NCAA Basketball: 25 best team rivalries heading into 2019-20 season
By Joey Loose
7. Georgetown Hoyas vs. Villanova Wildcats
They’ve been Big East rivals for a long time and they’re the two programs left in the conference (currently) with the most impressive history. There’s one game in particular that stands out in the rivalry between Georgetown and Villanova, but as a whole, the matchups between these programs have always brought excitement to college basketball.
Going back 70 years, Georgetown holds a 40-36 advantage in the series, though they’ve been on the wrong end of many of the recent games. The Hoyas have struggled to rebuild the program, while Villanova has dominated the Big East, winning a pair of NCAA Tournament titles.
This past season, Georgetown knocked off the Wildcats, winning at home by 12 and breaking a nine-game losing streak to them in the process.
The game that stands out between these Big East foes is the 1985 National Championship game. The defending champion Hoyas took on the No. 8-seeded Wildcats, who barely made the NCAA Tournament after losing 10 games in the regular season.
Villanova shot the cover off the ball and finished one of college basketball’s most surprising national championship runs, knocking off Patrick Ewing’s quest for back-to-back titles.
The last eight games in this rivalry have been double-digit affairs, but with Ewing now as head coach, he is starting to build something at Georgetown once again. With the history of the Big East, these are two programs with several rivals, but something great could be building with these programs again.
Georgetown’s win last season may have been what this rivalry needed to jumpstart again. Let’s see if the Hoyas can take another step forward while Villanova reloads for another potential title run.