1987–88 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1987–88 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Metro Conference tournament champions Metro Conference regular season champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Metro Conference
Record	24–11 (9–3 Metro)
Head coach	Denny Crum (17th season)
Assistant coach	Wade Houston
Home arena	Freedom Hall
Seasons ← 1986–87 1988–89 →

1987–88 Metro Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Louisville †	9	–	3	.750	24	–	11	.686
Florida State	7	–	5	.583	19	–	11	.633
South Carolina	6	–	6	.500	19	–	10	.655
Virginia Tech	6	–	6	.500	19	–	10	.655
Memphis State	6	–	6	.500	20	–	12	.625
Southern Miss	5	–	7	.417	19	–	11	.633
Cincinnati	3	–	9	.250	11	–	17	.393

† 1988 Metro Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1987–88 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville in the 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Denny Crum^[2] and the team finished the season with an overall record of 24–11.^[3]

Roster

1987–88 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
SF	21	Kenny Payne	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jr	Northeast Jones	Laurel, Mississippi
SG	23	LaBradford Smith	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Fr	Bay City	Bay City, Texas
F	41	Herbert Crook	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Eastern	Louisville, Kentucky
PF	43	Pervis Ellison	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Savannah	Savannah, Georgia
C	50	Felton Spencer	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	255 lb (116 kg)	So	Eastern	Louisville, Kentucky

Head coach

Denny Crum (UCLA)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

^[4]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 5, 1987*	No. 14	vs. Notre Dame Big Four Classic	L 54–69	0–1	RCA Dome Indianapolis, Indiana
Dec 12, 1987*		at No. 1 Kentucky Rivalry	L 75–76	0–2	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
Dec 16, 1987*		Cleveland State	W 93–79	1–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Dec 19, 1987*		No. 5 Indiana	W 81–69	2–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Dec 21, 1987*		Eastern Kentucky	W 87–69	3–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Dec 27, 1987*		vs. SMU Rainbow Classic	W 87–79	4–2	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI
Dec 28, 1987*		vs. NC State Rainbow Classic	L 75–80	4–3	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI
Dec 29, 1987*		vs. Mississippi State Rainbow Classic	W 86–62	5–3	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI
Jan 4, 1988*		South Alabama	W 80–69	6–3	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Jan 6, 1988*		Georgia Tech	L 61–62	6–4	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Jan 9, 1988		at Florida State	L 76–83	6–5 (0–1)	Donald L. Tucker Center Tallahassee, FL
Jan 16, 1988*		UCLA	W 92–79	7–5	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Jan 18, 1988*		Western Kentucky	W 84–71	8–5	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Jan 20, 1988		at Cincinnati	W 91–89	9–5 (1–1)	Cincinnati Gardens Cincinnati, OH
Jan 23, 1988*		No. 5 Purdue	L 85–91	9–6	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Jan 26, 1988*		at Dayton	W 90–59	10–6	UD Arena Dayton, OH
Jan 28, 1988*		at No. 20 Southern Miss	L 92–95	10–7 (1–2)	Reed Green Coliseum Hattiesburg, MS
Jan 30, 1988		at Memphis State	L 68–72	10–8 (1–3)	Mid-South Coliseum Memphis, TN
Feb 1, 1988		Virginia Tech	W 107–99	11–8 (2–3)	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Feb 3, 1988		South Carolina	W 68–53	12–8 (3–3)	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Feb 6, 1988*		Houston	W 73–69	13–8	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Feb 13, 1988*		at No. 16 NC State	L 89–101	13–9	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
Feb 15, 1988		Cincinnati	W 90–87	14–9 (4–3)	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Feb 17, 1988		Florida State	W 82–62	15–9 (5–3)	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Feb 20, 1988		at South Carolina	W 98–88	16–9 (6–3)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
Feb 24, 1988		No. 18 Southern Miss	W 94–84	17–9 (7–3)	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Feb 27, 1988		at Virginia Tech	W 87–82	18–9 (8–3)	Cassell Coliseum Blacksburg, VA
Feb 29, 1988		Memphis State	W 71–69	19–9 (9–3)	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Mar 2, 1988*		Austin Peay	W 84–78	20–9	Freedom Hall Louisville, KY
Mar 5, 1988*		at DePaul	L 58–77	20–10	Rosemont Horizon Rosemont, IL
Metro Conference tournament
Mar 12, 1988*		vs. South Carolina Semifinal	W 89–57	21–10	Mid-South Coliseum Memphis, TN
Mar 13, 1988*		at Memphis State Championship	W 81–73^[5]	22–10	Mid-South Coliseum Memphis, TN
NCAA tournament
Mar 17, 1988*	(5 SE)	vs. (12 SE) Oregon State First round	W 70–61	23–10	Omni Coliseum Atlanta, GA
Mar 19, 1988*	(5 SE)	vs. (4 SE) No. 19 BYU Second round	W 97–76	24–10	Omni Coliseum Atlanta, GA
Mar 24, 1988*	(5 SE)	vs. (1 SE) No. 4 Oklahoma Regional semifinal	L 98–108	24–11	BJCC Arena Birmingham, AL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. SE=Southeast. All times are in EST.

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
3	61	Herbert Crook	Indiana Pacers

^[6]

Rankings

References

^ sports-reference.com 1987-88 Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference Season Summary
^ "1987-1988 Louisville Cardinals Roster and Stats". Retrieved June 8, 2019.
^ "1987-1988 Louisville Cardinals Schedule and Results". Retrieved June 8, 2019.
^ "1987-88 Louisville Cardinals". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
^ "Muscling the Metro". Sports Illustrated. March 21, 1988. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
^ "1988 NBA Draft". Sports Reference. Retrieved January 16, 2022.

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