March Madness: 10 shining moments from historic Final Fours

March Madness: 10 shining moments in Final Four history

Michigan State guard Earvin Johnson and Indiana State forward Larry Bird answer questions for reporters during a press conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Tomorrow, the two players will face off when their teams meet in the NCAA Final Four Championship, a game many feel will be a classic matchup of two collegiate superstars. /

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LEXINGTON, KY – APRIL 1, 1985: Dwayne McClain, #33 guard of the Villamova University Wildcats men’s basketball team celebrates after making a play against the Georgetown University Hoyas during the 1985 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game on April 1, 1985 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. The Wildcats won 66-64 (Photo by Villanova University/Collegiate Images/Getty Images) /

3. Villanova upsets mighty Georgetown in 1985

This list hasn’t been too kind to Georgetown fans, who may want to avert their eyes from this entry as well. The Hoyas, who were the team to beat in college basketball in the mid-1980s, saw their run atop the sport come to an inglorious end against one of their bitter conference rivals.

In order to understand how massive an upset this was, we need to take a look at how dominant Georgetown was. The Hoyas, who had barely lost the national title to North Carolina in 1982, won the whole thing in 1984 and were poised to do it again behind All-American center Patrick Ewing.

Georgetown rolled through the Big East in the regular season, going 30-2 to clinch the league’s regular season and tournament titles, and effortlessly reached the Final Four. The Big East sent three teams to the Final Four that year, including St. John’s (who Georgetown blew out 77-59 to reach the title game) and Villanova.

The Wildcats’ appearance in Lexington was a surprise since Villanova entered the tournament as an 8-seed, having gone 19-10 during the regular season and dropping seven of their final 13 games. Despite getting hot and scoring four consecutive upsets to reach the championship game, few gave Villanova a chance to upset a Georgetown team that had already beaten them twice in conference play.

Wildcats’ coach Rollie Massimino knew his team had to play a perfect game to beat Georgetown, and he designed the perfect game plan to do so, utilizing the four corners offense to limit possessions and slow down Georgetown’s mighty offense. The result was a 66-64 win for Villanova, making them the lowest seeded team to cut down the nets in tournament history.