1980 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament


The 1980 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held February 23–25 at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.[1]

1980 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1979–80
Teams8
SiteCampus Sites; Charlotte Coliseum
Campus Sites; Charlotte, NC
ChampionsVCU (1st title)
Winning coachJ.D. Barnett (1st title)
MVPEdmund Sherod (VCU)
← 1979
1981 →
1979–80 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
South Alabama 12 2   .857 23 6   .793
UAB 10 4   .714 18 12   .600
Jacksonville 10 4   .714 20 9   .690
UNC Charlotte 9 5   .643 15 12   .556
VCU 8 6   .571 18 12   .600
Georgia State 4 10   .286 6 21   .222
New Orleans 2 12   .143 5 21   .192
South Florida 1 13   .071 6 21   .222
1980 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

VCU defeated UAB in the championship game, 105–88, to win their first Sun Belt men's basketball tournament. Both programs were in their first season in the Sun Belt.

The Rams, in turn, received an automatic bid for the 1980 NCAA tournament, where they lost to Iowa in the first round. Top-seeded South Alabama, who lost to VCU in the semifinal round, still received an at-large bid; the Jaguars ultimately lost to Alcorn State in the NCAA tournament's first round.

Format

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With the addition of UAB and VCU to the Sun Belt, the conference's membership expanded to eight teams. All eight teams participated in the tournament field and were seeded based on their regular season conference records. All eight teams entered the single-elimination tournament in the quarterfinal round.

All of the games were played at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bracket

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Quarterfinals
Saturday, February 23
Semifinals
Sunday, February 24
Championship
Monday, February 25
         
1 South Alabama 86
8 South Florida 57
1 South Alabama 72
5 VCU 74
5 VCU 100
4 UNC Charlotte 93
5 VCU 105
2 UAB 88
3 Jacksonville 70
6 Georgia State 59
3 Jacksonville 60
2 UAB 64
7 New Orleans 75
2 UAB 85

References

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  1. ^ "1979–80 Sun Belt Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2016.