1977–78 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

1977–78 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
1977–78 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Metro Conference Champions
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Metro Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 9
AP	No. 14
Record	23–7 (9–3 Metro)
Head coach	Denny Crum (7th season);
Assistant coaches	Bill Olsen; Wade Houston; Jerry Jones;
Home arena	Freedom Hall
	Seasons ← 1976–77 1978–79 →

1977–78 Metro Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 15 Florida State	12	–	1	.923	23	–	6	.793
No. 9 Louisville †	9	–	3	.750	23	–	7	.767
Memphis State	7	–	5	.583	19	–	9	.679
Cincinnati	6	–	6	.500	17	–	10	.630
Georgia Tech	6	–	6	.500	15	–	12	.556
Saint Louis	2	–	10	.167	7	–	20	.259
Tulane	1	–	12	.077	5	–	22	.185

† 1978 Metro Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1977–78 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Louisville's 64th 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 23–7 record and reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 1978 NCAA Tournament.

Roster

1977–78 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
C	13	Ricky Gallon	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	—	Sr	Tampa, Florida
G	23	Tony Branch	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	So	Elston	Michigan City, Indiana
F	24	Daryl Cleveland	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr	Thomas County Central	Thomasville, Georgia
G	34	Roger Burkman	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Franklin Central	Indianapolis, Indiana
G	35	Darrell Griffith	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	So	Louisville Male	Louisville, Kentucky
G	42	Rick Wilson	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Sr	Atherton	Louisville, Kentucky

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 and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 30, 1977*	No. 9	at Providence	L 51–57	0–1	Providence Civic Center Providence, Rhode Island
Dec 3, 1977*		Vanderbilt	W 96–66	1–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 7, 1977*		at No. 9 Michigan	W 88–85	2–1	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dec 10, 1977*		Robert Morris	W 104–68	3–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 13, 1977*		No. 17 Purdue	W 68–66	4–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 19, 1977*		Dayton	W 69–63	5–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 22, 1977*		No. 2 Marquette	W 61–60	6–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 28, 1977*	No. 7	La Salle	W 113–85	7–1	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 27, 1978		Saint Louis	W 94–59	19–6 (9–3)	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Metro Conference Tournament
Mar 2, 1978*	No. 20	vs. Tulane Quarterfinals	W 93–64	20–6	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
Mar 3, 1978*	No. 20	vs. Memphis Semifinals	W 67–62	21–6	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
Mar 4, 1978*	No. 20	vs. No. 11 Florida State Championship game	W 94–93	22–6	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio
NCAA Tournament
Mar 12, 1978*	No. 9	vs. St. John's First round	W 76–68	23–6	Mabee Center Tulsa, Oklahoma
Mar 17, 1978*	No. 9	vs. No. 3 DePaul Midwest Regional Semifinals – Sweet Sixteen	L 89–90 ^{2OT^[2]}	23–7	Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, Kansas
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Eastern.

^[3]

Rankings

^[4]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1977-78 Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference Season Summary
^ "Notre Dame and DePaul Reach Final in Midwest". The New York Times. March 18, 1978. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
^ "1977-78 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Louisville Athletics. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 846–847. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

This University of Louisville-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] sports-reference.com 1977-78 Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference Season Summary

[2] "Notre Dame and DePaul Reach Final in Midwest". The New York Times. March 18, 1978. Retrieved August 27, 2023.

[3] "1977-78 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Louisville Athletics. Retrieved August 27, 2023.

[ESPN-4] ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 846–847. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Venues	Belknap Gymnasium (1933–1944) Jefferson County Armory (1945–1956) Freedom Hall (1956–2010) KFC Yum! Center (2010–present)
Rivalries	Cincinnati Kentucky Memphis
Culture & lore	Billy Minardi Classic Cardinal Bird The Rivalry: Red v. Blue
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NAIA and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics