1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Metro Conference Champions
ConferenceMetro Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 19
APNo. 13
Record24–8 (9–1 Metro)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Home arenaFreedom Hall
Seasons
1978–79 Metro Conference men's basketball standings
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 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.

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
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

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.

[2]

Rankings

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

[3]

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

[4]

References

  1. ^ sports-reference.com 1978-79 Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference Season Summary
  2. ^ "1980 NCAA basketball tournament Bracket and Results". Archived from the original on March 30, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
  3. ^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 856–857. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
  4. ^ "1980 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com". Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2012.