Georgetown - 25 years ago tonight

[Old Cage]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o12V46y ... UMassGames

Mike has done an excellent long review of the game on twitter, but the events needs to be remembered here. The game is in my top five UMass games attended all-time, and I could easily be convinced that it is #1.

[Floyd]

In my opinion, Donta Bright and Dana Dingle were such an incredible and underappreciated pair of forwards. Damn were they good. Frickin consistent as hell. And think about that team. Tyrone Weeks CAME OFF THE BENCH! Insane

They should have replayed these UMass games on NESN over the covid shutdown. Perfect opportunity

[bobolink]

Easily top 5, top 3, maybe #1. As Mike's tweets point out, Georgetown was huge and going around out rebounding every opponent. Until Weeks came off the bench and led UMass with 8 rebounds. Great team win, great team, great coach.

[Uminuteman]

It's funny how Donta was a Top 5 HS player in the country but was still underappreciated

[capezona]

Loved this. Thanks. Brought a smile to my face. I was complaining about the officiating - the game was played 25 years ago! What a team. So fun to watch. They couldn't trap Padilla.

[Not Trigger]

I was fortunate enough to have a press pass and to sit courtside for that game. I've seen in person the Celtics win a couple of championships, the Bruins lose a Stanley Cup Finals, the Patriots lose a Super Bowl and the Red Sox play in a few World Series games. I've been to the Olympics and both the golf and tennis US Opens. Unquestionably, the UMass Georgetown game is my all time favorite sporting event. During those years, nothing was bigger than UMass basketball.The games sold out. The players were treated like rock stars when they visited the Amherst elementary school that my daughters attended. My kids painted their faces prior to the games. That year UMass took on everybody. They beat Kentucky in an early season game. Camby absolutely schooled Tim Duncan at the Mullins Center.

Dickie V and the rest of the national media gave UMass little to no chance of beating Georgetown even though we were the one seed. Just prior to the game, I went to the media room to use the bathroom. As I was exiting, the entire Georgetown team shot out of their locker room and headed towards me at full throttle. I literally had chills as this chanting, energetic group of big, intimidating players streamed past me and ran onto the floor. Calmly walking behind them was the larger than life John Thompson with his trademark towel already resting on his shoulder. On one of the first plays of the game AI took it hard to the paint and elevated over Marcus for a hoop. Never before and never since have I seen a player with Iverson's combination of speed and explosiveness. That move intimidated me but fortunately not the Minutemen. Carmelo Travesio, even though a dead eye shooter, played very little his first year and not much more his second because Cal saw him as a defensive liability. In this game he was assigned to Victor Paige, although no AI an excellent offensive weapon in his own right. Carmelo, the former defensive liability, held Paige to a goose egg. Edgar Padilla was in AI's face all night. The silky smooth Donte Bright, the Jack of all trades Dana Dingle and the physical presence of Ty Weeks outplayed the Georgetown forwards. Camby was Camby, blocking shots, hitting baseline jumpers, running the court. By the end of the game it became clear that UMass was pure and simply the better team.

[Floyd]

^^^ I'm not talking about coming out of HS. Marcus deservedly was the focus and got most of the attention, and Carmelo and Edgar touted as one of the best back courts in the country. The Dingle & Bright combination was so damn good, but because they were somewhat quiet personally, I think they didn't get the press the others did. They were perfect fits on that team

[MikeUMA]

This was a funny sidebar that came up in Atlanta...

ATLANTA – The University of Massachusetts basketball team visited paralyzed hockey players Travis Roy of Boston University and John Gilpatrick of Suffolk University at the Shepherd Spinal Center yesterday [3/22]. The Minutemen spent about 15 minutes with each and gave each an autographed basketball.

“Both of them really enjoyed it; they were happy to see us,” said UMass [operations] manager Brian Gorman. “Gilpatrick is a big UMass fan, but Roy said he just wanted to see the guy who fell off the platform.”

Speaking of which - how lucky were we that Travieso didn't get seriously injured from that fall off the stage? We might have been able to beat Arkansas, but AI would have torched us if we didn't have Carmelo defending him.

Georgetown game page: https://umasshoops.com/wiki/doku.php?id ... georgetown
My massive Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/UMassHoops_com/stat ... 3070601229

[Berkman]

My neighbor Hank and I drove to Atlanta and were at the games. They did not give us a chance and we showed them.

[Old Cage]

After the game, there was a guy outside the Georgia Dome trying to sell hundreds of Georgetown Final Four tee shirts. From the look on his face, we assumed that he had those printed with his own funds.

[capezona]

After the game, there was a guy outside the Georgia Dome trying to sell hundreds of Georgetown Final Four tee shirts. From the look on his face, we assumed that he had those printed with his own funds.

Overconfidence can sometimes be costly. Which game was it that the PA announcer was telling people before the end of the game that they were selling bus tickets to the next game? And then they lost and there was no next game.

[Berkman]

That was just like it was, not sure what year, but when we were playing Sienna in Albany and the announcer made a similar announcement that tickets would go on sale after the game. We won the game on Barbee's 3 point shot as time was running out. I was there with a couple of friends for that game also.

[DrG]

The Georgetown game is Number One for me. Number Two was beating Georgia Southern for the D1AA NC in Chattanooga.

[KahunaK]

This rates as one of the most satisfying wins for UMASS basketball. No respect. GTown was going to kill us and it turned into a UMASS romp. So great to watch. Better than the UMASS Arkansas game in Springfield. Another game UMASS had no chance and that too turned into a blowout. Fun to watch again.

[capezona]

That was just like it was, not sure what year, but when we were playing Sienna in Albany and the announcer made a similar announcement that tickets would go on sale after the game. We won the game on Barbee's 3 point shot as time was running out. I was there with a couple of friends for that game also.

We beat Siena 95-87 with Trey Davis hitting 28 points in 2014 in a preseason game but I'm not sure that was the game we're talking about. We beat Drexel in the NIT in 2012 after trailing by 17. Is that the game?