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1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Metro Conference Champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Metro Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 19
AP	No. 13
Record	24–8 (9–1 Metro)
Head coach	Denny Crum (8th season);
Assistant coaches	Bill Olsen; Wade Houston; Jerry Jones;
Home arena	Freedom Hall
	Seasons ← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 Metro Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 13 Louisville	9	–	1	.900	24	–	8	.750
Florida State	7	–	3	.700	19	–	10	.655
Memphis State	5	–	5	.500	13	–	15	.464
Virginia Tech †	4	–	6	.400	22	–	9	.710
Cincinnati	4	–	6	.400	13	–	14	.481
Saint Louis	3	–	7	.300	10	–	17	.370
Tulane	2	–	8	.200	8	–	19	.296

† 1979 Metro Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 65th season of intercollegiate competition. The Cardinals competed in the Metro Conference and were coached by Denny Crum. The team played home games at Freedom Hall.

The team completed a 24–8 record and reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 1979 NCAA Tournament.

Roster

1978–79 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	5	Jerry Eaves	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Ballard	Louisville, Kentucky
G	15	Greg Deuser	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Fr	Floyd Central	New Albany, Indiana
F	21	Scooter McCray	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Mount Vernon	Mount Vernon, New York
G	23	Tony Branch	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Jr	Elston	Michigan City, Indiana
F	24	Daryl Cleveland	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	Thomas County Central	Thomasville, Georgia
G	34	Roger Burkman	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	So	Franklin Central	Indianapolis, Indiana
G	35	Darrell Griffith	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jr	Louisville Male	Louisville, Kentucky
C	40	Marty Pulliam	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Fr	Mercer Country Senior	Harrodsburg, Kentucky
C	41	Wiley Brown	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Fr	Worth County	Sylvester, Georgia
F	43	Derek Smith	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Fr	Hogansville	Hogansville, Georgia
G/F	44	Poncho Wright	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Marshall	Indianapolis, Indiana

Head coach

Denny Crum (UCLA)

Assistant coach(es)

Jerry Jones
Bill Olsen
Wade Houston

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 24, 1978*	No. 4	vs. Penn State Sea Wolf Classic	W 89–58	1–0	Buckner Fieldhouse Fort Richardson, Alaska
Nov 25, 1978*	No. 4	vs. Lamar Sea Wolf Classic	W 90–68	2–0	Buckner Fieldhouse Fort Richardson, Alaska
Nov 26, 1978*	No. 4	vs. No. 12 NC State Sea Wolf Classic	L 66–72	2–1	Buckner Fieldhouse Fort Richardson, Alaska
Dec 2, 1978*	No. 5	Tennessee	W 82–61	3–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 6, 1978*	No. 7	No. 6 Michigan	W 86–84	4–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 9, 1978*	No. 7	Idaho	W 101–54	5–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 12, 1978*	No. 4	at Ohio State	L 69–85	5–2	St. John Arena Columbus, Ohio
Dec 16, 1978*	No. 4	West Virginia	W 106–60	6–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 23, 1978*	No. 12	Providence	W 88–70	7–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 28, 1978*	No. 10	Wisconsin Louisville Holiday Classic	W 70–53	8–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 29, 1978*	No. 10	Mississippi State Louisville Holiday Classic	L 73–80	8–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 4, 1979*	No. 16	Chattanooga	W 94–70	9–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 6, 1979*	No. 16	Louisiana-Lafayette	W 73–60	10–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 8, 1979*	No. 16	Marshall	W 112–64	11–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 13, 1979*	No. 12	at Maryland	W 99–84	12–3	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Jan 16, 1979*	No. 7	at Dayton	W 77–76	13–3	UD Arena Dayton, Ohio
Jan 18, 1979	No. 7	at Cincinnati Rivalry	W 82–77	14–3 (1–0)	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
Jan 20, 1979	No. 7	at Florida State	W 67–65	15–3 (2–0)	Tully Gymnasium Tallahassee, Florida
Jan 24, 1979	No. 5	Saint Louis	W 80–65	16–3 (3–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 28, 1979	No. 5	Virginia Tech	W 82–72	17–3 (4–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 31, 1979	No. 6	Florida State	W 84–71	18–3 (5–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 3, 1979	No. 6	Cincinnati Rivalry	W 88–85	19–3 (6–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 5, 1979	No. 6	Memphis State Rivalry	W 103–82	20–3 (7–0)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 8, 1979	No. 5	at Tulane	W 77–66	21–3 (8–0)	Avron B. Fogelman Arena New Orleans, Louisiana
Feb 10, 1979*	No. 5	at No. 9 Marquette	L 55–71	21–4	MECCA Arena Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Feb 15, 1979	No. 9	at Saint Louis	W 78–62	22–4 (9–0)	St. Louis Arena St. Louis, Missouri
Feb 17, 1979*	No. 9	at Memphis State Rivalry	L 53–60	22–5 (9–1)	Mid-South Coliseum Memphis, Tennessee
Feb 18, 1979*	No. 9	at No. 5 Duke	L 72–88	22–6	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina
Feb 24, 1979	No. 13	Tulane	W 95–71	23–6 (10–1)	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Metro Conference Tournament
Mar 2, 1979*	(1) No. 13	vs. (4) Virginia Tech Metro Tournament Semifinal	L 68–72	23–7	Mid-South Coliseum Memphis, Tennessee
NCAA Tournament
Mar 10, 1979*	(3 MW) No. 18	vs. (6 MW) South Alabama Second round	W 69–66	24–7	Moody Coliseum University Park, Texas
Mar 15, 1979*	(3 MW) No. 13	vs. (2 MW) No. 5 Arkansas Regional semifinal	L 62–73	24–8	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Eastern.

^[2]

Rankings

^[3]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1980	1	2	Darrell Griffith	Utah Jazz
1982	2	35	Derek Smith	Golden State Warriors
1983	2	36	Scooter McCray	Seattle SuperSonics