1980 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament

The 1980 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held February 23–25 at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1980 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1979–80
Teams	8
Site	Campus Sites; Charlotte Coliseum Campus Sites; Charlotte, NC
Champions	VCU (1st title)
Winning coach	J.D. Barnett (1st title)
MVP	Edmund Sherod (VCU)
Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournaments

1979–80 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
South Alabama	12	–	2		.857			23	–	6		.793
UAB	10	–	4		.714			18	–	12		.600
Jacksonville	10	–	4		.714			20	–	9		.690
UNC Charlotte	9	–	5		.643			15	–	12		.556
VCU †	8	–	6		.571			18	–	12		.600
Georgia State	4	–	10		.286			6	–	21		.222
New Orleans	2	–	12		.143			5	–	21		.192
South Florida	1	–	13		.071			6	–	21		.222
† 1980 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

VCU defeated UAB in the championship game, 105–88, to win their first Sun Belt men's basketball tournament. Both programs were in their first season in the Sun Belt.

The Rams, in turn, received an automatic bid for the 1980 NCAA tournament, where they lost to Iowa in the first round. Top-seeded South Alabama, who lost to VCU in the semifinal round, still received an at-large bid; the Jaguars ultimately lost to Alcorn State in the NCAA tournament's first round.

Format

With the addition of UAB and VCU to the Sun Belt, the conference's membership expanded to eight teams. All eight teams participated in the tournament field and were seeded based on their regular season conference records. All eight teams entered the single-elimination tournament in the quarterfinal round.

All of the games were played at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Saturday, February 23					Semifinals Sunday, February 24					Championship Monday, February 25
	1	South Alabama	86
	8	South Florida	57
						1	South Alabama	72
						5	VCU	74
	5	VCU	100
	4	UNC Charlotte	93
											5	VCU	105
											2	UAB	88
	3	Jacksonville	70
	6	Georgia State	59
						3	Jacksonville	60
						2	UAB	64
	7	New Orleans	75
	2	UAB	85