1981 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament


The 1981 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held February 27–March 1 at the Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.[1]

1981 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1980–81
Teams7
SiteJacksonville Coliseum
Jacksonville, FL
ChampionsVCU (2nd title)
Winning coachJ.D. Barnett (2nd title)
MVPKenny Stancil (VCU)
← 1980
1982 →
1980–81 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
VCU 9 3   .750 24 5   .828
South Alabama 9 3   .750 25 6   .806
UAB 9 3   .750 23 9   .719
South Florida 7 5   .583 18 11   .621
Jacksonville 4 8   .333 8 19   .296
UNC Charlotte 3 9   .250 10 17   .370
Georgia State 1 11   .083 4 23   .148
1981 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

In a rematch of the 1980 final, VCU repeated as tournament champions by defeating UAB in the championship game, 62–61, to win their second Sun Belt men's basketball tournament.

The Rams, in turn, received an automatic bid for the 1981 NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the second round. Runner-up UAB received an at-large bid; the Blazers ultimately won two games before losing to Indiana in the regional semifinals.

Format

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With the Sun Belt's forced departure of New Orleans prior to the season, the conference's membership decreased to seven teams. In turn, the top-seeded team was given a bye into the semifinal round. All other teams, again seeded based on regular season conference records, entered the tournament in the quarterfinal round.

The entire tournament was played at the Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.

Bracket

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Quarterfinals
Friday, February 27
Semifinals
Saturday, February 28
Championship
Sunday, March 1
         
1 VCU 53
4 South Florida 45
5 Jacksonville 50
4 South Florida 52
1 VCU 62
3 UAB 61
3 UAB 80
6 UNC Charlotte 64
3 UAB 86
2 South Alabama 59
7 Georgia State 41
2 South Alabama 79

References

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  1. ^ "1980–81 Sun Belt Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016.