He was hilarious, says Pinone. Massimino doesnt deny it. (#10 seed in Southeast)Won Southeast First Round (71-62) versus #7 Virginia Tech There was also no three-point shot until the 1986-87 season). Its the rallying point. The Flyers held for the last shot, but Pressley stole a pass, and Villanova spread the floor in a variation of North Carolina coach Dean Smiths notorious four corners offense, a setup that could be used to control a game for minutes on end if executed properly. He had joined the Villanova staff straight from coaching at Harry S Truman High in the Bronx. It was Villanova's first national . Head Coach Rollie Massiminos Nova squad finished the regular season with a 19-10 record which included five losses to the nations #1 or #2 ranked team; the balance of their losses were teams who also made the Field of 64. On Monday afternoon Villanova gathered in a meeting room at the Lexington Ramada Inn for its pregame Catholic mass and meal. 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. St. Buonaguro, who had joined Massiminos staff in 1977 when he was 24, was hired at Fairfield shortly after the 85 title game. Alumni donations and contributions grow out of all that.. Nothing takes the place of football, said a Wildcat alumnus, Charlie Johnson, an industrial sales company vice president in York, Pa. Its in the fall that your thoughts go back to your old college. College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. He has been divorced for six years, but his 11-year-old daughter, Jade Alexis McLain, lives nearby in Florida and stays with McLain every other weekend. And Georgetown? While the glowering Thompson coached with a white towel draped over his shoulder, his Hoyas played hard, fouled hard and didnt talk much about it afterward. The team played their home games at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Do they think were going to lie down for them? Won Southeast Regional Semifinal (46-43) versus #5 Maryland And he played great. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Villanova's NCAA Final victory over Georgetown shook the sport and transformed the lives of the Wildcats coaches and players. The two have not seen each other since Martin graduated in the spring of 1985. The spaghetti speech, says McClain. (This section of the original story caused problems 11 years ago. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Maybe people thought I was a rat or I did something bad just for money, he says. At that time in my life I was putting incredible pressure on myself. At the time, Buonaguro was desperately hoping to get one last chance to run his own program and he felt that being described by a member of the fabled 85 Villanova team as a woeful manager, would damage his chances. Not long ago they sat around a table and pecked away at each others golf handicaps and careers. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. His family atmosphere was absolutely key, says Harold Pressley, who in 1982 as a senior at St. Bernard High in Uncasville, Conn., was an All-America. I felt bad. Eligibility restrictions apply. But when you look at it, we were playing in the Big East, where you could lose six or seven games a year, and then youve got four games in the Big Five. It gets the old grads back and keeps them interested.. The Villanova University Wildcats built a 5-0 record last fall, finishing the college football season as the nations only undefeated and untied team in either of the top two divisions, I-A and I-AA. In his 13 years at Georgetown, Thompson had built the Hoyas into a powerhouse. Theres no Miracle of 85.. Many people in the 85 family felt that Marbach had purposely thrown Massimino and Lappas together in an attempt to force them to mend fences. Youre good enough. (Chuck Daly died five years later at age 79). It was believable. What damned his relationship with Villanova in the end was the feelingoften rumored, seldom spoken publicly by anyonethat he had gotten too full of himself. There was no doubt which team was considered No. Is he kidding? Join our linker program. They sure have. In the summer of 1979 Howard Garfinkels Five-Star Basketball Camp in the Pocono Mountains was attended by a stunning roster of future Hall of Fame players, including Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Ewing, Chris Mullin and Karl Malone, all of whom would enter college in the fall of 81. As he walked toward his seat, he heard his name shouted. Hes just guarding a superstar. Bias, who would be dead of a cocaine overdose 17 months later, finished with 30 points, and that defeat sent Villanova into a regular-season-ending tailspin that included six losses in its last 11 games. It was like we were in 1985 all over again.), (This still holds; no champion since 85 has come close to Nova's average. Maybe going through so many wars over the years, three seniors getting so comfortable with each other. But in an era of nationally televised major college games, whats in it for MacMurray and Buffalo State? ), (The banner was hoisted in 2005. I still dont know why, says Pinckney. The chemistrythat senior year, it just wasnt happening. A soft early schedule and some nice wins got the Wildcats to 13-3 heading into a January nonleague game at Marylands Cole Field House. The lack of a clock played to Massiminos strength, and he used slow tempo like a billy club, mixing up the 55 defensive sets in the Villanova scheme (Massimino still has them at home in a playbookmultiples, he called them) and working each offensive possession as if a missed shot would lead to incarceration. When Fran left and I got the job, it was a difficult thing, says Buonaguro. It took a long time., (When this story was published in 2004, Massimino and McLain had spoken twice since McLains SI story was publishedonce briefly at a team reunion in 95 and later on the phone. Here's the schedule and how you can watch all the college events. In the spring of 1992 Massimino stunned the basketball world by accepting an offer to succeed Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV, which at the time was an outlaw state, the opposite of cuddly, Catholic, graduate-em-all Villanova. Go back to your rooms, he said. Its possible that Massimino could have survived all of this. Massimino was deeply hurt by McLains revelations. The text began on the cover with the chilling line, I was standing in the Rose Garden, wired on cocaine. McLain went on to describe his drug habit in vivid detail, including his account of being high while playing against Memphis State in the national semifinals and while visiting the White House. Coaches everywhere were instantly and forever given license to dream aloud, inspiring their teams to do the impossible: Boys, let me tell you a story about a basketball game back in 1985. Reserves played the last 17 minutes and Pitt won, 85-62. [1] It was the program's first season since 1980, as the team had been discontinued for four years due to perceived lack of financial resources to compete at the Major College (now Football Bowl Subdivision) level. I remember once early in my junior year, John said to me, Son, I think youve been homogenized. That could be schtick. Private schools are, however, something different. They played their home games at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pennsylvania. 1 seed Michigan (59-55) and Maryland (46-43). I should have stayed at Villanova, Massimino says. Im clean today. (He told AP in 2014 that he was using drugs up until 2005.) I said it then, and Ill say it now.. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Three starters, Dwayne McClain, Harold Pressley, and Gary McLain played all 40 minutes in the Championship. The Wildcats unexpected presence in the championship game took their fans (and cheerleaders) to new heights in Rupp Arena. In his ninth season with the Wildcats, Rollie Massimino finally took them all the way. Football is a unique college activity that has the strong support of the alumni and the schools other friends. Villanova's 10-3 record included four victories over Top 25 opponents, including No. Lappas wanted to do his thing, he says, and separate the old stuff from the new stuff. Lappas won 174 games in nine seasons at Villanova, including the schools only Big East tournament title (in 1995). Some of his former players have made a tradition of visiting Massimino on Super Bowl weekend and attending a Northwood game. Eleven years later, Plansky says, Those things happened. Villanovas Division I-AA status is the highest for any college that has resumed football after once dropping it.. ), (Massimino says he still hasnt watched the finish. Keep reading.). And damn, I was a champion., (McLain remains mecurial. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. I was out to dinner with two of my sons, when my left arm just drops right into my lap, he says. He says he has lapsed into drug or alcohol use a couple of times but is currently sticking with a 12-step program and attending meetings. You know what Id like right now? Massimino was criticized in Philadelphia for not getting enough city recruits and for his ponderous style, which critics say was made obsolete by the shot clock. And their alumni want it.. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. We watched Seattle Slew make babies, says Jackson. Massimino, ever the patriarch, was happy to push his guys into jobs. Time heals all wounds. Several of McLains teammates used that expression in describing their relationship with their point guard. For all, the fall sport is a money-eating loss leader. Eleven years ago I wrote a retrospective of that game that was published in the March 29, 2004 issue of Sports Illustrated. McLain documented his cocaine addiction two years late in a 10,000 word Sports Illustrated article, A Bad Trip. This game never lets go. Give me the rock! says Plansky. Many of them are on the north side of 50, when anger takes too much effort to hold.) Nineteen (Thirty) years are gone since Villanova senior forward Dwayne McClain stumbled to his knees and elbows on the floor of Rupp Arena, then cradled the last precious inbounds pass in his right arm and shot his left fist skyward as time expired. Photo Illustration by Erica Cotten; Nycretoucher/Getty Images (money). McLain has been clean since 2005 and has since become a Certified Addiction Professional spending his time traveling and talking to youngsters about addiction through his story. Villanova vs. Georgetown: 1985 National Championship | FULL GAME Watch on Following their Villanova playing days, six players from the team were selected in subsequent NBA Drafts. Void in ONT. Won National Final (66-64) versus #1 Georgetown, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Monday, May 1, 12:49AM. As Villanova traveled to Birmingham, AL for the Regional Semifinals, the Cats defeated 5th seed Maryland by three and then the Southeasts #2 seed North Carolina by six to reach the Final Four. Nineteen (Thirty) years have passed since Villanovas 66-64 victory over Georgetown on April Fools night in 1985 thrust the Wildcats into underdog lore as a team that played the perfect game on the biggest stage against an unbeatable opponent.
