1982–83 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

1982–83 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
1982–83 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Metro Conference regular season champions; Metro Conference tournament champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Final Four
Conference	Metro Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 2
Record	32–4 (12–0 Metro)
Head coach	Denny Crum (12th season);
Home arena	Freedom Hall
	Seasons ← 1981–82 1983–84 →

1982–83 Metro Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 2 Louisville †	12	–	0	1.000	32	–	4	.889
Virginia Tech	7	–	5	.583	23	–	11	.676
Tulane	7	–	5	.583	19	–	12	.613
No. 17 Memphis State	6	–	6	.500	23	–	8	.742
Florida State	5	–	7	.417	14	–	14	.500
Southern Miss	3	–	9	.250	14	–	14	.500
Cincinnati	1	–	11	.083	11	–	17	.393

† 1983 Metro Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1982–83 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 1982–83 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 70th season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in the Metro Conference and were coached by Denny Crum, who was in his twelfth season. The team played its home games at Freedom Hall.

The Cardinals won the Metro Conference tournament championship (their 4th), defeating Tulane 66–51.^[2] Louisville defeated Kentucky 80–68 (OT) to win the NCAA tournament Mideast Regional and advance to the Final Four (their 6th) where they fell to eventual runner-up Houston 94–81. The Cardinals finished with a 32–4 (11–0) record.

Roster

1982–83 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	00	Robbie Valentine	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	North Hardin	Radcliff, Kentucky
G	4	Lancaster Gordon	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jr	Jim Hill	Jackson, Mississippi
G	12	Kent Jones	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	So	East Kemper	Scooba, Mississippi
G	20	Milt Wagner	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Camden	Camden, New Jersey
F/C	21	Scooter McCray	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Sr	Mt. Vernon	Mount Vernon, New York
F	22	Rodney McCray	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Mt. Vernon	Mount Vernon, New York
G	23	Chris West	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Manual	Louisville, Kentucky
G	25	James Jeter	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	So	North Hardin	Radcliff, Kentucky
F	30	Manuel Forrest	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Moore	Louisville, Kentucky
C	33	Charles Jones	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Jr	East Kemper	Scooba, Mississippi
G	42	Jeff Hall	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Fairview	Westwood, Kentucky
F	45	Danny Mitchell	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Crawford County	Eckerty, Indiana
C	55	Billy Thompson	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Camden	Camden, New Jersey

Head coach

Denny Crum (UCLA)

Assistant coach(es)

Jerry Jones (Valparaiso)
Wade Houston (Louisville)
Bobby Dotson (Western Kentucky)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: March 18, 2018

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov 26, 1982*	No. 8	vs. Florida Great Alaska Shootout	W 80–63	1–0	Sullivan Arena Anchorage, Alaska
Nov 27, 1982*	No. 8	vs. Washington Great Alaska Shootout	W 58–47	2–0	Sullivan Arena Anchorage, Alaska
Nov 28, 1982*	No. 8	vs. Vanderbilt Great Alaska Shootout	W 80–70	3–0	Sullivan Arena Anchorage, Alaska
Dec 1, 1982*	No. 7	at Santa Clara	W 84–56	4–0	Toso Pavilion Santa Clara, California
Dec 4, 1982*	No. 7	Purdue	L 63–69	4–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 8, 1982*	No. 13	Eastern Kentucky	W 82–53	5–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 15, 1982*	No. 12	South Alabama	W 94–77	6–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 18, 1982*	No. 12	Oklahoma State	W 67–66	7–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 21, 1982*	No. 14	No. 15 NC State	W 57–52	8–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 29, 1982*	No. 13	at No. 5 UCLA	L 72–76	8–2	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California
Jan 3, 1983	No. 13	Cincinnati	W 65–58	9–2 (1–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 5, 1982*	No. 13	Kentucky Wesleyan	W 79–58	10–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 8, 1983	No. 13	at Florida State	W 96–69	11–2 (2–0)	Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center Tallahassee, Florida
Jan 12, 1983*	No. 9	at Duke	W 91–76	12–2	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, North Carolina
Jan 15, 1983*	No. 9	DePaul	W 63–58	13–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 17, 1983	No. 9	at Tulane	W 63–55	14–2 (3–0)	Avron B. Fogelman Arena New Orleans, Louisiana
Jan 22, 1983	No. 9	Southern Miss	W 63–48	15–2 (4–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 26, 1983*	No. 8	vs. Rutgers	W 54–49	16–2	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Jan 29, 1983*	No. 8	at No. 6 Virginia	L 81–98	16–3	University Hall Charlottesville, Virginia
Feb 2, 1983	No. 12	at Cincinnati	W 79–73	17–3 (5–0)	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
Feb 5, 1982*	No. 12	Lamar	W 85–60	18–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 7, 1983	No. 11	Florida State	W 89–63	19–3 (6–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 9, 1983	No. 11	Tulane	W 73–56	20–3 (7–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 12, 1983*	No. 11	at Marquette	W 81–73	21–3	MECCA Arena Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Feb 19, 1983	No. 9	at No. 13 Memphis State	W 75–66	22–3 (8–0)	Mid-South Coliseum Memphis, Tennessee
Feb 22, 1982*	No. 5	Wright State	W 71–55	23–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 26, 1982*	No. 5	at Western Kentucky	W 73–62	24–3	E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, Kentucky
Feb 28, 1982*	No. 3	Murray State	W 66–58	25–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Mar 2, 1983	No. 3	at Virginia Tech	W 73–64	26–3 (9–0)	Cassell Coliseum Blacksburg, Virginia
Mar 6, 1983	No. 3	No. 17 Memphis State	W 64–62 ^OT	27–3 (10–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Metro Conference tournament
Mar 11, 1983	No. 3	vs. No. 17 Memphis State Semifinals	W 71–68	28–3 (11–0)	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
Mar 12, 1983	No. 3	vs. Tulane Championship	W 66–51	29–3 (12–0)	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
NCAA Tournament
Mar 20, 1983*	(1 ME) No. 2	vs. (8 ME) Tennessee Second round	W 70–57	30–3	Roberts Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Mar 25, 1983* CBS	(1 ME) No. 2	vs. (4 ME) No. 9 Arkansas Sweet Sixteen	W 65–63	31–3	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, TN
Mar 27, 1983* CBS	(1 ME) No. 2	vs. (3 ME) No. 12 Kentucky Elite Eight	W 80–68 ^OT	32–3	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, TN
Apr 2, 1983* CBS	(1 ME) No. 2	vs. (1 MW) No. 1 Houston Final Four	L 81–94	32–4	The Pit Albuquerque, NM
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Sources^[3]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	8	7	13	12	14	13	13	9	9	8	12	11	9	5	3	3	2
Coaches	5	5	12	11	11	9	10	8	8	7	12	11	8	6	3	3	2

^[4]

NCAA tournament

Mideast region

First round			Second round			Regional semifinals			Regional finals

8	Tennessee	57

9	Marquette	56
			8	Tennessee	57

			1	Louisville	70



						1	Louisville	65

						4	Arkansas	63



			4	Arkansas	78

			5	Purdue	68
5	Purdue	55

12	Robert Morris	53
									1	Louisville	80

									3	Kentucky	68
6	Illinois State	49

11	Ohio	51
			11	Ohio	40

			3	Kentucky	57



						3	Kentucky	64

						2	Indiana	59



			2	Indiana	63

			7	Oklahoma	49
7	Oklahoma	71

10	UAB	63

Final four

National semifinals			National championship game

E4	Georgia	60

W6	N.C. State	67
			W6	N.C. State	54

			MW1	Houston	52
ME1	Louisville	81

MW1	Houston	94

References

^ sports-reference.com 1982-83 Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference Season Summary
^ "Lousivlle Basketball Media Guide". University of Louisville. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
^ "1982-83 Louisville Cardinals Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 899–900. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1] sports-reference.com 1982-83 Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference Season Summary

[2] "Lousivlle Basketball Media Guide". University of Louisville. Retrieved December 21, 2012.

[3] "1982-83 Louisville Cardinals Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 8, 2020.

[ESPN-4] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 899–900. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Venues	Belknap Gymnasium (1933–1944) Jefferson County Armory (1945–1956) Freedom Hall (1956–2010) KFC Yum! Center (2010–present)
Rivalries	Cincinnati Kentucky Memphis
Culture & lore	Billy Minardi Classic Cardinal Bird The Rivalry: Red v. Blue
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 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 2023–24 2024–25
NAIA and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics