ROBBED: Blog Overlords Underrate Phenomenal 1985 Georgetown Team

The 1985 Georgetown Hoyas are ranked #10 in the new NCAA All-time Top 50 list by SB Nation and SLAM. The Hoya faithful know this assessment is incorrect and the team is very underrated.

You’ll have to check out the article, sponsored by Microsoft Surface (who needs to re-crunch those numbers), to see which teams are ranked ahead, but GU is the highest-ranked 3-loss team. The number 4 team is upsetting on many levels.

The except on the 1985 Georgetown team states:

John Thompson’s Hoyas won the 1984 national title and were expected to repeat in ’85. Georgetown was led by center Patrick Ewing (14.6, 9.2 rpg), forwards Bill Martin (12.3, 6.2) and Reggie Williams (11.9, 5.7) and guards David Wingate (12.4, 3.6) and Michael Jackson (7.3, 6.7 apg), who intimidated foes on D and scored with tremendous efficiency. They beat St. John’s in the Final Four but lost the title game to Villanova, which needed an almost-perfect effort to prevail, 66-64.

We don’t need to rehash the championship game, but the talent on the team was incredible.

• 10 Perry MacDonald 6’4” 190 F/G Fr. New Orleans, LA, U.S. George Washington Carver
• 12 Kevin Floyd 6’2” N/A G Fr. Los Angeles, U.S. Westchester HS
• 24 Bill Martin 6’7” 215 F Sr. Washington, DC, U.S. McKinley Technology HS
• 30 Michael Jackson 6’2” 175 G Jr. Reston, VA, U.S. South Lakes HS
• 32 Horace Broadnax 6’0” 190 G Jr. Plant City, FL, U.S. Plant City HS
• 33 Patrick Ewing 7’0” 240 C Sr. Cambridge, MA, U.S. Cambridge Rindge and Latin
• 34 Reggie Williams 6’7” 190 F So. Baltimore, MD, U.S. Paul Laurence Dunbar HS
• 40 David Wingate 6’5” 185 F Jr. Baltimore, MD, U.S. Paul Laurence Dunbar HS
• 41 Tyrone Lockhart 5’10” N/A G So. Lexington, MA, U.S. Lexington HS
• 44 Ronnie Highsmith 6’8” N/A F Fr. Robersonville, NC, U.S. United States Army
• 51 Grady Mateen 6’11” N/A C Fr. Akron, OH, U.S. Central-Hower HS
• 52 Ralph Dalton 6’9” N/A C Sr. Suitland, MD, U.S. Fishburne Military School (Va.)

The Hoyas were 35-3 (14-2 in the Big East) and finished with AP and Coaches’ Poll rankings of No. 1. Georgetown had a one-point loss to then-ranked #3 St. John’s on January 26 and a two-point loss to Syracuse two days later.

The Hoyas managed to beat St. John’s on February 26, 1985, in an incredible nationally televised matchup of #1 and #2 ranked teams, also known as “The Sweater Game.”

Georgetown won the 1985 Big East Tournament, their fourth, by defeating Connecticut in the quarterfinal, No. 13 Syracuse in the semifinal, and No. 2 St. John’s in the final game.

In the NCAA Tournament, Georgetown advanced to the championship game for the third time in four years. The Hoyas defeated No. 14 Loyola of Chicago and No. 6 Georgia Tech. Georgetown met St. John’s for the fourth time that season, in the Final Four, with the Hoyas beating the Johnnies for the third time that season.

The loss in the championship took an absolutely astonishing level of shooting in the game to beat the mighty Georgetown—and a lot of clock munching. The shot-clock not-coincidentally came into the NCAA game the very next year.

Personally, I believe the Villanova loss does not count and should be vacated for various reasons, which would at least eliminate GU’s third 1985 loss from the ranking conversation.

Moreover, this blog contributor feels that the Georgetown team that did win the National Championship in 1984 should have been ranked top-10 as well, if not higher. Those Hoyas put together a most impressive defensive performance ever in the Kentucky game. Perhaps we’ll do a game watch (and live blog?) with one of the 1984 or 1985 games over the summer...