The Pain of March

[hoya95]

My least favorite moments of March occur each year when CBS, ESPN, HBO or somebody else makes me relive the worst sporting moments of my childhood. Tonight was "Georgetown's Worst Losses" night on ESPN Classic with "You Can't Blame" episodes on the Villanova game and Freddy Brown's pass against UNC. The Carolina show was particularly condescending. Here are the 5 reason you can't blame Brown:
5) Patrick Ewing's selfish and arrogant goaltends (Hey, 3 of the 5 look clean to me, and he wasn't trying to goaltend.)
4) John Thompson told him to goaltend (What?! Who said that? There's a big difference between being aggressive and intentionally goaltending.)
3) Georgetown played such terrible defense against James Worthy
2) Michael Jordan was so clutch (Well, hard to argue that one.)
1) Georgetown was such a lousy half-court team that they wouldn't have scored anyway

Unlike the Houston game in 1984 which I've never seen a replay of, they show the UNC game often. It's a great game played by two great teams, and the damn ball just didn't go our way in the end.
Not to put too much pressure on next year's team or on any team in the future, but what I wouldn't give for a Final Four or championship that at least would change the crawl at the end of the Villanova episode: "Georgetown never again made it to a Final Four." They'll be showing those stupid games long after we're all dead and gone, but wouldn't it be nice to take some of the sting away? Just a thought.

[FLHoya]

Well, the suck part about ESPN Classic is...get used to it...you'll see those two episodes paired together about 40,000,000,000,000 times in the next month alone. Apparently ESPN Classic decided showing the same 5 programs in heavy rotation non-stop in the evening was totally better than, you know, actually showing classic games.

I'm familiar with the GU-UNC and GU-Nova double because...they did the same damn thing on Tuesday.

[hoya95]

Yeah, I guess it's even cheaper to run than those "Stump the Schwab" marathons they've been going with. They're not even trying anymore.

[HoyaTejano]

Georgetown is famous for its infamy. That's what you get when the Syracuse alumni association, er, ESPN, has access to the archives.

Just once, just for damn once, I want to see:
1. the '84 championship game
2. Charles Smith going coast-to-coast on Syracuse
3. Villanova '95
4. UConn '96 (the AI-as-Skywalker jam)
5. Kentucky getting SHUT DOWN in the national semifinal
6. The Sweater Game

[paranoia2]

If you truly watch the 1982 final you HAVE to blame Fred Brown and coach Thompson. You have to blame Brown for his many bad passes preceding THE PASS (watch the game again there are 3 horrendous Freddie passes) and you have to question Big John for not calling a timeout and putting the rock in the hands of Sleepy who was on fire. You also have to love Eric Smith who played a great game, was a true Hoya and had the presence of mind to chase down Worthy and keep the game alive. Think about it though why the hell didn't Big John call a timeout and make sure iether Sleepy or Pat took the shot. If Sleepy banged home a fifteen footer to win it our collective lives would have been so better.

[theEDGEfactor]

haha just pulling crap out of their butts so they can get something on tv

[HoyaChris]

paranoia2 said:

If you truly watch the 1982 final you HAVE to blame Fred Brown and coach Thompson. You have to blame Brown for his many bad passes preceding THE PASS (watch the game again there are 3 horrendous Freddie passes) and you have to question Big John for not calling a timeout and putting the rock in the hands of Sleepy who was on fire. You also have to love Eric Smith who played a great game, was a true Hoya and had the presence of mind to chase down Worthy and keep the game alive. Think about it though why the hell didn't Big John call a timeout and make sure iether Sleepy or Pat took the shot. If Sleepy banged home a fifteen footer to win it our collective lives would have been so better.

I think that it is hard not to blame Freddie for the pass itself since it was so clearly a boneheaded play. That said, suggesting that Big John should have called time out to set up a play is equally wrong. The fact that James Worthy was so far out of position seems to me to be the best evidence that not calling a time out was an effective strategy.

[FrazierFanatic]

Man, I hope October gets here soon - we're already reduced to arguing about the strategy of a game that was 24 years ago!! ;D

[kchoya]

hoyachris said:

paranoia2 said:

If you truly watch the 1982 final you HAVE to blame Fred Brown and coach Thompson. You have to blame Brown for his many bad passes preceding THE PASS (watch the game again there are 3 horrendous Freddie passes) and you have to question Big John for not calling a timeout and putting the rock in the hands of Sleepy who was on fire. You also have to love Eric Smith who played a great game, was a true Hoya and had the presence of mind to chase down Worthy and keep the game alive. Think about it though why the hell didn't Big John call a timeout and make sure iether Sleepy or Pat took the shot. If Sleepy banged home a fifteen footer to win it our collective lives would have been so better.

I think that it is hard not to blame Freddie for the pass itself since it was so clearly a boneheaded play. That said, suggesting that Big John should have called time out to set up a play is equally wrong. The fact that James Worthy was so far out of position seems to me to be the best evidence that not calling a time out was an effective strategy.

I agree. They wanted to keep going before the defense had time to set up. And if you watch the tape, the reason that Worthy was so out of position is that Sleepy (I think) faked out high before break towards the basket. Worthy bit on the fake and Sleepy was momentarily open before Jordan moved into the passing lane a little bit.

[Omega]

Yes it’s painful... But over the years I've appreciated them showing the UNC and Nova games. Remember, the reason those games are shown is not to mock GTown, but rather to celebrate its greatness. If GTown was a mediocre team or a flash in the pan, those games would never get shown. The bottom line is/was that GTown, in the 80s, represented the center of the college basketball universe. Imagine a small Jesuit school rising to national prominence and DOMINATING the basketball world. GTown was the standard barer!

In the 80’s, while GTown ruled, UCLA’s dynasty was pushed off the front page. Count how many Sports Illustrated covers featured GTown. Although Uconn domineated the Big East in the 90’s when people in charge, (those program operators at ESPN, head of Fortune 500 companies—anyone over 35) think about college basketball they about that great GTown dynasty that changed college basketball forever. Rather than shunning, running or hiding from the painful past, accept it, because it is your legacy!

[Elvado]

Paranoia 2 is righ5t on when he mentions the truly awful game Fred had had leading up to the Pass. He had 3-5 egregious turnovers throughout, only 2 days removed from a masterful game against louisville in which he was named player of the game. He picked a bad night to have a bad game.

That said, no way do you call a time out there. Everything worked right, until Fred threw that pass. Worthy was 35 feet from the hoop and Sleepy was open on the wing. Moreover, with worthy that far away, Patrick would have had the Tin Man one on one in the post.