My inner sanctum never changed. There was no doubt which team was considered No. The emphasis on the sport isnt unanimously endorsed at Villanova, whose pastoral campus adjoining the village of Bryn Mawr is a showplace on Philadelphias suburban Main Line. Massimino says, I never had any big problems with Lap., Lappas, who was fired at UMass after the 2004-05 season and now works as a broadcaster for CBS, says, Were cordial. He was hurt and angry at Plansky. He came in, lounged around with my mother, seemed real comfortable. ), (In Georgetowns stall, Jackson was supposed to receive a return pass from Broadnax, but was denied by the Villanova defense, forcing Broadnax to pass to Martin and, subsequently, the pass that led to the critical turnover. He was telling me that I was playing soft, and I took serious offense at that. 9 seed, beat Ohio State in the first round and narrowly lost to Louisville in the second round. (Well, it briefly got a little better. We watched Seattle Slew make babies, says Jackson. Villanova can accept only about 1,000 of several thousand freshman applicants annually. Im about to go into a meeting, but Ill be free after 5 p.m. today. They were co-champions of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and advanced to the National Championship game where they defeated Montana, 23-21. Plansky, seven months removed from his high school graduation, found himself subbed in for Pressley and guarding Maryland All-America forward Len Bias. Massimino, 69, looks healthier than the night he coached Villanova to the title, frightened into good behavior by a ministroke last spring. Im clean today. (He told AP in 2014 that he was using drugs up until 2005.) Or write about sports? Do you have a sports website? Massimino had his wish. And in 1985, that might have been the best team I had. Massimino had never delivered a postmeal speech, but on this day he did. Of course, you never know. But like we know them, and we can play with them.. Before Flutie graduated, Boston College was in a major bowl and Villanova was out of football. Its a nice icebreaker around Philadelphia.), (Eleven years later, Maker says, I was still very angry then. And then Coach Mass and Gary came out, arm in arm and we went out and had a little pasta. Even this reconciliation has been tenuous, though not hostile. Clem Murray/Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS/Sipa USA. Time heals all wounds. Several of McLains teammates used that expression in describing their relationship with their point guard. Ive had a real roller coaster since Villanova, he says. We can talk then. McLain did not call after 5 p.m. and did not answer subsequent calls or texts. Or write about sports? 1985-86 Villanova Wildcats Men's Roster and Stats Previous Season Next Season Record: 23-14 (10-6, 4th in Big East MBB ) Coach: Rollie Massimino PS/G: 69.8 (143rd of 283) More School Info Villanova (Men's) School History Roster & Stats Polls, Schedule & Results On this page: Roster Per Game Team and Opponent Stats Per Game Totals Per 40 Minutes On Martin Luther King Jr.s birthday Thompson turned practice into an open discussion of Kings and Malcolm Xs influence. Villanova University/Collegiate Images/Getty Images. Private schools are, however, something different. So sometimes hed shake their hand while hes looking away, and that guy tells people, Rollie Massiminos an ass.. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. VILLANOVA'S HISTORIC UPSET OF GEORGETOWN in the 1985 NCAA championship game remains one of college basketballs most memorable and compelling moments. It was incredibly moving, says Jensen. He told me not to take the Villanova job, says Lappas, 50. Massiminos teams had gone this far three times previously but had never made it to the Final Four. It was a family that came together like never before in that final run of 1985. The perception in 1981 was that this is a sport that has become far too costly to maintain, said Athletic Director Ted Aceto. Dont play this game not to lose. Do you have a sports website? What happened next is a mystery of camaraderie that none of the Villanova 85 family can fully explain, even through the prism of time. Hes still a part of the family. 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. And then he went in another direction. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. 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. --In 1984, when the school was gearing up for football again with 85 walk-ons, 20,000 were on campus, and, for the first intra-squad game of Talleys regime, the stadium was sold out at $10 a head. 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. You lose two of those, youre in trouble and you might not make the tournament. His last Villanova team, in 91-92, was 14-15. Ill bet [Tigers point guard] Andre Turner is still confused, says McClain. The Wildcats football team played their first game in November 1894 and continued play for 87 seasons. $39.99. 1 activity in drawing the community together, he said, meaning faculty, administration, students and former students. ), (Chuck Daly died five years later at age 79), (As always, McLain was the complex exception. Personally, I would have caught it. Broadnax says, A lot of people said it was a tough pass. Or write about sports? He still yells, says Everson. A rhythm shot, says Jensen. A couple of days ago I heard from eight players in one day, he says. In the summer of 2005, Everson brought them together, unbeknownst to both men, at the summer basketball camp that Everson runs on his native Long Island. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Monday, May 1, 6:49AM. Finally I wrote a letter and sent it via FedEx overnight to his home in Florida. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. He still yells, says Everson. ), (Asked recently if that silence still remains, Martin said, I talked to Horace a few days ago. Division III teams, by contrast, issue no scholarships. In 1981, when Villanova dropped, there were three additions, he said, naming Buffalo State, West Georgia, and Western New England. Jensens drive was a bold move by a player who had struggled all year with his psyche, even as the coaching staff tried desperately to utilize his outside shooting ability. The Wildcats were led by 16th-year head coach Andy Talley played their home games at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pennsylvania Well be shooting for it.. To most schools and their alumni, the principal attraction of football, as compared with other sports, is indeed that long weekend. --By 1983, with football in limbo, only 700 of Villanovas most loyal former students were there for homecoming. Better than 20 years ago. The 1985 squad remains tight to this day. On the telecast CBSs Brent Musburger observed the momentary stall and, referring to the impending introduction of the shot clock, intoned, What you are seeing is a relic. Pressley scored over Ewing with four seconds left in the half to give Villanova a 29-28 lead, and the Hoyas raced upcourt for one last shot. Grabbing the moment: As time ran out, senior Dwayne McClain needed one hand for the ball and the other to tell the world that his Wildcats were NCAA champions. Lives turned on the outcome, and lives are affected still: touched, guided, haunted. "Villanova gave up football for four years (1981-84) before bringing it back by popular demand (in 1985)," Coach Andy Talley said the other day. He was flawless and cocksure with the ball against pressure. All Drafted Players. Is he kidding? Though Massimino would remain at the school for another seven years before moving unexpectedly to UNLV, the win over Georgetown would be the highpoint of his career at Villanova. They beat the best team in the country.. 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. It came to mean something quite different, says Asher. We all wanted the Big East, and we knew with a point guard, a small forward and a big man, maybe we could do something.. Do you have a blog? Old students miss all that when you dont have football. Villanovas game was not flawless. As a matter of policy, Sports Reference only reports the results of games as played on the field. The 85 Wildcats remain the lowest seed to win the National Championship. I really enjoy it, says Massimino. 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. Shapland died at age 57 in April of 2013. The Wildcats unexpected presence in the championship game took their fans (and cheerleaders) to new heights in Rupp Arena. Im a good example of what coaching is all about, he says. He returned to the band in 1996 and again in 2006. (#8 seed in Southeast)Won Southeast First Round (51-49) versus #9 Dayton All those years I worked from early morning until late at night while my wife raised our family. ), (Showtime was subsequently acquired by Sparks Marketing Group, for which Jensen is an Executive Vice President. Villanova has traditionally played an FBS opponent once each year since becoming an FCS program in 1985. Massimino nurtured Jensen throughout that sophomore season, quietly massaging his ego in long, fatherly chats. The decision was highly controversial and triggered efforts resulting in the restoration of football at the Division I-AA level in 1985. Whats more, said Craig Miller, Wildcat sports publicist, Season ticket sales are up from 800 in 1980, the year before we dropped football, to 7,000 now.. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. There was just so much trust., On the first Thursday in March the Wildcats beat Pittsburgh, 69-61, in the first round of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden, a win that ensured them an NCAA bid. Trailing 28-27 with 1:58 left in the first half, Villanova took possession off a Georgetown miss and went into a four-corners delay. And Mitch and I are good now.), (Since 2008, Marbach, 61, has been working as a sales rep for Ampro Sports in Philadelphia. Tim, I got your text, McLain said, exuberantly, as if he remembered me and was anxious to talk. In 97 the family moved back to the Philadelphia area, where Marbach is a junior high school athletic director and coaches his youngest daughter, Elizabeth. Youre a lifer, Daly says. # Name Class LB: 46: Hell be up on the basket swatting Georgetown shots away, Massimino said. 29. coca-cola debuts new cokeand everyone hates it. Massimino cinderella team relied on a tight-knit group of players. Following their Villanova playing days, six players from the team were selected in subsequent NBA Drafts. However, he won just two NCAA tournament games and left under fire after the 2000-01 season. When we won the title, the players handled themselves with class in interviews, and Rollie went on television and talked about the family atmosphere, and everybody wanted a piece of that, says Lappas. Massimino was also angry, as if Plansky had violated the groups collective omerta. Of course, you never know. Just talking about it, right now, the hair is standing up on the back of my neck, says Wyatt Maker, a reserve sophomore center on the championship team, who sat on the bench during the title game, clutching the hand of junior teammate Chuck Everson, twin seven-footers willing balls into the basket like schoolgirl cheerleaders. In Divisions I-A and I-AA, scholarships eat up much of the football budget. That could be schtick. That incident just swept the whole team into the locker room on a wave, says Marty Marbach, one of the assistant coaches. 28. HBO was there, filming B-roll for a documentary and they had no idea the story was in the other room, a few feet away. Terms under which this service is provided to you. 1 seed, yet lost to North Carolina State in their second tournament game.) It was Villanova's first national . Void in ONT. We had a Mass before every game, he says, and nobody ever complained about going. Villanova basketball teams, for instance, have made the Final Four three times and won the national championship a year ago. After all these years? Villanova gave up football for four years (1981-84) before bringing it back by popular demand (in 1985), Coach Andy Talley said the other day. These were heavy days in the Big East, and among Villanovas nine regular-season defeats were two each to Georgetown (both close, a fact that would be widely overlooked at the Final Four in Lexington) and St. Johns, teams that volleyed the No. Among many critical moments in an excruciatingly tense game, two stand out. Eversons daughter, a freshman basketball player at Bryant College, calls him Uncle Gary. ; and Pinckney, a solid big man from Adlai Stevenson High in the Bronx who was under-recruited. That is not happening. That day was about our daughter. Massimino and Lappas spoke. The 1970 Villanova Wildcats football team represented the Villanova University during the 1970 NCAA University Division football season.

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