College basketball has two premier conferences – the Big East and the SEC. Top to bottom these are the toughest conferences in America every single year. The ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 always have great teams, and the PAC-10 almost always does too. Occasionally, Conference USA or the Atlantic 10 will have one team that is among the nation’s elite. But when you’re talking about conferences as a whole, where every team is a tough opponent every single night, the Big East and SEC have separated themselves over the past thirty years.

With that in mind, I was thrilled to hear of the head-to-head meetings between teams from the two top conferences. As you know, the Hoyas will be traveling to Alabama to face the Crimson Tide. That game is part of a double-header along with West Virginia against Auburn. The following day Providence will play South Carolina and Villanova will take on LSU.

Now then, the Hoyas have played their share of games against the toughest teams of the SEC. Here is my list of the Top Five Georgetown vs. SEC games of all time.

#5 – Georgetown at South Carolina

Georgetown 70 – South Carolina 68
December 6, 2001

In an early season road game, the Hoyas came away with a dramatic last second victory. Senior Kevin Braswell drained a long two pointer with less than three seconds left to put the Hoyas up by two. While coming onto the floor after a timeout before the final play, Braswell was talking with a South Carolina fan courtside and told him that he was going to make a shot to win the game. After the shot went in, Braswell pointed over to the fan, smiled and said, “I told you!”

#4 – Georgetown vs. LSU
1988 NCAA Tournament Opening Round

Georgetown 66 – LSU 63
March 18, 1988

The score was tied in the final moments of regulation, and Georgetown was playing for the final shot. Charles Smith was the Hoyas go-to guy at that time, and the play that was drawn up was a simple one. The Hoyas ran an isolation play and let “Smitty” go one-on-one. Smith took a few dribbles towards the three-point arc, then pulled up from the NBA line and banked in the game-winning shot at the buzzer. Maybe it wasn’t exactly how Smith had envisioned it, but it still sent the Hoyas onto the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

#3 – Georgetown vs. Arkansas
2001 NCAA Tournament Opening Round

Georgetown 63 – Arkansas 61
March 15, 2001

Georgetown was playing for the final shot with the game knotted at 61. Kevin Braswell had the ball as he was usually the man to take the last shot with the game on the line. Braswell was being closely guarded near mid court as the clock was winding down, so he passed it to Nathaniel Burton, thinking he’d have time to get the ball back. Braswell’s defender denied him that chance, which left Burton all alone about 40 feet from the basket with five seconds left. Nate exploded to the hoop with a powerful drive and made a layup just as the buzzer sounded. Historians believe this was the first and only shot Nat Burton ever made with his left hand.

#2 – Georgetown vs. Vanderbilt
2007 NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen

Georgetown 66 – Vanderbilt 65
March 23, 2007

The Hoyas were trailing by one in the final seconds. After his heroics all season long, everybody expected Jeff Green to take the last shot for the Hoyas, and the Vanderbilt players rightly had him triple teamed. The easy play would have been for Green to kick it out to an open teammate, but instead he spun, elevated, and kissed a very soft jump hook shot off the glass to send the Hoyas into the Elite Eight. Some analysts will say that Green traveled, but if he did slide his pivot foot, there was clearly contact from the leg of the defender. Not a travel, just a super player making a super play.

#1 – Georgetown vs. Kentucky
1984 Final Four

Georgetown 53 – Kentucky 40
March 31, 1984

The greatest Georgetown vs. SEC match-up might also be the most important game in Hoya Hoops history. The Hoyas of Patrick Ewing and Michael Graham were unbelievably undersized against the Twin Towers of Kentucky. The powerful Wildcats were causing problems for the Hoyas in the first half; Ewing had three fouls, and Georgetown trailed by seven at the half.

The second half of the game was the greatest defensive performance in the history of the Final Four. Georgetown held Kentucky scoreless for the first eight minutes of the half, and allowed only two points in the first 16 minutes. Meanwhile the Hoyas went on a 23-3 run to pull away. Kentucky shot 3 of 33 (9%) from the field in the second half, and the starters, including three future NBA players went 0 for 21. Even though the Hoyas still had to get past Houston in the final, Coach Thompson has gone on record saying that he felt as though that win was the victory that earned Georgetown the National Championship in 1984.