	W 88–85	19–3 (6–0)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 5, 1979	No. 6	Memphis State Rivalry	W 103–82	20–3 (7–0)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 8, 1979	No. 5	at Tulane	W 77–66	21–3 (8–0)	Avron B. Fogelman Arena  New Orleans, Louisiana
Feb 10, 1979*	No. 5	at No. 9 Marquette	L 55–71	21–4	MECCA Arena  Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Feb 15, 1979	No. 9	at Saint Louis	W 78–62	22–4 (9–0)	St. Louis Arena  St. Louis, Missouri
Feb 17, 1979*	No. 9	at Memphis State Rivalry	L 53–60	22–5 (9–1)	Mid-South Coliseum  Memphis, Tennessee
Feb 18, 1979*	No. 9	at No. 5 Duke	L 72–88	22–6	Charlotte Coliseum  Charlotte, North Carolina
Feb 24, 1979	No. 13	Tulane	W 95–71	23–6 (10–1)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Metro Conference Tournament
Mar 2, 1979*	(1) No. 13	vs. (4) Virginia Tech Metro Tournament Semifinal	L 68–72	23–7	Mid-South Coliseum  Memphis, Tennessee
NCAA Tournament
Mar 10, 1979*	(3 MW) No. 18	vs. (6 MW) South Alabama Second round	W 69–66	24–7	Moody Coliseum  University Park, Texas
Mar 15, 1979*	(3 MW) No. 13	vs. (2 MW) No. 5 Arkansas Regional semifinal	L 62–73	24–8	Riverfront Coliseum  Cincinnati, Ohio
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Eastern.

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Rankings

See also: 1978-79 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

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Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1980	1	2	Darrell Griffith	Utah Jazz
1982	2	35	Derek Smith	Golden State Warriors
1983	2	36	Scooter McCray	Seattle SuperSonics

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