HBO documentary

I saw the HBO documentary on The Perfect Upset -- about Villanova's 1985 title game victory against Georgetown -- last night. Pretty good but a bit much societal context rubbish that had nothing to do with the game (gas lines and Iranian hostages stuff from 1980?) instead of more game footage. Also too little Dwayne McClain and Harold Pressley. Interesting to see how young McClain, Pressley and Harold Jensen look as clean-cut professionals in their late 30s/early 40s. Eddie Pinckney has a bit more substance to him now (about 25-40 pounds more!) than the skinny kid who went chest-to-chest with Ewing.

Very interesting stuff about Georgetown and the Darth Vader aspect of that school's basketball program, and good quotes from John Thompson (Jr., as if distinguishing him from the current GTown coach is necessary). Too bad the documentary didn't get commentary from Wingate or Michael Jackson (not that one, the Hoya point guard).

I still remember thinking something was off about that Georgetown team because their defense was actually subpar . . . to a degree. In the previous Hoya Final Four runs (1982, 1984), no opponent scored more than 49 on GTown before the Final and no team had the ability to go toe-to-toe with the Hoyas before the Final Four (SMU's slowdown tactics in '84 don't count). Not so in 1985: Loyola was overmatched but played the Hoyas tough and GTown barely scraped by Georgia Tech (John Salley/Mark Price) in the East Regional Final despite awful shooting by Price. But when the Hoyas blew St. John's to shreds in the Final Four, it seemed all was unfortunately right in Hoyaland. So much for supposition.

In other reactions: man does that Gary McLain have a large head!