1981 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament

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1981 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1980–81
Teams6
First round siteCampus Sites
Campus Arenas
Finals siteBeaumont Civic Center
Beaumont, TX
ChampionsLamar (1st title)
Winning coachPat Foster (1st title)
MVPMike Olliver (Lamar)
1982 →
1980–81 Southland Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Lamar 8 2   .800 25 5   .833
Texas-Arlington 7 3   .700 20 8   .714
Louisiana Tech 7 3   .700 20 10   .667
Louisiana-Lafayette 6 4   .600 15 13   .536
Arkansas State 2 8   .200 12 15   .444
McNeese State 0 10   .000 11 21   .344
Southland Tournament winner
As of April 30, 1981
Rankings from AP poll[1]

The 1981 Southland Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 3–5 at a combination of on-campus gymnasiums and the Beaumont Civic Center in Beaumont, Texas.[2] This was the first edition of the tournament.

Lamar defeated Louisiana Tech in the championship game, 83–69, to win their first Southland men's basketball tournament.

The Cardinals, in turn, received a bid to the 1981 NCAA Tournament. They were the only Southland member invited to the NCAA tournament. Regular season runner-up Texas–Arlington received an invitation to the 1981 NIT Tournament.

Format[edit]

All six of the conference's members participated in the tournament field. They were seeded based on regular season conference records, with the top two teams earning byes into the semifinal round. The other four teams entered into the preliminary first round. A third-place game was held on the last day.

First Round games were played at the home court of the higher-seeded team. All remaining games were played at the Beaumont Civic Center in Beaumont, Texas, the home court of regular season champion Lamar.

Bracket[edit]

First round
Tuesday, March 3
Semifinals
Wednesday, March 4
Championship
Thursday, March 5
         
1 Lamar 83
4 SW Louisiana 68
5 Arkansas State 73
4 SW Louisiana 91
1 Lamar 83
2 Louisiana Tech 69
3 Texas–Arlington 74
6 McNeese State 79
6 McNeese State 52 Third Place
Thursday, March 5
2 Louisiana Tech 64
4 SW Louisiana 79
6 McNeese State 73

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Men's Basketball 2018-19" (PDF). Southland Conference. p. 105. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  2. ^ "1980-81 Southland Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2016.