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The Perfect Game: How Villanova’s Shocking 1985 Upset of Mighty Georgetown Changed the Landscape of College Hoops Forever
Critically acclaimed veteran sportswriter Frank Fitzpatrick takes readers courtside for one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history, the 1985 Villanova/Georgetown national championship showdown.
A veteran Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Frank Fitzpatrick has long followed and covered Villanova basketball. In all that time, nothing compares with the Wildcats' legendary 1985 upset of Georgetown—a win so spectacular and unusually flawless that days after its conclusion, sports columnists were already calling it "The Perfect Game."
The game, particularly its second half, was so different from what observers expected—so different, in fact, from what anyone had ever seen that a shroud of myth almost immediately began to envelop it. Over the years, the game took on mythological proportions with heroes and villains, but with a darker, more complex subtext. In the midst of the sunny Reagan Administration, the game had been played out amid darker themes—race, death, and, though no one knew it at the time, drugs.
It was a night when the basketball world turned upside down. Villanova-Georgetown would be a perfect little microcosm of the 1980s. And it would be much more. Even now, a quarter-century later, the upset gives hope to sporting Davids everywhere. At the start of every NCAA Tournament, it is recalled as an exemplar of March's madness. Whenever sport's all-time upsets are ranked, it is high on those lists, along with hockey's Miracle on Ice.
Now, through interviews with the players and coaches, through the work of sociologists and cultural critics, through the eyes of those who witnessed the game, Fitzpatrick brings to life the events of and surrounding that fateful night.
A veteran Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Frank Fitzpatrick has long followed and covered Villanova basketball. In all that time, nothing compares with the Wildcats' legendary 1985 upset of Georgetown—a win so spectacular and unusually flawless that days after its conclusion, sports columnists were already calling it "The Perfect Game."
The game, particularly its second half, was so different from what observers expected—so different, in fact, from what anyone had ever seen that a shroud of myth almost immediately began to envelop it. Over the years, the game took on mythological proportions with heroes and villains, but with a darker, more complex subtext. In the midst of the sunny Reagan Administration, the game had been played out amid darker themes—race, death, and, though no one knew it at the time, drugs.
It was a night when the basketball world turned upside down. Villanova-Georgetown would be a perfect little microcosm of the 1980s. And it would be much more. Even now, a quarter-century later, the upset gives hope to sporting Davids everywhere. At the start of every NCAA Tournament, it is recalled as an exemplar of March's madness. Whenever sport's all-time upsets are ranked, it is high on those lists, along with hockey's Miracle on Ice.
Now, through interviews with the players and coaches, through the work of sociologists and cultural critics, through the eyes of those who witnessed the game, Fitzpatrick brings to life the events of and surrounding that fateful night.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 8, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 14, 2013
While the book was a nice trip down memory lane, the upset really did not change the landscape of college hoops forever as the title suggests. Changes that were on the way (shot clock, 3-point line) made this game more of a relic of a previous period than the start of something new. Also wish that the author had spent a little more time on the Villanova vs. Georgetown 1985 title game itself.
March 28, 2014
This is one of those books that is really poorly written, but I still liked it anyway to an extent.
The book is about one of the greatest upsets in sports history, the night Villanova upset Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA basketball title game. Georgetown was all the rage with big name players such as Patrick Ewing and Reggie Williams to go along with its popular head coach John Thompson. Villanova had head coach Rollie Massimino and players such as Ed Pickney and Gary McClain. Thought all the stories on the individual players, although there wasn't that many, were great. I thought Fitzpatrick's description of the hoopla surrounding the game was great, but went on waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. I read this during timeouts of March Madness games so this book gets a bump up because of simple timing when I read it.
Now here's what's wrong. I hate to say this because I'm sure the writer is really good and just kind of botched it with this book, but some things just can't be ignored. This book on the cover you would think would be about the ACTUAL game between the Hoyas and the Wildcats. But the actual game isn't talked about until the end of a graph on page 238. The book is 285 pages. So even if it filled the rest of the book's 47 pages (it doesn't) it wouldn't be enough time dedicated to what should be the main portion of this book. The description of the players, the era, the city where the game is played at is all great but at a certain point the reader needs to get to the actual story.
The next thing, and I can't believe an editor didn't pick this up, was the use of two players on the Villanova team, Gary McClain and Dwayne McClain. There are two McClain's on the team. So simple journalism says you should have their first name as well as their last name used every time as to not confuse the reader. ESPECIALLY when one is a admitted coke-head during that time and the other isn't. Very, very, very confusing to the reader and I'm really surprised because earlier in the book the author describes how a coach didn't want Kentucky playing Villanova on a make-believe tape recording because both teams are named the Wildcats so this would be too confusing. Exactly. How do you see that but NOT see the McClain problem???
Well, I guess that's my beef with this book. I still enjoyed it but I thought it could have been a lot better. College basketballl fans will still enjoy but only if they don't care about the actual game as much but care more about the era.
The book is about one of the greatest upsets in sports history, the night Villanova upset Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA basketball title game. Georgetown was all the rage with big name players such as Patrick Ewing and Reggie Williams to go along with its popular head coach John Thompson. Villanova had head coach Rollie Massimino and players such as Ed Pickney and Gary McClain. Thought all the stories on the individual players, although there wasn't that many, were great. I thought Fitzpatrick's description of the hoopla surrounding the game was great, but went on waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. I read this during timeouts of March Madness games so this book gets a bump up because of simple timing when I read it.
Now here's what's wrong. I hate to say this because I'm sure the writer is really good and just kind of botched it with this book, but some things just can't be ignored. This book on the cover you would think would be about the ACTUAL game between the Hoyas and the Wildcats. But the actual game isn't talked about until the end of a graph on page 238. The book is 285 pages. So even if it filled the rest of the book's 47 pages (it doesn't) it wouldn't be enough time dedicated to what should be the main portion of this book. The description of the players, the era, the city where the game is played at is all great but at a certain point the reader needs to get to the actual story.
The next thing, and I can't believe an editor didn't pick this up, was the use of two players on the Villanova team, Gary McClain and Dwayne McClain. There are two McClain's on the team. So simple journalism says you should have their first name as well as their last name used every time as to not confuse the reader. ESPECIALLY when one is a admitted coke-head during that time and the other isn't. Very, very, very confusing to the reader and I'm really surprised because earlier in the book the author describes how a coach didn't want Kentucky playing Villanova on a make-believe tape recording because both teams are named the Wildcats so this would be too confusing. Exactly. How do you see that but NOT see the McClain problem???
Well, I guess that's my beef with this book. I still enjoyed it but I thought it could have been a lot better. College basketballl fans will still enjoy but only if they don't care about the actual game as much but care more about the era.
May 26, 2017
It is considered one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history during a year when the sport was undergoing significant changes. 1985 was the year that the NCAA basketball tournament was expanded to 64 games and had the regional brackets that are familiar to even non-basketball fans. Several conferences experimented with a shot clock, which was to become a permanent rule the next year – it was not used during this tourney, which was important to this game.
Which game is this? It was the thrilling 66-64 win by the Villanova Wildcats over the Georgetown Hoyas in the finals of the 1985 NCAA basketball tournament. This book by veteran Philadelphia writer Frank Fitzpatrick claims to show the reader how this one game changed the sport. But that is misleading for several reasons and as a result I was disappointed with this book.
The first disappointment for me is that there was very little mention of the game itself, save for some short references, until page 231 when Chapter 13 was about the game day experience for the players and the historical contest. That is a long time to wait for the main subject of the book. The information before that chapter is also not all about the season and tournament games that led up to their mighty clash. While there is some good basketball writing, especially in the previous chapter when the previous tourney games for the Wildcats and Hoyas are discussed, there is much more about the racial overtones of the Hoyas.
While one cannot ignore the role that race played in the sport at that time, especially centered around Georgetown, I felt that there was far too much of the book that dealt with that subject and that the author tried to force the topic to be the reason for something when there could be other factors. The author felt that race played a role in how many Americans would root for a team in this game, and that many felt Villanova was the “good” team and Georgetown was the “bad” team due to race. While that may have had some role, it is indisputable that many sports fans love to cheer for an underdog. Because Georgetown was such a prohibitive favorite, it is very possible that many simply wanted to cheer for the underdog – a possibility not discussed in the book.
The other aspect that I felt was misleading was that this game alone “changed the landscape of college hoops forever.” While the game was to undergo major changes that I mentioned earlier, they were going to happen regardless of the outcome of this game. It could be historic because it was the last game without the shot clock and Villanova took advantage of this, but that was already approved to add a shot clock in all NCAA games for the following season. Teams didn’t change to mimic the Wildcats to copy their success. While the championship game was held in a regular sized college arena (Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky), it wasn’t the last one to be held in a non-dome setting as that would not take effect until 1997, as mentioned in the book.
Those are just a few examples of how this book was a letdown for me after the title grabbed my attention. The stories on the two schools are not even complete – for Villanova, Ed Pickney’s book on the team gives a more complete picture, while there are several books on this era of Georgetown basketball and the two main men for the Hoyas that year, Patrick Ewing and coach John Thompson. If a reader wants to read on these two schools or this game, those are better options.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
Which game is this? It was the thrilling 66-64 win by the Villanova Wildcats over the Georgetown Hoyas in the finals of the 1985 NCAA basketball tournament. This book by veteran Philadelphia writer Frank Fitzpatrick claims to show the reader how this one game changed the sport. But that is misleading for several reasons and as a result I was disappointed with this book.
The first disappointment for me is that there was very little mention of the game itself, save for some short references, until page 231 when Chapter 13 was about the game day experience for the players and the historical contest. That is a long time to wait for the main subject of the book. The information before that chapter is also not all about the season and tournament games that led up to their mighty clash. While there is some good basketball writing, especially in the previous chapter when the previous tourney games for the Wildcats and Hoyas are discussed, there is much more about the racial overtones of the Hoyas.
While one cannot ignore the role that race played in the sport at that time, especially centered around Georgetown, I felt that there was far too much of the book that dealt with that subject and that the author tried to force the topic to be the reason for something when there could be other factors. The author felt that race played a role in how many Americans would root for a team in this game, and that many felt Villanova was the “good” team and Georgetown was the “bad” team due to race. While that may have had some role, it is indisputable that many sports fans love to cheer for an underdog. Because Georgetown was such a prohibitive favorite, it is very possible that many simply wanted to cheer for the underdog – a possibility not discussed in the book.
The other aspect that I felt was misleading was that this game alone “changed the landscape of college hoops forever.” While the game was to undergo major changes that I mentioned earlier, they were going to happen regardless of the outcome of this game. It could be historic because it was the last game without the shot clock and Villanova took advantage of this, but that was already approved to add a shot clock in all NCAA games for the following season. Teams didn’t change to mimic the Wildcats to copy their success. While the championship game was held in a regular sized college arena (Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky), it wasn’t the last one to be held in a non-dome setting as that would not take effect until 1997, as mentioned in the book.
Those are just a few examples of how this book was a letdown for me after the title grabbed my attention. The stories on the two schools are not even complete – for Villanova, Ed Pickney’s book on the team gives a more complete picture, while there are several books on this era of Georgetown basketball and the two main men for the Hoyas that year, Patrick Ewing and coach John Thompson. If a reader wants to read on these two schools or this game, those are better options.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
July 5, 2025
Too many minor to moderate grammatical and factual errors to give more stars than 3 stars (please proofread!), and the description of the game itself felt a bit rushed and almost cursory, but overall a breezy yet informative read on Villanova’s 1985 championship victory over Georgetown and the roads taken by each to arrive there.
February 28, 2019
Excellent reporting of the climate and backdrop of this 1985 upset. Race was a huge issue here and Fitzpatrick doesn’t shy away from it. Well done from both sides!!
July 18, 2023
Great behind the scenes stories about some larger than life characters.
May 23, 2013
Interesting, in-depth look at one of the best championship games in NCAA history. The Big East was the premier conference at that time and this was before UConn's rise to power. Interesting to note that this was the pinnacle for both Rollie and John as neither seemed to adjust to the changes in college basketball. Makes me want to sit down with both for a long discussion.
January 31, 2013
Enjoyable synopsis on a game I will never forget. Interesting takes on Rollie (Lost some respect) & J. Thompson (gained some). The Big East was truly a beast in the mid-eighties, I forgotten how great that St Johns team was that year as league champs.
March 3, 2015
I may be tempting fate by reading this book so close to the 2015 selection Sunday, but I found this book to be a great retelling of the 1985 NCAA championship and how utterly ridiculous it was that Villanova won it all.
April 12, 2016
I thought the last quarter of the book was good because that was the only part about the game itself. The first 3/4 of the book was a bunch of random facts about the history of basketball and the colleges that had nothing to do with the game.
June 23, 2013
A good biography about one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
October 21, 2013
This is a great book from begging to end. But the title kind of gives it away but, it's still a amazing story of a team who were underdogs
November 23, 2013
It is a great overview of the Villanova/Georgetown national championship game.
June 14, 2015
Good story about the Villanova/Georgetown NCAA tournament, the racial times, and how lucky the cats got!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews