1980-81
OVERALL |
HOME |
AWAY |
NEUTRAL |
CONFERENCE |
PLACE |
CONF. TOURNEY |
POST-SEASON |
24-8 |
14-1 |
10-7 |
0-0 |
9-5 |
2nd Tie |
3-0 |
2-1 NCAA |
ROSTER:
NO. |
POS. |
NAME |
CLASS |
HGT. |
WGT. |
Hometown (Previous School) |
|
|
RETURNEES: |
|
|
|
|
40 |
F |
John Crawford ** |
Sr. |
6'7 |
178 |
Kansas City, MO (Northeast HS) |
34 |
G |
Tony Guy ** Cpt. |
Jr. |
6'6 |
197 |
Towson, MD (Loyola HS) |
54 |
C |
Art Housey * |
Sr. |
6'10 |
214 |
Bronx, NY (Dewitt Clinton HS/Tyler (TX) Juco
|
22 |
G/F |
Mark Knight # |
Sr. |
6'5 |
195 |
Salina, KS (South HS/Colby (KS) Community College)
|
35 |
F |
Dave Magley ** |
Jr. |
6'7 |
208 |
South Bend, IN (LaSalle HS) |
34 |
G |
Booty Neal *** |
Sr. |
6'5 |
180 |
Oxon Hill, MD |
32 |
F |
George Thompson # |
Sr. |
6'7 |
200 |
Shawnee-Mission, KS (East HS/Coffeyville (KS) Juco)
|
14 |
G |
Darnell Valentine
*** Cpt. |
Sr. |
6'2 |
183 |
Wichita, KS (Heights HS) |
|
|
NEW FACES: |
|
|
|
|
44 |
G |
Jeff Konek |
Fr. |
6'2 |
187 |
Wichita, KS (East HS) |
55 |
C |
Victor Mitchell |
Jr. |
6'9 |
250 |
Amarillo, TX (Amarillo HS/Amarillo (TX) Juco)
|
23 |
F |
Mark Summers |
So. |
6'6 |
202 |
Dimmitt, TX/Amarillo (TX) Juco)
|
22 |
G |
Mark Welch |
So. |
6'1 |
175 |
Gardner, KS |
33 |
F |
Rick Worrell |
So. |
6'6 |
175 |
Salina, KS (South HS) |
* Varsity letter
Cpt. = Captain # = Walk-on
% = Nonletterman
LOSSES FROM LAST YEAR ('80 stats):
PLAYER LOSSES |
Class |
Hgt. |
POS. |
G/GS |
PTS |
PPG |
RBS |
RPG |
PPts |
STATUS |
Randolph Carroll |
Sr. |
6'7 |
G/F |
23/5 |
50 |
2.2 |
34 |
1.5 |
2.91 |
Graduated |
Keith Douglas |
Fr. |
6'2 |
G |
28/2 |
96 |
3.4 |
19 |
0.7 |
4.43 |
Transferred |
Chester Giles |
Sr. |
6'9 |
F/C |
28/17 |
116 |
4.1 |
103 |
3.7 |
7.57 |
Graduated |
Kelly Knight |
Fr. |
6'7 |
F |
17/3 |
51 |
3.0 |
37 |
2.2 |
4.71 |
Redshirt |
Ricky Ross |
Fr. |
6'6 |
G |
28/17 |
328 |
11.7 |
69 |
2.5 |
10.04 |
Transferred |
Mark Snow |
Fr. |
6'10 |
C |
17/1 |
42 |
2.5 |
25 |
1.5 |
3.24 |
Transferred |
Mac Stallcup |
Sr. |
6'7 |
F/C |
12/0 |
27 |
2.3 |
24 |
2.0 |
3.58 |
Graduated |
TOTALS |
|
|
|
29 |
710 |
24.5 |
311 |
10.7 |
36.48 |
|
Percent Losses from 1980 |
|
|
|
|
33.4% |
|
30.7% |
|
37.5% |
|
PRESEASON OUTLOOK:
The only significant loss from last year was promising freshman
Ricky Ross, who transferred to Tulsa, after likely being
ineligible for the 1981 campaign. This years squad
features what promises to be the best back court in the nation,
led by preseason All-American Darnell Valentine, who starred on
the 1980 Olympic team, and captain Tony Guy. Also returning are
forwards Dave Magley and John Crawford who were starters last
year. The only notable recruit, however, is 6'9 bruiser Victor
Mitchell, who will give Art Housey competition at the center
slot.After several mediocre years, Owens will have a
much-more talented team this year which should vie for the
conference title and a spot in the NCAA tourney. |
SEASON
SUMMARY:
As had been his habit at KU, Owens again found a way to win
with the Jayhawks. He rebounded
from three mediocre seasons to take KU to the NCAA Tournament and buy himself
some more time with the Jayhawk faithful. The
Jayhawks returned nine lettermen for 1980-81, including All-America guard
Darnell Valentine, Tony Guy, Booty Neal, John Crawford, Dave Magley, Art Housey
and Kelly Knight.
The first half of the season brought only two losses
(Michigan and Kentucky) as the Jayhawks rolled to a 14-2 mark before falling to
Kansas State 54-43 in Manhattan on Jan. 28.
KU then went into a slump, losing four of five games, including a
triple-overtime loss to Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Even with a strong finish, the Jayhawks did no better than
tie for second in the Big Eight at 9-5. KU
still made the NCAA field and was sent to the sub-regional in Wichita, giving
plenty of Jayhawk fans the chance to see their team in postseason.
Valentine, who had been a standout at Wichita’s Heights
High School, was back in front of his hometown fans and led KU with 15 points as
the Jayhawks beat Mississippi 69-66 in the first round. Tony Guy was the star of the final game in Wichita, scoring
36 points and collecting five rebounds as KU beat Arizona State 88-71 to advance
to the Midwest Regional in New Orleans.
KU’s first game in New Orleans was a matchup that Wichita
State fans had waited 26 years for. The
feeling in Wichita was that the Jayhawks thought they were too good to play the
Shockers. In a game dubbed the
“Battle of New Orleans,” Wichita State exacted its revenge, defeating KU
66-65. The WSU fans in New Orleans
had placed ads in the Louisiana papers asking LSU fans to cheer for them.
It worked, and the Shockers were backed by a loud contingent in the
Superdome. With six seconds
remaining, WSU reserve guard Mike Jones hit a 30-foot jump shot tha put the
Shockers up by one. KU called time
out, and the clock was stopped with two seconds remaining and the Jayhawks in
possession of the ball under the WSU goal.
Booty Neal was set to throw the ball inbounds when
Valentine tried to draw a foul on the inbounds play, but it wasn’t called.
KU called time out again to set up a full-court pass that was too long.
WSU had the victory. “I
think about 30,000 people know it was a foul, but they didn’t call it,”
Owens said after the game. “I
don’t like to be unkind, but it was obviously a flagrant foul.”
The Wichita State game was Valentine’s last as a Jayhawk
and had both its high and low points. He
led KU with 21 points but also missed a layup and the front end of a one-and-one
during the last minute of the game. He
finished his career as the KU assist leader with 609, was an All-American and
was All-Big Eight in 1978, ’79, ’80, and ’81, the first four-time
selection. He finished third on
KU’s career scoring list with 1,821 points and was a member of the 1980
Olympic team that boycotted the games in Moscow.
Picked in the first round by the Portland Trailblazers, he played in the
NBA until 1989.
Sixteen years after taking the head coaching position at
KU, Owens won the 300th game of his career, 81-67 against Pepperdine
on Dec. 1, 1980. Despite joining
some elite coaching company, times were still rough for Owens.
When he was honored for his accomplishment before the next game, he was
greeted by a mix of applause and boos from the Allen Fieldhouse crowd.
Source:
The Crimson & Blue Handbook, pages 80-83.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Arguably KU had the best guard tandem in
the nation with All-American Darnell Valentine and Tony Guy, who collectively
scored over 31 points per game. The Jayhawks had a seven man rotation, with
6’10 senior Art Housey and 6’9 junior Victor Mitchell double-teaming in the
post, 6’7 senior John Crawford and 6’7 junior Dave Magley manning the wings,
and 6’5 Booty Neal ably backing up the guards.
The Jayhawks started strong, winning 15
of their first 17 games but slumped before finally finished in a three-way tie
at 9-5 with K-State and Nebraska, as Missouri grabbed the conference crown. KU
won the post season league tourney and landed a 7-seed. They slipped by
Mississippi and then destroyed 2-seed Arizona State 88-71, leading to a
memorable match with Wichita State. The two teams had not met each other in 25
years, and the feeling in Wichita was that the Jayhawks thought they were too
good to play the Shockers. WSU, however, had a talented team with Cliff
Livingston and Antoine Carr, previously a teammate of Valentine on Wichita’s
Heights HS. In dramatic fashion, the Shocks took KU 66-65, although Valentine
got a no-call as he was flagrantly clobbered on the last play of the game. That
ended KU’s season at 24-8.
Valentine finished his KU career with
1,821 points (now 4th all-time), and remains first all-time in steals and third
on KU’s all-time assist list. He was on the 1980 Olympic team that boycotted
the Moscow games and played ten seasons in the NBA.
Source: KJ’s
BB Newsletter, March 24, 2001
Shocked,
by Mark Hersey
Win #1200: Neal was hitting this time, but
coach prescribes caution, December 2, 1980
|
1981 FINAL TEAM STATISTICS (Team
highs in bold):
CATEGORY
|
KU
|
OPP
|
DIFF
|
Guy,
Tony |
Valentine, Darnell |
Magley, Dave |
Crawford,
John |
Mitchell, Victor |
Housey,
Art |
Games Played/Started
|
32 |
32 |
|
32/32 |
32/32 |
32/32 |
32/15 |
31/23 |
32/26 |
Minutes
|
6475 |
6475 |
|
1159 |
1186 |
986 |
816 |
732 |
953 |
Per Game
|
202.3 |
202.3 |
|
36.2 |
37.1 |
30.8 |
25.5 |
23.6 |
29.8 |
Points
|
2351 |
2015 |
336 |
504 |
498 |
303 |
260 |
252 |
240 |
Per Game
|
73.5 |
63.0 |
10.5 |
15.8 |
15.6 |
9.5 |
8.1 |
8.1 |
7.5 |
Rebounds
|
1206 |
1134 |
72 |
112 |
118 |
177 |
170 |
173 |
208 |
Per Game
|
37.7 |
35.4 |
2.3 |
3.5 |
3.7 |
5.5 |
5.3 |
5.6 |
6.5 |
Blocks
|
117 |
56 |
61 |
4 |
7 |
13 |
52 |
0 |
0 |
Assists
|
377 |
359 |
18 |
88 |
168 |
50 |
0 |
23 |
21 |
Steals
|
253 |
149 |
104 |
60 |
92 |
23 |
24 |
15 |
13 |
FG -Attempts
|
1832 |
1870 |
-38 |
350 |
350 |
267 |
210 |
182 |
205 |
Made
|
924 |
808 |
116 |
188 |
176 |
124 |
105 |
104 |
106 |
Percent
|
50.4 |
43.2 |
7.2 |
53.7 |
50.3 |
46.4 |
50.0 |
57.1 |
51.7 |
FT-Attempts
|
717 |
582 |
135 |
165 |
214 |
65 |
70 |
81 |
43 |
Made
|
503 |
399 |
104 |
128 |
146 |
55 |
50 |
44 |
28 |
Percent
|
70.2 |
68.6 |
1.6 |
77.6 |
68.2 |
84.6 |
71.4 |
54.3 |
65.1 |
Production Points/Game
|
99.44 |
77.13 |
22.31 |
17.78 |
20.03 |
12.91 |
11.91 |
11.39 |
12.41 |
Production
Points/Minute |
.491 |
.381 |
.110 |
.491 |
.540 |
.419 |
.467 |
.482 |
.417 |
Statistics, Cont'd
CATEGORY |
Neal,
Booty |
Konek, Jeff |
Summers, Mark |
Worrell, Mark |
Thompson, George |
Knight, Mark |
Welch, Mark |
Team |
Games Played/ Started |
31/0 |
13/0 |
15/0 |
11/0 |
10/0 |
11/0 |
6/0 |
|
Minutes |
465 |
36 |
69 |
19 |
18 |
21 |
15 |
|
Per Game |
15.0 |
2.8 |
4.6 |
1.7 |
1.8 |
1.9 |
2.5 |
|
Points |
228 |
24 |
23 |
8 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
|
Per Game |
7.4 |
1.8 |
1.5 |
0.7 |
0.4 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
|
Rebounds |
43 |
3 |
25 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
166 |
Per Game |
1.4 |
0.2 |
1.7 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.2 |
0.0 |
5.2 |
Blocks |
2 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
Assists |
16 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
Steals |
21 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
FG - Attempts |
221 |
11 |
19 |
9 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
|
Made |
100 |
5 |
8 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
Percent |
45.2 |
45.5 |
42.1 |
44.4 |
100.0 |
33.3 |
100.0 |
|
FT - Attempts |
37 |
22 |
12 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
|
Made |
28 |
14 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
Percent |
75.7 |
63.6 |
58.3 |
0.0 |
50.0 |
0.0 |
50.0 |
|
Production Points/Game |
5.81 |
1.46 |
2.80 |
0.73 |
0.80 |
0.18 |
0.50 |
|
Production Points/Minute |
.387 |
.528 |
.609 |
.421 |
.444 |
.095 |
.200 |
|
Source: KU Basketball Media Guide
GAME-BY-GAME
Nevada-Reno
|
W
|
91-73
|
|
Nov. 29
|
at Reno, Nev.
|
Pepperdine
|
W
|
81-67
|
|
Dec. 1
|
at Lawrence
|
Michigan
|
L
|
52-64
|
|
Dec. 3
|
at Lawrence
|
Oral Roberts
|
W
|
90-66
|
|
Dec. 6
|
at Lawrence
|
Morehead State
|
W
|
90-56
|
|
Dec. 8
|
at Lawrence
|
Kentucky
|
L
|
73-87
|
|
Dec. 13
|
at Lexington, Ky.
|
Southern California
|
W
|
91-68
|
|
Dec. 20
|
at Lawrence
|
Southern Methodist
|
W
|
73-62
|
|
Dec. 22
|
at Dallas, Texas
|
Rollins
|
W
|
102-47
|
|
Dec. 30
|
at Lawrence
|
North Carolina
|
W
|
56-55
|
|
Jan. 3
|
at Kansas City, Mo.
|
Memphis State
|
W
|
59-49
|
|
Jan. 6
|
at Memphis, Tenn.
|
Iona
|
W
|
94-64
|
|
Jan. 10
|
at Lawrence
|
Iowa State
|
W
|
70-58
|
|
Jan. 14
|
at Lawrence
|
Oklahoma
|
W
|
82-78
|
|
Jan. 17
|
at Norman, Okla.
|
Missouri
|
W
|
63-55
|
|
Jan. 21
|
at Lawrence
|
Colorado
|
W
|
66-59
|
|
Jan. 24
|
at Lawrence
|
Kansas State
|
L
|
43-54
|
|
Jan. 28
|
at Manhattan, Kan.
|
Nebraska
|
L
|
54-57
|
|
Jan. 31
|
at Lincoln, Neb.
|
Oklahoma State
|
L
|
73-76
|
***
|
Feb. 4
|
at Stillwater, Okla.
|
Oklahoma
|
W
|
96-67
|
|
Feb. 7
|
at Lawrence
|
Missouri
|
L
|
65-79
|
|
Feb. 9
|
at Columbia, Mo.
|
Iowa State
|
W
|
51-49
|
|
Feb. 14
|
at Ames, Iowa
|
Kansas State
|
W
|
58-50
|
|
Feb. 18
|
at Lawrence
|
Colorado
|
L
|
50-53
|
|
Feb. 21
|
at Boulder, Colo.
|
Nebraska
|
W
|
75-49
|
|
Feb. 25
|
at Lawrence
|
Oklahoma State
|
W
|
80-65
|
|
Feb. 28
|
at Lawrence
|
Oklahoma State
|
W
|
96-69
|
|
Mar. 3
|
at Lawrence
|
Missouri
|
W
|
75-70
|
|
Mar. 6
|
at Kansas City, Mo.
|
Kansas State
|
W
|
80-68
|
|
Mar. 7
|
at Kansas City
|
NCAA Tournament
|
|
|
Mississippi
|
W
|
69-66
|
|
Mar. 13
|
at Wichita, Kan.
(NCAA Sub Regional)
|
Arizona State
|
W
|
88-71
|
|
Mar. 15
|
at Wichita, Kan.
(NCAA Sub-Regional)
|
Wichita State
|
L
|
65-66
|
|
Mar. 20
|
at New Orleans, La.
(NCAA Regional)
|
|
LINK TO 1981 NATIONAL STATISTICS
Link to
Big 8 Conference for
1981.
|