1982–83 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

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.

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 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 Previous school 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

Main article: 1982–83 NCAA Division I men's basketball 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