1981 TAAC Men's Basketball Tournament

1981 TAAC Men's Basketball Tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1980–81
Teams	9
Site	Hirsch Memorial Coliseum Shreveport, LA
Champions	Mercer (1st title)
Winning coach	Bill Bibb (1st title)
MVP	Tony Gattis (Mercer)
TAAC Men's Basketball Tournaments «1980  1982»

Template:1980–81 TAAC men's basketball standings

The 1981 Trans America Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament (now known as the Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Tournament) was held March 4–8, 1981 at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport, Louisiana.^[1]

Mercer upset top-seeded Houston Baptist in the championship game, 72–67, to win their first TAAC/Atlantic Sun men's basketball tournament. The Bears, in turn, received the TAAC's automatic bid to the 1981 NCAA Tournament. This was Mercer's first appearance in the Division I NCAA tournament.

Bracket

	First Round Wednesday, March 4					Second Round Thursday, March 5					Semifinals Friday, March 6					Championship Sunday, March 8
												Houston Baptist	48
											Centenary	47
		Samford	73
		Georgia Southern	57
							Samford	69
							Centenary	76
																	Houston Baptist	67
																	Mercer	72
							Mercer	78
							UALR	69
												Mercer	59
											Northeast Louisiana	55
		Northwestern State	91
		Hardin–Simmons	88
							Northwestern State	73
							Northeast Louisiana	79

References

1. "1980-81 Atlantic Sun Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2016.