Hoyas, 1984 NCAA Title Sparked the Hoops & Hip-Hop Culture Era

Photos

Georgetown Hoyas, Slammin the Jammas 1984

see larger image

uploaded by Dunkadelic King23

It was 25-years ago (April 2, 1984) today that the Georgetown Hoyas defeated the Houston Cougars 84-75 to win the NCAA Championship. The win by the Hoyas was cultural history that has a 25-year link to today's game and players.

Georgetown entered the 1984 NCAA Tournament with a mission to redeem the 1982 loss to the N. Carolina Tar Heels. They lost the game to some kid named Michael Jordan when he sank a 17ft. jump-shot that was the game-winner with :02 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Hoyas dominated the Big East Conference during the regular-season and was looking to smash any team or player that was in their way. Patrick Ewing was a freshman in 1982, he was now a junior and this was his time to prove he could win the big one.

Georgetown was the first-team of the growing hip-hop culture. Their starter jackets could be seen all over the country worn in urban cities as a fashion and cultural statement. Inner city kids loved the way Georgetown would intimidate other teams. They even had a nickname for their madness called "Hoya Paranoia".  

The "Hoya Paranoia" swagger meshed with the hip-hop rhymes and beats that blasted out of urban boom boxes. Hip-Hop pioneering acts LL Cool J, Run D.M.C., and Kurtis Blow were from New York but, they all had mad love for Georgetown who were Washington D.C. and a Big East rival to St. Johns.

The Hoyas were led by John Thompson a towering 6'10 figure who once backed up Bill Russell on the Boston Celtics. Thompson instituted a style of ball that intimidated and put fear into teams before they even took the court.  

Georgetown arrived at the 1984 knowing that they could meet Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston's "Phi Slama Jama" in the Championship game. Olajuwon like Ewing would be a future Hall-of-Fame center.  The Hoyas beat Kentucky in the National semi-final 53-40 to set up a showdown with "Phi Slama Jama".

Thompson and his Hoyas dominated Houston making him the first African-American coach to win an NCAA Basketball Championship. The urban style of play by Georgetown was now the envy of college basketball that trendsetted both college and pro. It was Georgetown that created in-your-face basketball that mirrored the late 1980's and early 1990's of gangsta rap music.

Michael Graham the menacing forward for Georgetown wore the uniform #50. He was the 50-Cent of college basketball in 1984, 19-years before the superstar rapper would hit the scene in 2003. Graham made his pressence known during the '84 Big Dance with monster dunks and smothering defense.

The UNLV Runnin Rebels of 1989-91 and the Fab Five of Michian 1991-93 were both influenced by Georgetown, and both teams were embraced by the hip-hop culture.

Allen Iverson the #1 Most Influential player to the hoops and hip-hop culture born in 1984 (The "Dunkadelic-Era" In America) played at Georgetown (1994-96) before he became the first overall pick of the 1996 NBA Draft. The last guard to be chosen #1 overall before Iverson was Magic Johnson in 1979. 1979 was the year the Big East was formed. The pioneering rap-song Rapper's Delight was released by the Sugar Hill Gang that same year.  

The Geoergetown Hoyas has a historical place in basketball and hip-hop culture. It's been 25-years and the culture fusion of hoops and hip-hop is led by 2 International stars LeBron James and rap mogul Jay-Z. How far we have come, "Kingdom Come" that is.