1980 Final Four Team

[Cosity82]

Why did they play Purdue after the tournament??

 

[DMU27]

Why did they play Purdue after the tournament??

That was the last year there was a third place game.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

Back in the day the NCAA used to have consolation games. Iowa was awarded a fourth place trophy!

 

[Cosity82]

Interesting. TY

 

[woodyk1]

Here's a story from KCRG with accompanying video for those that are interested

Thirty Years Since Iowa's Last Final Four Appearance | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Sports

 

[DodgerHawki]

Ronnie was absolutely CONTROLLING that game. Had a semi-breakaway layup (IIRC, off a steal) when Roger Berkmann blatantly and intentionally undercut him. Still can't believe, to this day, that Berkmann wasn't ejected OR Denny Crum, Louisville's coach. Darrell Griffith may have turned out to be a cokehead and semi-wasted potential, but he was the ONLY Louisville guy who showed any concern when Ronnie got hurt. Of course, he was also getting schooled by Ronnie.

Griffith ran around, over and past anyone who guarded him that year until he played Ronnie. He was lost with Ronnie guarding him. (admittedly, Ronnie was getting help on switches from Boyle and Brookins).

Basically, Louisville could direct more attention to Brookins after Ronnie went down. Georgetown made the mistake of keying almost exclusively on Ronnie even AFTER Vince got hot in the second half.

Great as that run was, the following season was just a major disappointment, losing final couple games to blow Big 10 title, then going down to Wichita State on that stupid foul during a scramble for the ball on a missed shot attempt, THEN calling time-out when we had none left. Gene Smithson's kid (Gen was coach at Wichita State at the time) hit four FTs in a row to put the dagger in.

Yeah don't bring up that WSU game. That was at a time when teams still hosted NCAA games on their home court. Shockers had Cliff Levingston and Antoine Carr, both of whom had 10+year NBA careers. Unbelievable end to that game.

 

[troy]

Yeah don't bring up that WSU game. That was at a time when teams still hosted NCAA games on their home court. Shockers had Cliff Levingston and Antoine Carr, both of whom had 10+year NBA careers. Unbelievable end to that game.

Wichita State had that saying or slogan, whatever you want to call it, MTXE, which stood for Mental Toughness X-tra Effort. I heard they are reviving those uniforms. We all thought that was a huge upset at the time, but that Wichita State team was very good, and that was a devastating loss!
Shocks Are "Bringing Back MTXE" - GoShockers.com—Official Web Site of Wichita State Athletics