- 1 day ago
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:23Hi everybody, I'm Brian Kenney, and welcome to ESPN Classics' Top 5 Reasons You Can't
00:28Blame, a series that takes a fresh look at sports personalities and teams who are remembered
00:32largely for their mistakes, controversial moments, or questionable decisions. On April
00:371st, 1985, the seemingly unbeatable Georgetown Hoyas faced a heavy underdog from within its
00:43own conference, the Villanova Wildcats, for the national championship. It was a night
00:47when Cinderella wore sneakers. Before we get to our countdown, let's go back, though,
00:51to one of the glory years of Big East basketball.
00:58That was the heyday for the Big East, without a doubt, from St. John's, Georgetown, Villanova.
01:03Patrick Ewing, Eddie Pickney, Pearl Washington, Chris Mullin. I don't know that anybody has
01:11dominated college basketball the way we did with players.
01:14In that Final Four, three of the teams were Big East teams, and a fourth team, Boston College,
01:20got beat on a last second shot.
01:22That was the premier basketball conference in the country. No team was more intimidating,
01:28or tougher to beat, than Georgetown.
01:34Georgetown was not only the defending national champion, but they were the team America loved
01:40to hate.
01:44Georgetown, at the time, was sort of the Darth Vader of college sports. Georgetown came in,
01:49and the attitude was, we're going to come in, we're going to kick your butt, and go home.
01:56And fifth fly between Washington and Ewing.
01:59We would go into gymnasium sometimes, and because of our reputation, we could see the fear
02:04in the eyes of other teams.
02:06And nearly punches it, and we're going to throw them out.
02:08Georgetown had one of those teams that, they try to intimidate you, and they really go after you.
02:17The first play of the game, all five guys were valued, because the refs would only call one,
02:22and it would just set a tone for the way the game was going to be played.
02:25We were the Raiders of college basketball, but it was fun.
02:29Everybody hated us, and we loved kicking everybody's butt.
02:34They usually did, too.
02:36Losing just twice by a total of three points, Georgetown was favored to win its second straight
02:42national championship.
02:43In 1984-85, the Hoyas defense was ranked number one in field goal percentage, holding opponents
02:50to 40% shooting.
02:52As Georgetown scared you on the offensive end, they just absolutely made you wet your pants
02:59on the defensive end.
03:00There's another one.
03:01Another block by Ewing.
03:03They had a tenacious defense.
03:05They pressed a lot.
03:06If someone did get past the guards, they would go inside, and there's Patrick, you know,
03:11arms stretched, the intimidator.
03:14When Patrick gets it in there, you might as well draw the shades and put the lights out.
03:17It was a team that was just relentless in their approach, and they would just sometimes
03:22grind you down, and then you just collapse from the emotional pressure.
03:26Look at Ewing!
03:28Backward stop!
03:30Amazing!
03:32While Georgetown blew through the season to finish at the top of the rankings, Villanova
03:37struggled, losing six of its last 11 games.
03:40It's Frustration City for Mr. Massimino.
03:46It's Frustration City for three teams to 64 that year.
03:49The 19 and 10 Wildcats likely wouldn't have made the cut.
03:52They were horrible.
03:54They almost didn't make the tournament.
03:55They didn't know whether they were going to be selected for the tournament if they played
03:59so poorly.
04:00Blocked by Mullen, and Mullen steals it.
04:03We honestly didn't think we were going to get in.
04:05We probably got in by a hair.
04:07We played in a great conference, but we had ten losses.
04:11Seated eighth in the southeast region, the Wildcats surprised the basketball world
04:16by upsetting three top ten teams en route to the final.
04:24Waiting for them was Georgetown, which had won its last 17 games.
04:29The Hoyas were nine and a half point favorites.
04:32The Wildcats have been winning in this tournament, as you have said.
04:35By reading from the textbook, is there a chapter that's going to work for the game tonight?
04:39Bob, I really don't believe they can handle the kind of pressure defensively that Georgetown
04:42will utilize.
04:44Everybody was saying, you don't beat Georgetown.
04:47Georgetown is a giant.
04:48And it was really David and Goliath.
04:50My parents were like, I'm not telling you you're not going to win this game against Georgetown,
04:55but if it happens so that you guys get blown out, you shouldn't be disappointed because you got this far.
05:04The winner of this one, they are crowned the champions tonight here at the Rupp Arena.
05:09In the very first possession of the game, Ed Pinkney got the ball down low, went right at Ewing.
05:16Pinkney, he drives, gives off to Presley, reverse layup, it's good.
05:20That sort of set the tone that this was going to be a different kind of game.
05:24As the game unfolded, I became convinced that the Lover had a chance.
05:30Now it's not functioning.
05:32This would be one of the greatest upsets in the history of championship games at the NCAA tournament.
05:38I think they were frustrated.
05:40They couldn't get a run going.
05:42They couldn't really get the momentum that they were so used to getting in games.
05:47You couldn't believe that Villanova, the school that was this tremendous underdog,
05:51was actually hanging with the big bad Hoyas.
05:55A lot of people in this building are surprised that it's a one-point ball game right now.
06:02Throughout the first half, Villanova found ways to penetrate the Georgetown defense,
06:07clicking on 13 of 18 shots from the field.
06:10Up 29-28 at the half, the Wildcats had built a fire within
06:15that only burned brighter in the second half.
06:17To the left corner, Jensen for the jump.
06:20It's good.
06:20Into the lane, Pinkney, his jump is good.
06:23It seemed like the Georgetown players were sort of like,
06:26what's going on here?
06:27This can't be happening.
06:28I mean, they're making every shot.
06:30Our game was basically to play 40 minutes and try to wear an opponent down.
06:35I think they controlled the ball.
06:37They controlled the tempo.
06:38I thought that they should have disrupted Villanova.
06:41I'd say Georgetown played much better basketball games than they did that night.
06:45And the clock goes off and that is it.
06:49Cinderella wears the glass slipper.
06:52The Villanova Wildcats are the champions of college basketball.
06:57They had to almost play a perfect game to beat us.
07:00They were just telling me stuff I already know.
07:02Let's just get to the list.
07:03I watched the entire Villanova versus Georgetown perfect upset HBO documentary.
07:12It's still a hard pill to swallow.
07:14We had opportunities to put them away, but you know.
07:18The consensus player of the year.
07:20I've heard some coaches say it might have been the best defensive team of all time in college basketball.
07:25There was no excuse for them not to win that game.
07:29You can blame Georgetown for losing to Villanova because they had, without a doubt, the best squad in the country.
07:34An awesome lineup.
07:36How could they possibly lose to Villanova?
07:43You've just seen why Georgetown is blamed for losing to Villanova in the 85 title game.
07:47There are more than five reasons you can't blame them.
07:50Here are the best of the rest.
07:54The crowd.
07:56Most of the 23,124 fans that sold out Rupp Arena got behind the Wildcats.
08:03The longer Villanova hung in there and the longer this game unfolded,
08:07the arena got more and more involved in rooting for the Wildcats.
08:14There were a lot of times throughout the course of the game where the crowd was behind us and it
08:18was good.
08:19We felt that.
08:23Once we started in the second half, people started to say, hey, this might be, you know, Villanova's day.
08:29Every shot we made, the crowd responded and the fans certainly helped us.
08:36Another best of the rest, Al Severance.
08:38The former Villanova coach, whose teams won 413 games, died during the morning of the championship game.
08:46Roley Massimino spoke movingly of him during the Wildcats' pregame meal.
08:52Roley's speech was to the players, I want you to remember tonight,
08:58when Georgetown is shooting at their basket, Coach Severance is going to be up there knocking the ball away.
09:05When we're shooting at our basket, he's going to guide it in.
09:09What Massimino always said was, Severance was up there swatting away Georgetown's shots.
09:15And it had to be, because some of those shots that they put up any other night would go in.
09:20I didn't know that Al Severance...
09:25Reason number five, the Cinderella tournament.
09:28When one loss sends you home, anything can happen.
09:31The essence of the NCAA tournament is the Cinderella.
09:35The fact that in a one-game situation, any team can win and anything can happen.
09:39The defending national champions have been eliminated by the upstart Princeton Tigers.
09:45Those are some of the moments that makes college basketball so unique.
09:50It's not four out of seven.
09:51Four out of seven, Jimmy B has no shot against Houston.
09:56Westbrook tries about a 30-footer.
09:58No good step back!
09:59The red-goal, Charles!
10:00The Cinderella team has done it!
10:03It's a one-game elimination tournament.
10:05A team gets hot, they can steal a game on you.
10:07It's through, straight for the win!
10:10Oh, my!
10:10You can never blame a dominant team for losing a single game in the sport of basketball, where it's five
10:19-on-five.
10:19The bio-rhythms can be good or not so good on a given day.
10:25Cinderella wears the glass flipper!
10:28Is there anyone on this earth, then, during, or now, who thinks that if that were two out of three,
10:34or three out of five, or four out of seven, that Georgetown wouldn't have won? No!
10:37We thought we were the better team, and we were the better team.
10:41But in a one-game situation, that's going to happen.
10:47One down, four to go. Here is reason number four.
10:53No fear!
10:54Prior to the national championship game, the senior core of Villanova had played Georgetown nine times in four years.
11:02There wasn't an intimidation factor. They knew these guys. They had grown up playing against most of these guys.
11:08To us, they weren't intimidating, because we played against them so much and so often, and we knew everything they
11:14were going to do.
11:14No matter how much better and much more talented and how superior one is supposed to be, that familiarity takes
11:22away fear.
11:24Familiarity between Villanova and Georgetown meant that Villanova wasn't afraid.
11:30In 1985, Villanova lost both its meetings with Georgetown, one by seven points and the other by two in overtime.
11:39We played them competitively twice, arguably should have won one of the games.
11:43We knew we could compete, it's just a matter of putting it all together.
11:46We were in no way in awe of the Georgetown team. We all were confident that we could beat them.
11:51Down into the lane, Pinckney, drives on Ewing, his shot is good!
11:55Here we are playing a league game in the national championship, and that made it even more difficult, but they
12:01deserved the credit.
12:02For anybody that thought the Cats would come in here and get their doors blown off, it's not happening that
12:08way.
12:08You can't blame Georgetown for losing to Villanova in 1985, because Villanova was an experienced team that had played Georgetown
12:16tough during the regular season, that had players...
12:18Like, if you play somebody enough times, if you're any talent, if you have any talent, you're going to figure
12:26out how to beat those teams.
12:30...that weren't intimidated by Georgetown, and who all played the game of their lives that night.
12:38Harold Jensen, the sophomore reserve guard, got hot at the right time.
12:44Harold Jensen...
12:46I mean, he was tremendous, he made every big shot.
12:50Right side, Jensen for the jump, good!
12:53You get into a zone, so to speak, but I felt comfortable, as we got down the stretch, to be
12:59willing to take some shots.
13:00Harold Jensen played absolutely fantastic during the tail end of this season.
13:09He played out of his mind. He was the quintessential role player, who when the big moment in his life
13:14came, he was ready, he met the moment, and it was absolutely perfect, not just for his team, but for
13:19him.
13:20In the first round of the tournament against Dayton, Jensen, who averaged four points during the season, had the ball
13:27with the score tied at 49, and less than 75 seconds to play.
13:31Uh-oh! They went man-to-man, and Jensen picked it up and whipped it.
13:36I found myself open. Just saw the little crack in the lane there to go in and lay it in.
13:42And Dayton was one of the toughest games in the whole tournament. If Jensen doesn't make that layup at the
13:46end, we're in trouble.
13:49Jensen's confidence grew throughout the tournament. In the final, he scored 14 points, and made one of the most important
13:55shots in Villanova's history.
13:57With less than three minutes left, the Wildcats trailed 54-53.
14:02Gary top of the key to Jensen on the left, back to Gary.
14:06I found myself maybe 15, 17 feet out on the right side there and wide open, and felt it was
14:11time to pull the trigger.
14:12Long jump, good!
14:15You get to be the hero of a championship game because of timing. His time was perfect.
14:21Harold Jensen, five for five from the floor, and this ball game hasn't missed a shot in the game.
14:26Thank God for him because had it not been him, I couldn't tell you if I'd be sitting here or
14:31telling you that we won an NCAA tournament,
14:32because, I mean, he got hot when we needed him, and he definitely came through in a big way.
14:40Three reasons down, two to go. Here is reason number two.
14:46Daddy Mass. Coach Roley Massimino, a passionate motivator, pushed all the right buttons.
14:52He liked to be the kind of patriarch rather than the coach kind of thing.
14:55So they...
14:57The team was his life. We were an extension of his family.
15:01We were there a lot.
15:02Mrs. Mass cooked many macaroni meals for us, and his program was run like a family.
15:08He treated the staff and the team like sons.
15:11Very demanding. Extremely demanding.
15:14And yet, at the same time, you know, pretty loving.
15:18Love was not Massimino's strongest emotion in the last game of the regular season
15:23when his boys trailed Pittsburgh by 17 at the half.
15:27We go in at halftime, and he goes,
15:30Pinckney, McClain, and McClain.
15:32If I don't get anything out of you in three minutes, you're coming out of the game.
15:37Well, the first five minutes of the second half, we didn't play well, and he took us out the game.
15:44That was the thing that sent us a message, especially to seniors.
15:47Your careers are just about over, and what have you accomplished?
15:50He knew that it would motivate us, and it really did.
15:53That we collectively, as a group, said, I mean, if we're going to get to the tournament, we've got to
15:58get our act together.
16:00Despite losing by 23, the Wildcats regrouped.
16:04Five days later in the Big East tournament, they beat Pittsburgh 69-61.
16:09It was more important for them to learn a lesson.
16:12If I didn't do that, I don't know whether or not we would have been able to beat Pitt at
16:17Madison Square Garden.
16:19That victory propelled Villanova into the NCAA tournament,
16:22and onto a winning streak that took it to the brink of the Final Four.
16:26But against North Carolina, the Wildcats' hot hand turned cold.
16:30Scoring just 17 points in the first half, they trailed by five.
16:33But in the locker room, Massimino was looking for comfort food.
16:38I was extremely frustrated. We couldn't put the ball in the basket.
16:41I went in, and I just tore off my tie and threw off my coat, and I said,
16:47Let me tell you,
16:48I want more than getting to the Final Four.
16:53And they all looked at me, and I said, I want a big dish of pasta with clam sauce.
16:59The team looked at them like, we're in the middle of an NCAA tournament to go to Final Four,
17:03and you're talking about eating spaghetti.
17:04I think it took the tension off, and the kids went out and played terrific second half.
17:14After beating North Carolina 56-44, the Wildcats upset Memphis State 52-45.
17:21The next Dragon to be slain was the biggest and baddest of all, Georgetown.
17:26But due in large part to their coach, the Wildcats were ready to rumble.
17:31Roy Massimino has been the star of stars throughout the tournament.
17:34And this basketball team believes, they believe they can beat Georgetown.
17:38He was able to make these guys believe in themselves in a way probably no other coach at that time
17:44could.
17:44Villanova 10 seconds away from winning the national championship of college basketball.
17:51He was just this crazy Italian.
17:53And he convinced his players, why can't you guys do it?
17:56And Villanova is the champion of college basketball.
18:00I give an awful lot of credit to Raleigh Massimino.
18:04The players took their cue from their head coach.
18:07They went into the game believing that they could take down Goliath.
18:16April Fools' Day.
18:18For the first time in history, an NCAA championship was decided on April 1st.
18:23And the joke was on Georgetown.
18:26The actual origins of April Fools' joking are unknown.
18:30The most popular theory is that this has to do with the calendar change.
18:34When New Year's Day was changed to January 1st, and some people didn't get the news.
18:41And so they continued the older practice of celebrating New Year's on April 1st.
18:49I'm sure John Thompson and Raleigh Massimino both read the newspaper that day and saw the caption of the date
18:54as being April Fools' Day
18:56and probably figured that something extraordinary was going to happen.
19:01Extraordinary? How about miraculous?
19:04Villanova made 22 of its 28 attempts from the field, shooting 79%.
19:09It was a Final Four record, and just enough to win 66-64.
19:16It was just, the planets were aligned, the cosmos were aligned, it was April Fools' Day.
19:21Stuff happens.
19:22I knew that they'd have to play a perfect game in order to beat us.
19:26And they did.
19:28So I just figured they made a deal with the devil.
19:30They had an extraordinary game.
19:32They played extremely well.
19:34They shot an unrealistic percentage.
19:37Wildcats shooting a sizzling 77% from the ballgame.
19:41Only missed six shots from the field.
19:42Georgetown played great, but there's only so much you can do when the opposing team is shooting close to 80%.
19:49I mean, that's like God's out on the court, you know, and Jesus playing point guard.
19:53You don't have a chance.
19:57The Villanova Wildcats are the champions of college basketball.
20:02The joke is on them in that they shoot over 50% from the field.
20:08We have 17 turnovers.
20:12We shoot almost 80% for the game and win the basketball game.
20:17When's that going to happen again?
20:19Had to be a day like April Fools.
20:21Wayne McClain and Eddie Pinckney run over to the scores table.
20:26They're jumping up and down.
20:27And we all start getting this chant going like April Fools.
20:31You know, the trick's on you.
20:32I'm going, you know what?
20:34They're right.
20:35They fooled everybody.
20:42Well, there you have it.
20:43The top five.
Comments