Perfect Upset: : The 1985 Villanova vs. Georgetown NCAA Championship

HBO Sports' documentary on Villanova's shocking NCAA Championship run is an entertaining look back to the days before the shot clock, the three-point line, and the really baggy shorts. But it's more than a little repetitive; there are only so many ways you can say, "Everyone thought Georgetown would win, but Villanova won."

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, college basketball's defending champions led by Patrick Ewing, were an all-time great team and massive favorite 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.