March 24, 2007
GHOSTS OF '82
(Jordan gets lucky in '82, UNC 25 years later)
For the three times in four years that Georgetown reached the finals of the NCAA Men's Basetball Tournament during the early '80s, its teams are most often remembered for their spectacular and unlikely losses, rather than their one national championship. In 1985, the Hoyas were the defending national champions. They made it to the final, but lost to the heavy underdog Villanova in what is still described as the most unlikely upset in the history of the tournament. In 1982, the Hoyas were making their first appearance in the title game in school history. The game was closely contested, but Georgetown seemed to have things in hand in the final minute, when a UNC freshman named Michael Jordan launched a ball from the left of the basket in a move that would become all-too-familiar to opponents over the coming years. To Carolina fans, it is simply referred to as The Shot. Down by one point, Georgetown still had posession of the ball and the opportunity for the final game-winning shot when the Hoyas' Fred Brown inexplicably passed the ball directly to UNC's James Worthy. Why he did this remains one of the great mysteries of sport, but UNC won the national championship a few seconds later. It would be the only national championship Michael Jordan would win with the Tarheels. He later graduated to an undistinguished career as a minor league baseball player.
The Hoyas and Tarheels meet again Sunday evening––not for the first time––in the tournament 25 years after that legendary game. The winner will go on to face one, and hopefully two, other teams in the Final Four in Atlanta. It's a one-seed versus a two-seed matchup, but UNC spent the majority of the season ranked #1 in college polls, or hovering around the top spot. Both teams are winners of their respective Conference Tournaments (ACC and Big East). The game starts at 5:05 pm EST and will be aired on CBS.
Tagged: basketball, georgetown, tournament, uncPosted by Lexiphane at March 24, 2007 12:23 PM
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