25 things to ponder on 25th anniversary of Villanova's NCAA title

IT HAS BEEN 25 YEARS, but it seems like only 25 days.

Well, that could be a result of spending a lot of time over the last week watching some of Villanova's tournament games leading up to its improbable 1985 NCAA championship.

With great thanks to the Daily News' electronic library, a couple of early Father's Day gifts (via ncaaondemand.com), and notes I scribbled 25 years ago on newspapers that are now yellower than the Ivan Brothers' teeth, we bring you 25 things you might not have known - or have forgotten - about the Wildcats' magical run:

1 Head coach Rollie Massimino didn't even start the year on the bench. He sat in the stands for the exhibition game against Brazil, after spending a couple of days in the hospital and 3 more at home in bed suffering from diverticulitis.

2 Massimino's illness followed the April 1984 news that longtime athletic trainer Jake Nevin had Lou Gehrig's disease. Nevin, who was wheelchair-bound by July, nevertheless remained with the team throughout the 1984-85 season, providing an equal number of lighthearted quips and pearls of inspirational wisdom, as he had done for more than a half-century.

3 Their season-opening, 80-56 victory at Vermont, Massimino's alma mater (Class of 1956), was the 1,000th win in school history.

4 Massimino's teams always had a familial sense about them. This one had the actual bloodlines, to boot.

Rollie's son, junior R.C. Massimino, and sophomore Steve Pinone, younger brother of former Villanova All-America John Pinone, were subs on the title team. Steve Pinone and R.C.'s brother, Tom, joined the Villanova coaching staff in 1988.

5 You think the Big East has been tough the last two seasons? Get this: In the Associated Press poll of Jan. 1, 1985, the league had the No. 1 (Georgetown), No. 4 (St. John's) and No. 5 (Syracuse) teams, none of which would become the eventual national champion. The league owned the top slot all season, as St. John's held it for the only 5 weeks (Jan. 29-Feb. 26) that Georgetown didn't.

6 The 1985 tournament was: the first to include 64 teams; the fourth to be shown on CBS; the last to be played without a shot clock, the next-to-last without the three-point shot . . . and the 23rd-to-last to include Billy Packer.

7 The Wildcats entered the NCAA Tournament with a 19-10 record, but five of their losses had come against eventual Final Four teams (three to St. John's, a pair to Georgetown). The other five defeats were at the hands of teams that received at-large berths to the tournament (Georgia, Maryland, Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh).

8 Villanova was shooting at a 51.4 percent clip through the Big East Tournament and was 6-7 in games when it shot less than 50 percent. The Wildcats missed that mark in each of the first five games of the NCAA Tournament, but all were victories nonetheless.

9 After going 0-for-5 from the floor in the regional semifinal victory over Maryland, sophomore Harold Jensen was shooting 37.5 percent for his career (69-for-184). From that point through his senior season, he shot 49.0 percent (381-777), including 13-for-18 in the final three games of the 1985 NCAA Tournament.

10 As Villanova ran out the clock in the final minute of the Southeast Regional final win over North Carolina, Ed Pinckney told point guard Gary McLain: "Don't be haphazard with the ball."

Mission accomplished.

In 228 minutes of playing time in the six tournament games, McLain committed 13 turnovers, including only two in the title game against the vaunted Georgetown press.

11 Two more stats to chew on: Villanova made fewer field goals than its opponents in four of their six NCAA victories . . . Dwight Wilbur started all six tournament games and played 83 minutes. Harold Jensen didn't start any and played 162 minutes.

12 April 1 dawned in Lexington, Ky., with this inspirational prose provided by D.G. FitzMaurice on Page 1 of the Herald:

" . . . in the spirit of humanitarianism . . . I must demand that tonight's championship game be canceled. Just hold the coronation as planned, send the Villanova kids out for a hot meal, and God bless."

13 Although the day would end with the biggest win in the school's history, the day started with a loss.

Longtime head coach Al Severance (413-201 in 25 years of coaching from 1936-61) died of a heart attack in Lexington that morning at age 79.

He had been a 4-year member of the basketball team and the Class of 1929 valedictorian, and was a professor of business law in Villanova's School of Commerce and Finance when he died.

14 The 'Cats' first big break for the title game might have come 2 days earlier when Georgetown defeated St. John's in the national semifinals. Villanova seemed to have more matchup problems with the Redmen - Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, Bill Wennington, et al. - than the Hoyas.

15 The Wildcats got out to 11-2 leads in both regular-season games against Georgetown and lost. They trailed midway through the first half in the title game, 20-14, and won. They led at the half in all three games, as well as in two of the three losses to St. John's.

16 Villanova committed 17 turnovers in the title game (including four in the first 4 minutes), which is one reason Georgetown nearly doubled the Wildcats in field-goal attempts (53 to 28).

17 For only the 10th time in his illustrious, 143-game college career, Georgetown center Patrick Ewing did not attempt a free throw. He picked up three fouls in 51 seconds early in the second half and managed only six points after intermission.

18 Villanova made 10 of its last 11 field-goal attempts (9-for-10 in the second half). The Wildcats also made nine of their first 10 attempts. In between those stretches, they were a very pedestrian 3-for-7.

19 The Wildcats' 78.6 percent shooting from the field broke the NCAA title-game record (67.4 percent by Ohio State in 1960) and the tournament record (75 percent by Northeastern in 1984, a first-round game it somehow lost to VCU).

The championship-game mark still stands, but the tourney record has been surpassed twice (80 percent by Oklahoma State in 1992 and 79 percent by North Carolina in 1988).

20 Georgetown started out 10-for-13 from the floor and Reggie Williams made five of his first six shots, but he aggravated an ankle injury he had suffered in the regional semifinal and had to sit at times down the stretch.

21 Trailing by 55-54 and inbounding out of a timeout at the 3:30 mark, Villanova would make 22 passes (all five players got a touch), culminating in a wide-open 16-footer by Jensen that put the Wildcats ahead to stay. It was the last of 12 lead changes in the game, 10 in the second half.

22 Dwayne McClain, who shot fouls at a 73.2 percent rate during the season, made his first 20 free throws of the tournament before missing the front end of a one-and-one with a five-point lead and 59 seconds to go in the title game. He made all four of his free throw attempts after that.

23 The 66-64 final raised Villanova's record when keeping opponents under 70 points to 20-3 that year and 84-13 over a five-season span.

24 Ed Pinckney, despite fighting a stomach virus all weekend, was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player. He had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists in the title game, but that wasn't even his best game against Georgetown.

As a sophomore, he made two free throws with 8 seconds remaining to cap off a 27-point, 22-rebound performance and lift Villanova to a 68-67 victory over the Hoyas at the Palestra. It was the Wildcats' first win over Georgetown since joining the Big East for the 1980-81 season.

25 There was a parade and a belly dancer and a trip to meet President Reagan at the White House. The next season opened on Nov. 22 with the Field House being renamed for the 75-year-old Nevin, who had come to work at the school in 1929 - 3 years before the Field House had even been built.

At the end of November, Nevin visited his 50th state, accompanying the team on its trip to Anchorage for the Great Alaska Shootout.

Shortly thereafter, on Dec. 9, the trainer, the confidant, the friend who had inspired so many Villanova teams and athletes through the years - none more so than the 1985 NCAA champions - passed away and entered the great locker room in the sky with a cigar in his mouth, a smile on his face . . . and a basketball net draped around his neck. *