1980–81 BYU Cougars men's basketball team

1980–81 WAC men's basketball standings
	Rankings from AP Poll

1980–81 BYU Cougars men's basketball
1980–81 BYU Cougars men's basketball
NCAA Tournament 3-Seed, Elite Eight
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 17
AP	No. 16
Record	25–7 (12–4 WAC)
Head coach	Frank Arnold;
Assistant coaches	Roger Reid; Harry Anderson;
Home arena	Marriott Center
	Seasons ← 1979–80 1981–82 →

The 1980–81 BYU Cougars men's basketball team represented Brigham Young University in the 1980–81 college basketball season. This was head coach Frank Arnold's sixth season at BYU. The Cougars played their home games at the Marriott Center and reached the Elite Eight, where they fell to Virginia.^[2]

Roster

Source^[3]

#	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Position	Hometown
21	Craig Christensen	6'4"	185	G	Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
21	Mike Maxwell	6'1"	160	G	Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
22	Danny Ainge	6'5"	188	G	Eugene, Oregon, United States
23	Steve Craig	6'3"	180	G	Los Angeles, California, United States
23	Richie Webb	6'5"	180	G	Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States
24	Greg Ballif	6'3"	190	G	Provo, Utah, United States
25	Dave Challis	6'4"	170	G	Walnut Creek, California, United States
31	John Bartholomew	6'6"	195	F	Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
32	Keith Rice	6'5"	200	F	Portland, Oregon, United States
33	Timo Saarelainen	6'6"	200	F	Helsinki, Finland
34	Fred Roberts	6'10"	220	F	Riverton, Utah, United States
42	Gary Furniss	6'8"	215	F	Driggs, Idaho, United States
44	Steve Trumbo	6'8"	223	F	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
50	Greg Kite	6'11"	250	C	Houston, Texas, United States
52	Dave McGuire	7'0"	225	C	West Covina, California, United States

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 28, 1980*	No. 18	at Washington	W 80–70	1–0	Bank of America Arena Seattle, Washington
Mar 7, 1981*	No. 18	No. 9 Utah	W 95–76	22–6 (12–4)	Marriott Center Provo, Utah
NCAA Tournament
Mar 12, 1981*	(6 E) No. 16	vs. (11 E) Princeton First round	W 60–51	23–6	Providence Civic Center Providence, Rhode Island
Mar 14, 1981*	(6 E) No. 16	vs. (3 E) No. 10 UCLA Second Round	W 78–55	24–6	Providence Civic Center Providence, Rhode Island
Mar 19, 1981*	(6 E) No. 16	vs. (2 E) No. 7 Notre Dame East Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	W 51–50	25–6	Omni Coliseum Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 21, 1981*	(6 E) No. 16	vs. (1 E) No. 5 Virginia East Regional final – Elite Eight	L 60–74	25–7	Omni Coliseum Atlanta, Georgia
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East.

Rankings

Awards and honors

Danny Ainge – WAC Player of the Year

NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
2	31	Danny Ainge	Boston Celtics

Source:^[4]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1980-81 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary
^ Call, Jeff (February 3, 2002). "Ainge, 'underachieving' 1981 Cougs honored". Deseret News.
^ "1980–1981 Men's Basketball Roster". BYUCougars.com. Brigham Young University. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
^ "1981 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved June 20, 2020.

[1] sports-reference.com 1980-81 Western Athletic Conference Season Summary

[2] Call, Jeff (February 3, 2002). "Ainge, 'underachieving' 1981 Cougs honored". Deseret News.

[3] "1980–1981 Men's Basketball Roster". BYUCougars.com. Brigham Young University. Retrieved October 17, 2022.

[4] "1981 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved June 20, 2020.

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[4]

1980–81 WAC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 14 Utah	13	–	3	.813	25	–	5	.833
No. 17 Wyoming	13	–	3	.813	24	–	6	.800
No. 16 BYU	12	–	4	.750	25	–	7	.781
UTEP	9	–	7	.563	18	–	12	.600
San Diego State	8	–	8	.500	15	–	12	.556
Hawaii	7	–	9	.438	14	–	13	.519
New Mexico	6	–	10	.375	11	–	15	.423
Air Force	3	–	13	.188	9	–	18	.333
Colorado State	1	–	15	.063	3	–	24	.111

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

v t e BYU Cougars men's basketball
Venues	Smith Fieldhouse (1951–1971) Marriott Center (1971–present)
Rivalries	Utah In-state Utah schools
Culture & lore	Cosmo the Cougar "The Cougar Song" BYU Pep band
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23