Jan. 19, 2010
Georgetown-Villanova: A New Era in the Rivalry
Yesterday, I watched from the Wachovia Center as the Hoyas rallied but lost to Villanova by the score of 82-77. Others can break down the game from a basketball standpoint far better than I so will add a little fan perspective about how I view the Villanova-Georgetown rivalry.
One of the subtexts coming into the game is that this year is the 25th anniversary of the Wildcats' 1985 national title, which of course came at the expense of the Hoyas in the championship game. Much of the pregame chatter was about this history and I expect we will see it again when we play Nova at home in a month.
However, Georgetown-Villanova is not defined for me by the title we lost. 1985 is before my time and I just don't derive any angst about events which occurred before I was born. Obviously those who were Hoya fans at the time will disagree with me (and as a Chicago Bears fan I know that many people like to live in the past when it comes to championships won during the 1985 season) but while I respect the history of our program it doesn't fill me with emotion. When we had our own 25th anniversary for our national championship last season I was asked why didn't we didn't include a game against our national title opponent the Houston Cougars. My response was, would it matter? Hakeem Olajuwon and the rest of players from that team aren't walking through that door, playing the Cougars wouldn't have any real difference than any other game against a Conference USA squad.
What defines the Villanova rivalry are the games and teams from what I think is the current "era" of the Wildcat program; namely since local DC guard and current star Scottie Reynolds enrolled at Nova in 2006-2007 (whose freshman year coincides with my freshman year at Georgetown). My colleague Paul Campbell broke down some of the statistical trends from recent GU-VU games on this blog earlier, but I want to add in a few words on the qualitative nature of this recent rivalry. Although with yesterday's loss we still have a 5-2 record against Nova since 2007, all seven of those games have been heart pounding affairs. Whether at Verizon, Wachovia or MSG the house has always been packed when our two teams have played. Emotions have been high both on the court and off the court and off the court (and not without a bit of controversy either). The game can be high scoring like Sunday's matchup was or slug-fests when neither team breaks 60 points, either way the action (and often the finish) is great to watch. Even with the L I enjoyed myself yesterday and expect the same in a month.
Kasper Statz (COL '10)
