Perfect Upset: The 1985 Villanova vs. Georgetown NCAA Championship

Anyone who has ever played basketball on a playground has had an experience like this:

• Opposing player hits a very difficult shot
• Defending player says something along the lines of "you can have that shot all day"
• Opposing player continues to hit the shot
• Defending player realizes there's little he can do... sometimes, when the other guy is "feeling it," there is no defense

That, in a nutshell, is what happened to the heavily-favored Georgetown Hoyas in the 1985 Final Four. The Hoyas were college basketball's defending champions, and led by Patrick Ewing, a real all-time great. They were massive favorites going into the final game against Rollie Massimino and his eighth-seeded Villanova Wildcats. But the underdogs played the basketball equivalent of a perfect game, shooting 79% from the floor and missing just one shot in the second half. There's simply no defense for that.

HBO Sports' documentary includes interviews with all the key players: Massimino, Ewing, Georgetown coach John Thompson, Villanova players Gary McLain, Ed Pinckney, Harold Jensen, Chuck Everson and others, and broadcasters Billy Packer and Bill Raftery. It does a good job of recapturing the feel of 'Nova's run, with a wealth of clips from the game and sportscasts from the era.

But in the end, it feels more like a highlight reel than a documentary. Villanova over Georgetown is one of the greatest upsets in college hoops history; but we knew that going in. I'd have liked to see more on the game strategies employed by Massimino and Thompson, and a bit less of the "everyone thought Georgetown was going to win" angle.

• Broadcast Schedule: Running on HBO and HBO on Demand in December and January.
• Running Time: 58 Minutes
• Rating: TVPG for occasionally-salty language
• Nostalgia Factor: Off the charts. Don't miss the short-shorts, the CBS in-game graphics, and some truly awful suits (including a regrettable brown number worn by Ronald Reagan in the "the champs visit the White House" clip.