There have been others, of course. Jim Valvano and North Carolina State taking down Houston for the title is one that quickly comes to mind. But why, with so many unbelievable upsets and great stories both before and after the championship game, has Villanova held that top spot in the minds of so many?
On the surface, there are plenty of reasons why the championship remains so relevant. The Wildcats are still the lowest seed 8 to win a national title. It was the first year of the team bracket, which has proven to be a wildly successful formula but at the time was an experiment. Would adding more teams to the field water down the product? Did it hurt the top seeds who would've had first-round byes under the previous format?
The NCAA was taking a risk here, and it paid off huge with the type of "Cinderella" run that has come to define the romance of the tournament. John's reaching the Final Four. Still, despite the strength of the conference, this was the ultimate David vs. Goliath matchup. Villanova wasn't even assured of a spot in the field, and Patrick Ewing and the Hoyas were beasts.
But more than anything, the championship matters for everything that has happened since Dwayne McClain fell to the ground with the ball in his hands as the horn sounded on April 1, At 80 years old, Massimino is still coaching. It's not Villanova or the Big East, but it's basketball.
It's coaching. For Massimino, it's family. A coach for life, Massimino still has his Northwood players over for dinner just like he still hosts handfuls of former Villanova players every year. This past fall, with the 30th anniversary of the national championship and Massimino's 80th birthday coinciding, Villanova coach Jay Wright, a former Massimino assistant, helped organize a special weekend in Philadelphia.
We got together for a party for my 80th birthday, and we celebrated all throughout the evening. The celebration was special in part because of the totality of involvement from his former players and coaches. Men's college soccer: Last minute goal puts Marquette on top of No. DI Men's Basketball News Men's basketball is back, and this is why we're excited 7 programs with strong cases to be college basketball's next 1st-time champion Ohio State's Zed Key scores game-winner in season opener These are the best father-son, junior-senior duos in college basketball 15 player of the year candidates to watch in men's basketball The Atlanta Tipoff Club announces the men's basketball Naismith Trophy watch list Men's NCAA tournament predictions for the Sweet 16 to the national championship Men's March Madness bracket predictions ahead of opening night Facing unusually modest expectations for Michigan State, here's Tom Izzo's strategy for 16 men's basketball national player of the year candidates.
Presented By. On April 1, , President Richard Nixon signs legislation officially banning cigarette ads on television and radio.
Nixon, who was an avid pipe smoker, indulging in as many as eight bowls a day, supported the legislation at the increasing insistence of public health advocates. On the same day, rival network NBC debuts its own On April 1, , an undersea earthquake off the Alaskan coast triggers a massive tsunami that kills people in Hawaii. In the middle of the night, 13, feet beneath the ocean surface, a 7.
The nearest land was Unimak The attempted coup in Munich by right-wing members of the army and the Nazi Party was foiled by the government, and Hitler was charged with high treason. Despite his conviction, Hitler was out of On April 1, , the first U.
Muhlenberg, a Lutheran minister and the former president of the Pennsylvania I just wanted our program to be respected. And in , that might have been the best team I had. We had a terrible time with [St. Bad matchups, bad history, everything. Both games had been tense, grinding battles, which history has lost when establishing the magnitude of the championship game upset. Georgetown was the better team, but anyone close to the programs, or the Big East, expected a fight.
He loved to play against Patrick. It was a daunting assignment and would require the game of his life. On Monday afternoon Villanova gathered in a meeting room at the Lexington Ramada Inn for its pregame Catholic mass and meal.
The meal was customarily a time for family fun. Massimino had never delivered a postmeal speech, but on this day he did. First he spoke softly about former Villanova coach Al Severance, who had died that morning at age And then he went in another direction. Play it to win. Believe you can win. It gave us a sense of calm, almost in a meditative way. I could feel a real quiet confidence in the room. But like we know them, and we can play with them. Several hours later Villanova players sprinted onto the floor of Rupp Arena, filled to its capacity of more than 23, fans, raucous in their support of Villanova.
His hands are sweating. It started when Pinckney took the ball directly at Ewing on an early possession and dealt a soft pass to Pressley, who willed in a wild reverse layup. McClain drove the lane and dunked thunderously on the next Villanova possession. Before the night was finished Villanova would make 22 of 29 field goal attempts, a mind-boggling And McLain? He was flawless and cocksure with the ball against pressure.
It was all on Gary. And he played great. Georgetown was so tough and nasty and we worried about getting the ball over halfcourt. The game is worth watching again just for the way Gary played. They beat the best team in the country. Nineteen Thirty years later, a viewing of the game yields two nuggets. Villanova had 58 possessions in the game and only four times held the ball more than 45 seconds the duration of the first college shot clock, in , including a nearly two-minute possession at the end of the first half, when Georgetown refused to come out of a passive zone.
On 41 of those 55 possessions, Villanova shot, was fouled or committed a turnover in less than 30 seconds. Jensen alone had six. Part of what is so fascinating about the game is that Villanova, when it did not turn the ball over, almost always scored.
Among many critical moments in an excruciatingly tense game, two stand out. Trailing with left in the first half, Villanova took possession off a Georgetown miss and went into a four-corners delay.
Georgetown stayed in a passive zone, allowing Villanova to hold the ball. Everson pleaded for a foul, and Massimino ran onto the court. After getting no satisfaction from the officials, Massimino sprinted off the floor with his team, pumping his right fist as he disappeared from the television image.
Who the f do they think they are? That is not happening. Years later, when Pinckney was playing for the Miami Heat, he found himself alone in an elevator with coach Pat Riley. As he walked toward his seat, he heard his name shouted. It was Reggie Williams. The Wildcats built a advantage with six minutes to play, but Georgetown ran off six straight points to take the lead, forced a Villanova turnover and went into a four corners in an attempt to coax Villanova into a man-to-man defense.
Is he kidding? After all these years? Got to. The two have not seen each other since Martin graduated in the spring of I called him to gauge his interest in my son playing for him at Savannah State. Martin said this was not the first time they had spoken. And I slept fine that night. They played a great game. Did what they needed to do. Following the turnover Villanova held the ball for 62 seconds until Jensen drilled the wide-open jump shot from the right side with left on the clock.
The party raged until dawn, when the sun rose and a chartered jet ferried them back to Philadelphia for a parade. Massimino, ever the patriarch, was happy to push his guys into jobs.
His first team went and played in the NCAA tournament. His second went but also made the tournament. His next four teams averaged 20 losses. When he got his own reins, it was mass chaos. This section of the original story caused problems 11 years ago. He was hurt and angry at Plansky. Planksy called me, seeking relief. I felt badly, too, but I also felt that Plansky had been honest in his original assessment, and he never pulled back from that. I felt bad. Mitch was an unbelievable game coach and Rollie needed somebody like that.
And Mitch and I are good now. And Buonaguro did get another chance. There was talk that Siena could become a mid-major power like Butler or Gonzaga. McCaffrey left after the season to become head coach at Iowa. Siena named Buonaguro as his replacement, and the Saints struggled badly, going in three seasons and never finishing higher than sixth in the MAAC.
Buonaguro, now 62, was fired. He lives in a suburb between Albany and Saratoga Springs and has done some television work. In Marbach was hired at Canisius, dragging his pregnant wife, Denise, with him, even though her CPA career was blossoming.
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