1980–81 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

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.

1980–81 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
NCAA tournament National Champions Big Ten champions
National Championship Game, W 63–50 vs. North Carolina
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 9
Record	26–9 (14–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bobby Knight (10th season)
Assistant coaches	Jim Crews Jene Davis Gerry Gimelstob
Captains	Ray Tolbert Glen Grunwald
Home arena	Assembly Hall
Seasons ← 1979–80 1981–82 →

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 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

1980–81 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F 54 Steve Bouchie 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 228 lb (103 kg) So Washington, Indiana G 31 Tony Brown 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 178 lb (81 kg) So Chicago, Illinois G 23 Chuck Franz 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So Clarksville, Indiana F 40 Glen Grunwald 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 207 lb (94 kg) Sr Franklin Park, Illinois F 44 Phil Isenbarger 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 192 lb (87 kg) Sr Muncie, Indiana F 30 Ted Kitchel 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 209 lb (95 kg) Jr Galveston, Indiana F 43 Mike LaFave 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 188 lb (85 kg) Fr Indianapolis, Indiana F 34 Steve Risley 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Sr Indianapolis, Indiana G 11 Isiah Thomas 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Chicago, Illinois G 20 Jim Thomas 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 189 lb (86 kg) So Fort Lauderdale, Florida F/C 45 Ray Tolbert 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Sr Anderson, Indiana F/C 32 Landon Turner 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 241 lb (109 kg) Jr Indianapolis, Indiana G 24 Randy Wittman 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Indianapolis, Indiana	Head coach Bob Knight (Ohio State) Assistant coach(es) Jim Crews (Indiana) Jene Davis (Otterbein) Gerry Gimelstob (Rhode Island) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

^[2]

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, Indiana
12/1/1980*	No. 5	Murray State	W 59–41	2–0	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/6/1980*	No. 5	No. 2 Kentucky Indiana–Kentucky rivalry	L 66–68	2–1	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/9/1980*	No. 7	at No. 9 Notre Dame	L 64–68	2–2	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, Indiana
12/12/1980*	No. 7	California Indiana Classic	W 94–58	3–2	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/13/1980*	No. 7	Baylor Indiana Classic	W 83–47	4–2	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/15/1980*	No. 7	vs. Oral Roberts	W 65–56	5–2	Market Square Arena  Indianapolis
12/20/1980* NBC/TVS	No. 11	at No. 8 North Carolina	L 56–65	5–3	Carmichael Auditorium  Chapel Hill, North Carolina
12/23/1980*	No. 15	at Kansas State	W 51–44	6–3	Ahearn Field House  Manhattan, Kansas
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, Indiana
1/10/1981		No. 12 Illinois Rivalry	W 78–61	9–5 (2–0)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
1/15/1981		at No. 9 Michigan	L 52–55	9–6 (2–1)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, Michigan
1/18/1981		at Ohio State	W 67–60	10–6 (3–1)	St. John Arena  Columbus, Ohio
1/22/1981		No. 14 Iowa	L 53–56	10–7 (3–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
1/24/1981		at Northwestern	W 93–56	11–7 (4–2)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, Illinois
1/29/1981		at No. 19 Minnesota	W 56–53	12–7 (5–2)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis
1/31/1981		Purdue Rivalry	W 69–61	13–7 (6–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/5/1981	No. 17	Wisconsin	W 89–64	14–7 (7–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/7/1981	No. 17	at Purdue Rivalry	L 66–68	14–8 (7–3)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
2/12/1981		Northwestern	W 86–52	15–8 (8–3)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/14/1981	No. 20	at Wisconsin	W 59–52	16–8 (9–3)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, Wisconsin
2/19/1981	No. 16	at No. 12 Iowa	L 65–78	16–9 (9–4)	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, Iowa
2/21/1981	No. 16	Minnesota	W 74–63	17–9 (10–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/26/1981	No. 16	Ohio State	W 74–58	18–9 (11–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/28/1981	No. 16	Michigan	W 98–83	19–9 (12–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
3/5/1981	No. 14	at No. 16 Illinois Rivalry	W 69–66	20–9 (13–4)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, Illinois
3/7/1981	No. 14	at Michigan State	W 69–48	21–9 (14–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, Michigan
NCAA Tournament
3/14/1981* NBC	(3 ME) No. 9	vs. (6 ME) No. 18 Maryland Second Round	W 99–64[3]	22–9 (14–4)	University of Dayton Arena  Dayton, Ohio
3/20/1981* NCAA/ESPN	(3 ME) No. 9	(7 ME) UAB Sweet Sixteen	W 87–72	23–9 (14–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
3/22/1981* NBC	(3 ME) No. 9	(9 ME) St. Joseph's (Pa.) Elite Eight	W 78–46[4]	24–9 (14–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
3/28/1981* 1:45 p.m., NBC	(3 ME) No. 9	(1 MW) No. 4 LSU Final Four	W 67–49[5]	25–9 (14–4)	The Spectrum  Philadelphia
3/30/1981* NBC	(3 ME) No. 9	(2 W) No. 6 North Carolina Championship	W 63–50	26–9 (14–4)	The Spectrum  Philadelphia
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ME=Mideast. All times are in Eastern Time.

Awards and honors

• Bob Knight, Big Ten Coach of the Year
• Isiah Thomas, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[6]
• 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

^[7]

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.^[8]