NCAA Basketball: Top 10 historical rivalries up through 2018-19
By Zac Voynow
10. Georgetown vs. Syracuse
I’ve already mentioned Syracuse-Pittsburgh, but Georgetown and Syracuse was virtually the face of the old Big East. The rivalry has fallen off in recent years since Syracuse moved to the ACC and Georgetown has lost its national relevancy, but there’s such a fruitful history between these two teams that I felt like I had to include them in the top ten.
Even thought the rivalry has fallen off, they still tend to play annually and they still have good games. This year on January 8th Syracuse beat Georgetown 72-71 at home in the Carrier Dome. In the all-time series, Syracuse leads Georgetown narrowly 51-43. Both teams played a high level for decades, and produced some great players that went on to the NBA. Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Allen Iverson, Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, and Otto Porter Jr. highlight Georgetown’s great players who were successful at the next level, and all who played crucial parts in the rivalry with Syracuse.
Meanwhile, Michael Carter-Williams, Dion Waiters, Billy Owens, Danny Shayes, Sherman Douglas, Derrick Coleman, and Carmelo Anthony all also played large parts in this rivalry and had medium to high levels of success in the NBA.
Although this rivalry is only still going because tradition, it’s storied history is strong enough to crack the top 10 on this list. Here’s to hoping Georgetown and Syracuse get back to their norm of national title contention on a year to year basis.