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This day in Sports History.
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beard balm, lotions, and cologne.
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It's April 1st and on this day in 1985, it was no joke.
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It was one of the most amazing NCAA tournament upsets and it came in the title game.
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So a few things to know before I dive in.
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First this was the first year the tournament had expanded to 64 teams and secondly it was
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the last year there was not a shot clock.
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Both of those things figured into Villanova's run through this tournament.
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Now Villanova made the tournament by the narrowest of margins.
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They finished the regular season 19 and 10, 9 and 7 in the Big East with only one win over
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They lost in the semifinals of the Big East tournament so it is a pretty good bet that
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the Wildcats would not have made the tournament if the NCAA had not expanded from 53 to 64
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The absence of a shot clock figured through their run in this tournament.
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On their way to the championship game, the Wildcats used the stall game to beat Dayton
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by a pair in the first round, shortened the game against top seeded Michigan to win by
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4, held lend bias to just 8 points and Maryland overall to just 43 and their 3 point when
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to make the Elite 8.
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Roli Massimino then outmaneuvered the inventor of the 4 corners with his own version as
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the Wildcats beat North Carolina 58 to 44 to get to the final 4.
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Top seeds and Big East companions St. John's and Georgetown also made the final 4, marking
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the first time that 3 teams from the same conference had made the final 4 in the same year.
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The Wildcats then faced Memphis State in the semifinals and they held Memphis State
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to their lowest offensive output of the season in a 52 to 45 win to move on to the championship
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game, setting up the meeting with Georgetown.
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A team they had not beaten in their 2 meetings during the regular season and no one was giving
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them a chance in the national title game.
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As an 8 seed, Vegas had Villanova's odds of winning the tournament before the start
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of it at 35 to 1, and just for reference in C-State 2 years prior was a 6 seed and 25 to
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The Hoyas were the defending national champs as well, they had Patrick Ewing who would
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soon be the top pick in the NBA draft.
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The only way that Villanova could win is if they played a near perfect game.
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And of course, that's what they did.
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A lot of that credit goes to Villanova Guard Gary McClain who played the full 40 minutes,
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handled the Georgetown pressure and only committed two turnovers.
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They only took 28 shots and they made 23 of them.
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That is 79% shooting and of course, shooting that well negates the need for offensive rebounds
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against a dominating inside presence like Ewing.
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By contrast, the Hoyas took 53 shots and made 55% of them.
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Not bad, just not good enough on this night.
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With a little more than two and a half minutes to play, Harold Jensen gave Villanova the lead.
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From that point on, the Wildcats stalled, got fouled, hit most of their free throws,
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Final score, Villanova 66, Georgetown 64, and the Wildcats won their first men's basketball
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national championship.
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So a couple of additional things.
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Villanova as an eight seed is still the lowest seed to ever win it all.
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Also, there was a lot of talk several years later about Gary McClain being high on cocaine
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during this game, but he admitted later that he did cocaine prior to the Memphis game
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in the semifinals, not before the championship game.
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And then he took a few snorts before meeting President Reagan during the team's visit
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Also on this day in 1978, New York Islander's Winger Mike Bossy scored a pair of goals in
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a 32-winter for Washington, becoming the first rookie to score 50 goals in an NHL season,
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and he was also the first Islander to score 50.
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In 2007, Morgan Pressle became the youngest women's golfer to win an LPGA event, and the
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youngest major tournament winner, Women or Men, when she won the Kraft Nabisco Championship
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at the age of 18 years, 313 days.
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And we had a couple of tragic deaths on this day.
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First in 1996, Major League Baseball umpire John McSherry died after collapsing on the
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McSherry was behind the plate on opening day at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium when
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he started to feel poorly and collapsed before he could get off the field.
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In 1993, NASCAR driver Alan Colwicky died in a private plane crash on his way to Bristol
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Colwicky was the reigning NASCAR champion at the time, and is the last independent to win
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And time now for today's, that's got nothing to do with sports, fun fact.
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Switzerland has accidentally invaded Littgenstein on three different occasions.
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Of course, Switzerland has been a neutral country since the 16th century, but they still
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have a military, and they protect the interests of tiny Littgenstein.
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In 1976, 75 Swiss Army soldiers accidentally crossed into Littgenstein.
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In 1992, several Swiss soldiers wandered into Treesonberg before realizing, hey, that's
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not located on Swiss territory.
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And then in 2007, 170 Swiss soldiers crossed the border in the early morning after getting
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To their credit, Littgenstein officials laughed off the accidental invasions by saying,
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it's not like they stormed the borders with attack helicopters.
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This has been an original, Thrive Suite production.
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This has been an original, Thrive Suite production.
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This has been an original, Thrive Suite production.
