TV Broadcast of Iowa-Georgetown Elite 8 in 1980

[HoyaChris]

I was at the game and have been waiting to see a replay for 40 years.

For many of us, this is the most disappointing loss in Hoya history. Georgetown's best team pre-Ewing, with three future NBA players (Floyd, Duren and Shelton), gives up a 14 point second half lead to an Iowa team that couldn't miss.

With about five minutes left there is a critical over and back called on John Duren. If someone who knows the exact rule could look at the call and confirm or deny, that would be helpful. As happened too often in the 1980s, we were done in by slowing down the game.

The video quality is pretty good. The game starts about 20 minutes in after a bunch of interviews with Iowa players.

[s4hoyas]

I was there for the heartbreak...two top point guards in John(Bay Bay)Duren vs Ronnie "The Molester" Lester...Had just beaten Maryland (Buck Williams, Albert King) in the sweet 16 in a huge game...led by 10 at the half when a friend stopped over to our seats and said, "we got this game in the bag."...to this day we still refer to it as the (his last name) jinx...I believe they stole an inbounds pass on the side when our potential receiver slipped, passed it forward to a cutting 6'10 Steve Waite who dunked it for the win when Craig "The Big Sky" Shelton's hand got caught in the net trying to block it...that picture was in the Washington Post the next day...Hoya trivia for you youngsters...we could have easily won it all that year...

[iheartdurenbros]

Thanks for posting. Such an important year for the program capped by agonizing loss. After first half it did feel like we would go to Final Four.

[daveg023]

I’m far too young to have remembered this, but obviously know it’s history. For the older fans where does this rank in terms of tournament disappointment compared to other Elite 8 losses (PC in 87, Duke in 89, Umass in 96)? I always got the sense this was the most painful given the lead we held? That being said losing to a high seed conference rival in PC going away isn’t ideal either.

I always find it kinda arbitrary that number of Final 4s is a well reported statistic for a program, and feel like certainly 2-3 more were there for the taking for this program.

[aleutianhoya]

Apr 19, 2020 6:34:31 GMT -5 daveg023 said:

I’m far to young to have remembered this, but obviously know it’s history. For the older fans where does this rank in terms of tournament disappointment compared to other Elite 8 losses (PC in 87, Duke in 89, Umass in 96)? I always got the sense this was the most painful given the lead we held? That being said losing to a high seed conference rival in PC going away isn’t ideal either.

I always find it kinda arbitrary that number of Final 4s is a well reported statistic for a program, and feel like certainly 2-3 more were there for the taking for this program.

I've always loved that one aspect of college basketball is that things short of championships are rightly celebrated. Number of FFs, or S16s or even bids. Anyway, when you get to that point, you can't really expect to win many more than half of them. We are a bit over 50%.

In hindsight, the loss to Duke was the most painful to me. It ended a decade in which we were the most dominant program in the country and passed the torch directly to the program that would be the same for the next three decades. And we didn't make it back to even the S16 until AI.

[HoyaChris]

Apr 19, 2020 7:12:24 GMT -5 aleutianhoya said:

Apr 19, 2020 6:34:31 GMT -5 daveg023 said:

I’m far to young to have remembered this, but obviously know it’s history. For the older fans where does this rank in terms of tournament disappointment compared to other Elite 8 losses (PC in 87, Duke in 89, Umass in 96)? I always got the sense this was the most painful given the lead we held? That being said losing to a high seed conference rival in PC going away isn’t ideal either.

I always find it kinda arbitrary that number of Final 4s is a well reported statistic for a program, and feel like certainly 2-3 more were there for the taking for this program.

I've always loved that one aspect of college basketball is that things short of championships are rightly celebrated. Number of FFs, or S16s or even bids. Anyway, when you get to that point, you can't really expect to win many more than half of them. We are a bit over 50%.

In hindsight, the loss to Duke was the most painful to me. It ended a decade in which we were the most dominant program in the country and passed the torch directly to the program that would be the same for the next three decades. And we didn't make it back to even the S16 until AI.

I think that the critical thing about your comment is "in hindsight." I was at all four of the Elite Eight losses and Iowa felt the worst walking out of the arena. The reason is that it was before we were Georgetown the dominant basketball power. It seemed like it might be our only chance to advance to the Final Four. In hindsight, it would have hurt a lot less if you had told me that we were a year away from getting a commitment from Patrick Ewing. Similarly, it was not at all apparent that the loss to Duke was as significant as it turned out to be. Duke would win its first championship two years later, but we had beat them earlier in the season.

[DallasHoya]

Apr 18, 2020 23:16:41 GMT -5 s4hoyas said:

I was there for the heartbreak...two top point guards in John(Bay Bay)Duren vs Ronnie "The Molester" Lester...Had just beaten Maryland (Buck Williams, Albert King) in the sweet 16 in a huge game...led by 10 at the half when a friend stopped over to our seats and said, "we got this game in the bag."...to this day we still refer to it as the (his last name) jinx...I believe they stole an inbounds pass on the side when our potential receiver slipped, passed it forward to a cutting 6'10 Steve Waite who dunked it for the win when Craig "The Big Sky" Shelton's hand got caught in the net trying to block it...that picture was in the Washington Post the next day...Hoya trivia for you youngsters...we could have easily won it all that year...

IRRC, Dick Enbert, who used to be the lead announcer before the tourney moved to CBS, had us as his dark horse pick to win it that year. Back when JT2 was still St. John to the media.

[iheartdurenbros]

It’s funny because my memory is different.

The emergence of Georgetown was unexpected to me. I remember being at the gathering of Hoya fans after the game where JT Jr addressed us in person. And he said that he wanted to be the best program in the east. And we achieved that. I was very proud of what the players (in my class) had accomplished.

For me in hindsight it feels more devastating because we can all recall how close it seemed and then it slipped from our grasp because of some questionable coaching decisions down the stretch. And we have had so many losses like it. And they felt terrible, so now I recall the game with dread.

But nothing can compare to the excitement of 1979-1982 to me. We had no expectations of greatness before then. I always tell people the best seasons are the surprises. And gosh I hope that Ewing and co surprises some of you on this board.

[s4hoyas]

I was at all four as well...to me, Iowa was the worst, followed by Duke...PC (under Pitino) and UMass (under Calipari) both just
outplayed us (played much better in games where we didn't play well)...losing to UConn in the '96 Big East Championship was also very painful...but Villanova ('85) and UNC ('82) remain as the most painful because the stakes were the highest...on the brighter side, the semi final against Kentucky and the final
vs Houston ('84), and the elite 8 vs UNC in '07 were a whole lot of fun...

[Elvado]

Nova will always hurt the worst to me.

That win would have stamped us as one of the great dynasty programs.

Reggie’s ankle, ridiculous shooting and that leprechaun in their bench did us in.

I will never forget or forgive.

It is why I hate Nova more than any other program and always will.

[Bigs"R"Us]

The ‘84-‘85 team was one of the best ever. Because we lost to Nova in the final, it will never be recognized as such. I was at that Final Four in Lexington and watched GU beat up arguably the second best team in SJU. Wingate just locked up Mullin.

[EasyEd]

Why is it the networks always seem to show games where the Hoyas lost? I would like to see them show games like the 1984 Kentucky or Houston games. Or the 2007 UNC game.

[Elvado]

Apr 19, 2020 11:58:19 GMT -5 Bigs"R"Us said:

The ‘84-‘85 team was one of the best ever. Because we lost to Nova in the final, it will never be recognized as such. I was at that Final Four in Lexington and watched GU beat up arguably the second best team in SJU. Wingate just locked up Mullin.

Amen. Was in the third row baseline. Despite everything we had the lead and the ball late and Billy Martin lost the ball. We never lead again and it remains the most bitter of all Hoya defeats.

Period.

[wisconsinhoya]

Apr 19, 2020 12:43:27 GMT -5 EasyEd said:

Why is it the networks always seem to show games where the Hoyas lost? I would like to see them show games like the 1984 Kentucky or Houston games. Or the 2007 UNC game.

I asked someone in television production that same question about 15 years ago. The response I received was the 1982 NCAA title game with UNC launched college basketball into another world with it being the first final four played in a dome with over 60,000 fans, plus all of the future NBA stars, as well as the game going down to the final minute.

The reason 1985 is re-played all the time is because you have a team in Villanova that barely made the tournament and they somehow happen to shoot 78.6% for the game and 90% for the 2nd half against a team that was at that time being considered one of the best in college basketball history. Additionally, my opinion only, we were probably (along with Miami Fl. football) one of the most disliked college athletic programs of the last 40 years. So when a powerhouse team that is disliked by so many loses, America celebrates.

[TC]

The Princeton game gets played a lot on ESPN. We won that one.

[wisconsinhoya]

Apr 19, 2020 6:34:31 GMT -5 daveg023 said:

I’m far too young to have remembered this, but obviously know it’s history. For the older fans where does this rank in terms of tournament disappointment compared to other Elite 8 losses (PC in 87, Duke in 89, Umass in 96)? I always got the sense this was the most painful given the lead we held? That being said losing to a high seed conference rival in PC going away isn’t ideal either.

I always find it kinda arbitrary that number of Final 4s is a well reported statistic for a program, and feel like certainly 2-3 more were there for the taking for this program.

From my perspective of heart-breaking devastation, the NCAA tournament losses that will forever leave a pain in my heart are in this order.....

1. 1985 NCAA title game
2. 1982 NCAA title game
3. 1989 Elite Eight
4. 1980 Elite Eight
5. 1987 Elite Eight
6. 2007 Final Four & 2008 2nd Round


I think 1 and 2 most Hoya fans can understand. I put the 1989 loss just slightly ahead of the 1980 loss because that 1989 team was I believe the overall #1 or #2 seed in the entire tournament. That 1989 dominant team unfortunately peaked at the Big East tournament. As disappointing as the 1987 loss was to Providence, that team might have been one of John Thompson's best coaching jobs. Sadly, if we beat Providence, we are in the Final Four facing a Syracuse team we had beaten during the season. The loss to Davidson was so sad since it was our last best chance to get back to the Final Four and win a title. The 2007 loss to Ohio State I mentioned because we were so close, but couldn't shoot in the semifinal loss to Ohio State. Plus, I was hoping to get revenge on Florida for the bitter 2006 sweet 16 loss.

[beenaround]

I was at the East Regionals that year at the Spectrum in Philly. The win over the Twerps was amazing. They had beaten us earlier in the year, and had ALbert King and Buck Williams. I felt this win solidified the Hoyas the as new Big Dog in town. Then came Iowa, who was ranked below us and as stated we led by 14 in the second half. I recall that, as was his habit, JT ordered the slow down for the final several minutes of the game to preserve the lead. It rarely worked well for us, instead taking away any momentum we had...unfortunately, for some reason I was right and JT was wrong. We started to turn the ball over, take poorer shots, and next thing you know, a weak call on Big Sky Shelton led to their one point win, depriving us of the Final Four.

In my mind, its a close second to the loss to Nova in the finals. Winning two titles in a row would've been so sweet..and all we had to do was beat those bums. Oh well. Now I just dream of making it back to the tournament, and I'd take both disappointments happily!

[HoyaChris]

Apr 18, 2020 23:16:41 GMT -5 s4hoyas said:

I was there for the heartbreak...two top point guards in John(Bay Bay)Duren vs Ronnie "The Molester" Lester...Had just beaten Maryland (Buck Williams, Albert King) in the sweet 16 in a huge game...led by 10 at the half when a friend stopped over to our seats and said, "we got this game in the bag."...to this day we still refer to it as the (his last name) jinx...I believe they stole an inbounds pass on the side when our potential receiver slipped, passed it forward to a cutting 6'10 Steve Waite who dunked it for the win when Craig "The Big Sky" Shelton's hand got caught in the net trying to block it...that picture was in the Washington Post the next day...Hoya trivia for you youngsters...we could have easily won it all that year...

Your memory is close. Actually the game was tied with 15 seconds left and Iowa inbounding the ball in their frontcourt. The Hoyas overplayed the inbounds pass and the defender slipped giving Iowa an odd man advantage which turned into the Waite dunk.

I have to emphasize how important this TV footage is for the fan interested in Hoya history. This is relatively high quality footage that provides full game color video of both John Duren and Big Sky Shelton, two of the top ten Hoyas of all time. And while people can get a good sense of Sleepy Floyd's game from video of the 1982 Final Four games and his subsequent pro career, this might have been his best college game.

[gamp]

Actually we won both Maryland games that year. Buck Williams missed the first, played in DC Armory.

[Elvado]

Apr 19, 2020 17:28:27 GMT -5 HoyaChris said:

Apr 18, 2020 23:16:41 GMT -5 s4hoyas said:

I was there for the heartbreak...two top point guards in John(Bay Bay)Duren vs Ronnie "The Molester" Lester...Had just beaten Maryland (Buck Williams, Albert King) in the sweet 16 in a huge game...led by 10 at the half when a friend stopped over to our seats and said, "we got this game in the bag."...to this day we still refer to it as the (his last name) jinx...I believe they stole an inbounds pass on the side when our potential receiver slipped, passed it forward to a cutting 6'10 Steve Waite who dunked it for the win when Craig "The Big Sky" Shelton's hand got caught in the net trying to block it...that picture was in the Washington Post the next day...Hoya trivia for you youngsters...we could have easily won it all that year...

Your memory is close. Actually the game was tied with 15 seconds left and Iowa inbounding the ball in their frontcourt. The Hoyas overplayed the inbounds pass and the defender slipped giving Iowa an odd man advantage which turned into the Waite dunk.

I have to emphasize how important this TV footage is for the fan interested in Hoya history. This is relatively high quality footage that provides full game color video of both John Duren and Big Sky Shelton, two of the top ten Hoyas of all time. And while people can get a good sense of Sleepy Floyd's game from video of the 1982 Final Four games and his subsequent pro career, this might have been his best college game.

Sleepy was great In this game and of course In the ‘82 final. However, I am not sure he ever played a better game than the 29 he hung on Nova in the Palestra in ‘82.