1978      1979      1980

Champion Second Place Third place Fourth place
Michigan State Indiana State DePaul Pennsylvania
Jud Heathcote Bill Hodges Ray Meyer Bob Weinhauer

Active coaches (10+ games)

Rank Coach, Current school Yrs W-L Pct. Latest Final
All Trn 1979 (seed) All 4 2 1
1 Joe B. Hall, Kentucky 13 4   12-3 .800 1978 2 2 1
2 Bob Knight, Indiana 14 4   11-3 .786 1978 2 1 1
T3 Jud Heathcote, Michigan State 8 3 5-0  (2) 8-3 .727 1979 1 1 1
T3 Gene Bartow, Ala.-Birmingham 17 3   8-3 .727 1977 2 1 0
5 Eddie Sutton, Arkansas 10 4 2-1  (2) 8-4 .667 1979 1 0 0
6 Don Haskins, UTEP 18 6   9-5 .643 1975 1 1 1
T7 Frank McGuire, South Carolina 29 8   14-8 .636 1974 2 2 1
T7 Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV 11 7   14-8 .636 1977 1 0 0
T7 Johnny Orr, Michigan 14 4   7-4 .636 1977 1 1 0
10 Dean Smith, North Carolina 18 9 0-1  (1) 16-11 .593 1979 5 2 0
11 Butch van Breda Kolff, New Orleans 18 4   7-5 .583 1967 1 0 0
12 Jack Kraft, Rhode Island 18 7   11-8 .579 1978 1 1 0
T13 Digger Phelps, Notre Dame 9 7 2-1  (1) 12-9 .571 1979 1 0 0
T13 Lefty Driesell, Maryland 19 5   8-6 .571 1975 0 0 0
15 Ray Meyer, DePaul 37 9 4-1  (2) 13-12 .520 1979 2 0 0
T16 Guy Lewis, Houston 23 10   14-14 .500 1978 2 0 0
T16 Don Donoher, Dayton 15 6   8-8 .500 1974 1 1 0
T16 Denny Crum, Louisville 8 6 1-1  (3) 8-8 .500 1979 2 0 0
T16 Lou Henson, Illinois 17 6   7-7 .500 1975 1 0 0
T16 Lou Rossini, St. Francis (NY) 25 4   6-6 .500 1963 1 0 0
21 Ned Wulk, Arizona State 28 7   7-8 .467 1975 0 0 0
22 Dave Gavitt, Providence 12 5   5-6 .455 1978 1 0 0
T23 Tex Winter, Long Beach State 26 6   7-9 .438 1968 2 0 0
T23 Abe Lemons, Texas 23 8 0-1  (4) 7-9 .438 1979 0 0 0
25 Ted Owens, Kansas 15 6   6-8 .429 1978 2 0 0
26 Joe Williams, Florida State 15 6   5-7 .417 1978 1 1 0
27 Lou Carnesecca, St. John's 11 7 3-1  (10) 5-9 .357 1979 0 0 0


Highlights:

Magic Johnson and Michigan State win the national championship by defeating Larry Bird and Indiana State, giving Jud Heathcote enough games to debut on the list at .727, good enough to tie Gene Bartow (who returns to coaching at UAB) for third place.  Heathcote had previously taken Montana to the tournament as well as winning two games with Magic and Co. last year.
DePaul returns to the Final Four for the first time since its first tournament appearance in 1943, putting Ray Meyer at .520, his first time over .500 since that first tournament win.  In 1943, with only eight teams invited, just one win was needed to get to the semi-finals, so Meyer only had a 1-1 record to show for that first Final Four appearance.
Eddie Sutton and Arkansas get two wins allowing Sutton to debut on the list at .667 in fifth place.  Last year, Sutton led Arkansas the Final Four, taking third place.
A North Carolina first game loss (first round bye) drops Dean Smith below .600 to .593.
Notre Dame wins two, improving Digger Phelps's record to .571.
Louisville wins one and loses one, keeping Denny Crum at .500.  Without his two Final Four appearances (one a fourth place finish that earned him a 2-2 for that year), Crum's record would be 2-5.
St. John's three wins jumps Lou Carnesecca's record to .357, but it's not enough to get him out of last place.
The field is expanded to 40 teams with 8 teams playing a small first round and 24 teams getting a first round bye.





















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