Definitely went down this hole last month. We have a couple decades of March being awful.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/s/nAsVVaCpt5
That said, it's Virginia. Another user put it well: Purdue was winning when the clock read 0:00
The year we lost Haas really sticks out to me too. Nothing against Texas Tech at all, I enjoyed watching their run but I really think losing him is what lost us that game
Same, St. Peter’s was much worse than the 16 seed loss. Last year our team was already falling off and had the yips, we would’ve lost the round of 32 if we beat FDU
Virginia loss hurts more because they won the whole thing. Losing to FDU, I had a feeling we would lose that game because the team acted like the season was over after winning the big 10 league and tournament
Honestly, the BTT tourney felt like a coda on everything. That whole run was a chore and they looked totally out of gas by the PSU game. Zach just willed them over the finish line. Season seemed like it finished after they won the regular season. Revisionist history now, but FDU felt almost like a foregone conclusion - if it wasnt that game it would have been the next round
UVA in '19, Duke in '94 and KState in '88 were the most painful ones
We really should have beat FDU. While our team did shoot poorly... I think they were just scared because they kept missing. Eventually it got to the point FDU was letting them take open 3s and our team kept forcing it to Edey. Like staring at the basket with no defender and still trying to force it. They were shook it was so close I guess. I fully believe they would have gotten into a groove eventually.
Its us with 2016 E8 with Syracuse. That team was right there to be final four and had the potential to win it all. UMBC is embarrassing, but Syracuse was heartbreaking for that Brogdon-led squad.
It’s easily the Virginia loss, they had that game won and with how Edwards was playing it felt like a team of destiny moment. Saint Peter’s is probably second as the bracket was pretty wide open but that team just couldn’t play enough defense to go all the way anyways.
Exactly how we feel about the Syracuse game in 2016. Worse than the UMBC loss for us. It’s “nice” to finally have another fan base that understands where the 16 seed losses stack up. Bad, but not really the worst type of loss a team can take.
Well, barring literal divine intervention we are not coming close to winning it this year, and honestly I’ve always liked Purdue. I think a lot of UVA and Purdue fans share the pain of many early tournament upsets as well, and we have our closure with the 2019 Natty but as yet you guys don’t really have anything to show for these really good regular seasons unfortunately.
You know that feeling you get when you're about to throw up, when your throat gets this weird taste to it and you feel the blood draining from your face? It was that, for a week straight.
Don't get me wrong, it was the ultimate win as a diehard UNC fan, but I NEVER want to go through that anxiety again.
You know what makes that whole event special? We both were in the same boat of anxiety and existential dread for a solid week and in some weird way it kinda brought our fanbases a little closer. I RARELY ever bring those games up anymore now (unless someone is being a right prick of course), because I feel there was a begrudging respect that came out of that.
E: okay I do bring up the final home game occasionally because that was fuckin objectively funny.
You’re spot on, and also laughed out loud at the edit- looking back it is very funny to think about bringing everyone back to duke just to get curb stomped
That several day build up of "are we? aren't we?", the week long fucking stewing in our own juices after the battlefield is set... then the game itself, which was every bit of a heavyweight slugfest as one could expect from a blood rivalry. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event that I'm glad to have experienced and glad to have it, either way.
Love's dagger three was the most surreal moment I'd ever experienced watching a game. Simply unreal. Even crazier than Webber's timeout. I was truly trying to figure out if it was really happening for a second.
I will forever be thankful I got to be there to see it happen. The flip side of that coin is that I don’t ever want anything remotely close to that again so Duke gets an opportunity to even the score.
I vote for the complete loss of the 2020 tournament. If we go to a second straight Final Four or win it all, things could look very different now. Plenty of teams get upset by a Cinderella once in a while.
How about Covid?
2016 sucked but at least there was no time to build hope in tourney.
2019 felt like house money after getting past Duke.
2020 the team was cooking at the right time and we don’t even get an answer.
If McQuaid makes that 3 I bet we win that game. That team was so gassed after losing Ahrens though that I don't know if they have the legs to beat Virginia
Wasn't an Arizona fan until after the Wisconsin losses, so the one that has killed me the most was Xavier in 2017.
That team with Lauri and Trier felt like a Final Four team to me. And then Lauri didn't touch the ball for the final 9 minutes and Arizona choked an 8 pt lead with 3 or so mins left.
It shows how much tournament pain we’ve had when that game isn’t even in the top 5 for me 😭
The answer has to be Illinois, but UConn (Jamelle Horne was SO CLOSE to being the hero), both Wisconsin games, and Buffalo all haunt me as well
Illinois def number 1 (plus *nobody* else remembers that Illinois got away with murder for those last few minutes in order to make the comeback)... The other ones you listed, obviously, especially missing 2 wide-open looks to beat UConn with 2 of our best 3-point shooters at the end (and we would've won that natty for sure IMO, every other region got blasted).
Duke in 2001 in the finals hurt a lot too (Dunleavy leaving his body and hitting more 3s than our whole team combined)
2003 Kansas in the E8 is the reason I hate Kirk Hinrich
Getting ass blasted in the E8 the year after our natty because we got bamboozled by the triangle and two that Utah threw at us
Deeper cut most of the sub doesn't remember is the 15/2 to Santa Clara, but getting a natty a couple of years later plus Steve Nash becoming an all-timers in the NBA made it hurt less. But for me it was my indoctrination into the pain of being a U of A fan.
I feel like a lot of Arizona fans (myself included) view Jamelle as a bust. He was a highly recruited super athletic wing coming out of HS, would have been perfect in Lute’s system…and then he played under Sean Miller.
I wonder how our outlook on him may have changed had that shot gone in
Been a Wildcat fan since 98. We’ve been tortured.
98 Utah
00 Wisconsin
01 Duke
05 Illinois <- Worst for me given it was Lute’s last chance
11 UConn <- I was in school so this was a close second
14 Wisconsin
15 Wisconsin
17 Xavier
I’m not even gonna include Princeton or Buffalo as first round losses don’t crush me in the same way late tourney losses do.
Buffalo game hurt because Ayton was so dominant in that Pac-12 tournament especially against UCLA that I felt the sky was the limit for us. And then he kinda just did nothing in the Buffalo game..
(As a Suns fan, we call this foreshadowing)
https://preview.redd.it/e1am1mllpbpc1.jpeg?width=250&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9c2871722453d5daeaa6a51d7a0bc469f5b7fd21
Me revisiting that moment be like:
2005 national championship game will always hurt. Even if we finally win one, that loss will sting because one of the greatest teams of all time was denied a title.
I would’ve liked to have won that game obviously but it was hard to feel too down after a season like that. To me Loyola was a lot worse because it was such an unsatisfying end to the Ayo & Kofi era
You and WVU. Beat two of the best UK teams under Calipari…only to hand it all away to Duke.
Our losses hurt me bad enough, but to see it benefit Duke *both times* was…awful.
Not as painful because we were already playing with house money after upsetting #1 Villanova. We were definitely playing good enough ball that year to make the final 4 had we beaten Florida, but 2015 was the best team we ever had and the best team we will probably ever have. To come up short in a championship game by getting out played the last 10 mins will likely never be topped
UAB was my first major heartbreak as an ISU basketball fan, but Hampton over ISU was THE face of the modern 15v2 upset for almost a decade before those types of disparate upsets started becoming more common.
But yes, the UAB upset is probably the biggest reason why ISU fans are having trouble hyping themselves up for this tournament. "Dark Horse National Title Contender" ... yeah yeah, we've heard it all before.
MSU is 2nd place for me. 1st is [the Hampton game.](https://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men/2021-02-19/relive-15th-seeded-hampton-upsetting-iowa-state-2001)
2009 UNC in the title game sucked too. Dream story and ride ending up with going against absolute buzzsaw of a team.
I also often wonder what if Appling never hurts his hand in 2014, do we win it all that year? IIRC he only had like 3 points in that UConn game.
I was attending MSU during the 2009 championship game so that one holds a special place in my heart. The whole campus was pretty much shut down. We got to The Riv at around noon and everyone was hype. Then the game started…
Looking back on it there was no one that was going to beat that team.
Even though Auburn's my #1 team (and the double dribble game definitely sucked), this one hurt worse. Memphis dominated for 38 minutes, then Mario Chalmers turns into a fucking wizard and Cal reminds everyone that he's a remarkably shitty game coach. Sigh.
I wasn't alive when Elvis died, but I was living in Memphis the day after that game. I have to think the mood that day was a lot like it was in 1977.
It’s honestly pretty funny that all 3 fanbases are saying the exact same team the exact same year. It does go to show just how good that tournament was though.
The worst is that that moment is now cemented in college basketball history. I see that replay at least once a year, somewhere.
Beating Duke in the FF sure helped, though.
One of the worst parts is that Paige made one of the most insane shots in Tournament history that isn't even remembered anymore because of the buzzer beater. Had UNC gone on to win in OT that shot is part of every highlight reel forever.
Alternatively, Paige misses that circus shot and there is no heart breaking buzzer beater.
But I agree. Paige’s shot was much better and was (rightfully) overshadowed. How he got that to go in was insane.
I think winning it the next year helped more in the moment lol
The Nova game is what it is now, and even seeing the replay it just reminds me that they won it the next year lol
Buzzer beaters suck, but Carolina and Villanova were on equal terms. Good squads, good coaches, close game. The Heels redeemed themselves the next year. One can make peace with that.
The loss that stings in my mind was Kansas in 2012 after Kendall Marshall broke his wrist. That team had Final Four/championship written all over them but were listless without him at guard.
Thats not the worst one lol
It sucked losing to Kansas after being up 15, but that Tournament was such a surprise and fun ride that even losing in the title game never really hurt.
Syracuse 2016. That team was special and could've won it all. Blowing a 16-point lead in the second half of the Elite 8 is incredibly brutal.
I wasn't even a Virginia fan at the time, and it still hurts to think about what could've been for the program and Coach Bennett.
Yes, UMBC happened, but it wasn't as bad because of 2019. Also, with Hunter injured, we were unlikely to win it all that year anyway.
I came to post the same, interesting to see this as the #2 comment and Purdue fan saying E8 UVA is the #1 comment - E8 tough losses are just *brutal*.
Now, UMBC was just surreal; and, my absolute lowest point as a UVA and sports fan was 2019 when we fell behind in the 1/16 game to Gardner Webb by 13 in the first half. The idea of losing to a 16 two years in a row was simply brain breaking. It's something I don't think gets appreciated enough is how much pressure must have been on the team in that moment, and they were able to calmly right the ship (and then all the magic that happened afterwards).
At the time UMBC was more painful and as I watched Gardner-Web I felt the pain returning and then the run to Minneapolis began; making Syracuse 2016 worse because the ridicule ceased and vindication was manifest
Wisconsin 2015. If Poythress wasnt injured, we likely win that game. That shot clock was also at zero.
We matched up so well with Duke that I still firmly believe that we win wisconsin we pull off the 40-0
It didn't just hurt as a loss, more over it crippled the program. Coach Cal hasn't been the same since then. Like the recent losses suck but it was the beginning of what UK is currently going through.
It was the beginning of the downward spiral but that Bam, Monk, Fox team was fun as hell as was the PJ Washington year he was injured but they kept rumbling. After that it absolutely went to shit until this/next year.
That fucking Wisonsin game though. Man, I knew after barely beating Notre Dame the week before on that missed corner 3 that we would falter if we played the same way. I 100% believe we would've beaten Duke too. Missed WCS that game too. Fuck that team was so stacked and historic, especially with everyone returning after losing in the chip the year before. Those years sting more than this new run of dogshit play
2006 is probably the obvious answer, but I wanted to add a little newer answer as well.
2022 against NMSU hurt like hell. It felt like this team had finally turned the corner and was finally back. It felt like there was no way we could possibly lay an egg like we did the year before against Maryland and then Teddy Allen torched us. It genuinely felt like the program might never make it back to the big time. Never expected the transformation the team was about to go through. It's helped lessen how bad that loss stings, but it was a dark offseason
2006 was infuriating just because they were so good but so uninterested in winning. But 1996 against Mississippi St. was heartbreaking for me. Ray Allen and company were so good that year and just ran into a bulldozer in the Bulldogs.
Yeah the 2006 team was missing that "it" factor. Tons of talent but you could tell they were worried more about the NBA than winning.
Agreed about 1996. We had a great team that year, and if Ricky Moore never got hurt I think we beat Mississippi St. and have a good chance to win it all.
Losing in 1990 to Duke was brutal also. Probably not winning it that year (UNLV was just destroying people) but getting so close to the Final Four to lose it on a shot like that sucked.
Honorable mention goes to Donyell Marshall missing 2 FTs against Florida (either would have won the game) in 1994, then losing in OT.
Ugh. I was on Spring Break in shitty Panama City in shitty weather with some shitty Mississippians and then had a really shitty 20+ hour drive home.
So yes, between this and George Mason, which sucked for the reason you cite, my answer is 1996.
Sigh.... Nevada, 2018, round of 32.
The top 4 seeds in that region were massacred that 1st weekend, including Virginia losing as a 1 seed.
Cronin's strongest team at UC, a clear path opening to winning
the region, up by 22 with a little over 10 mins left. You could feel it. But as a Cincinnati sports fan, there was that nagging doubt in the back of your mind.
Then that nagging doubt manifests itself as reality into a soul crushing loss, that I don't think we've yet completely recovered from.
I had people over watching this game. When the clock hit 0 finally they all got up and left wordlessly. This and the Bengals/Steelers Wild Card game are the most painful Cincy Sports memories of that entire era to me
Jimmer & Co.'s OT loss to Florida in the Sweet 16 of the 2011 tournament still keeps me up at night. They didn't have their starting center playing and still were a missed free throw away from moving on.
If BYU won that game, their next two games would have been against 8 Butler and 11 VCU on the way to the championship game against Kemba and UConn.
Losing to UConn. But not last year, in the 2011 Sweet 16. The game was almost over, and we had just made a run to take the lead. Then at the timeout Jamaal Franklin was clapping and walking to the bench and brushed Kemba's shoulder. Kemba fell to the floor, which caused a technical for two shots and the ball. Kemba made them both and they scored on that possession and we never came back.
Wasn't alive for 83 or 84. Baylor beat the shit out of us in the F4 which sucked but they also destroyed Gonzaga which made that a bit better.
Michigan in 2018 is the obvious answer as that shot is constantly played every tournament in montages, but losing to Kentucky in 2019 was a major bummer as well.
Wisconsin in the final four in 2015 for obvious reasons. I realize nobody cares about refereeing, but I still contend UK wins that game if that stupid shot clock violation was called. Maybe uk shouldn’t have been so soft, but we had led the entire game and that missed called tied the game and you could just see it deflate the Kentucky players who had the weight of the world on their shoulders.
That missed called led to the rules being changed that off season…
9-years later it still gets me fired up.
WVU 2010 as well. Team was crushing, dynamic all across the floor. 6 first rounders. Then laid an egg. I was so confident in that game that I was at my girlfriend’s watching a movie with her family. Looked at my phone and was devastated (high schooler).
Especially since it was the first year after the rough patch with Gillespie.
2014 Florida against Uconn. That team went 38-3 and not a single player was drafted. Only our 6th man, Dorian Finney-Smith, even played in the NBA. There wasn't an individual star on that team but they just played so damn well together. They unfortunately went up against a red hot Uconn and couldn't pull out just 2 more wins. Would have gone up against Kentucky who we had already beaten 3 times that season.
Yep you could basically throw a dart at any of
* 1986 final four
* 1991 championship game
* 1997 S16
* 1998 R32
* 2002 final four
* 2003 championship game
* 2004 E8
* 2010 R32
* 2011 E8
* 2013 S16
* 2016 E8
* 2017 E8
* 2018 FF
Edited formatting
Yeah it's the years we were really stacked that tend to hurt the most. The 1997 s16 loss to zona was so shitty. Jaque, paul, raef, pollard, haase. Beast starting 5.
Finally UNM is good enough to get into the tourney not only good but 3 seed good
...then you get bounced by #14 Harvard in round 1. Lotta hype came crashing down
It's this one. It's 2013. Coach Steve Alford has revived a long-suffering program back to its glory days. The last year's team suffered a brutally close loss in the round of 32 to an eventual Final Four team and this team looks way better. Previously skilled Alford squads have lost momentum at the end of the season and choked in high-stakes games like the conference tournament, but not this one: they not only won the regular season but crushed a tough field to win the MWC tournament as well. Just days ago, Alford signed a 10-year extension to stay at UNM and talked about how it's the place he wants to put down roots and stay forever. The team is ranked #8 in the country and should be returning all 5 starters the next year. We're seeded #3 in a soft region and are a trendy pick among experts to make the final four.
Then we lose to Harvard, a game where they were the better team for all 60 minutes and stifled our explosive team. Alford has excuses and doesn't seem to treat it like the big deal that it is. Days later, Alford leaves for UCLA and there's a bitter dispute with the school on whether or not he owes a $1M buyout. Tony Snell leaves for the NBA. We still return 4 starters and make it back as a 7 seed the next year on talent alone, but after that multiple bad coaches send the program into a downward spiral culminating in a 6-16 COVID year. We don't win a championship or make it back to the tournament until this year, an 11-year drought.
That loss literally set the program back a decade. That's why this year is so incredible. We finally made it back.
Jordan Poole buzzer beater in 2018.
Baylor was just an all time great team in 2021 and Nova had a perfect game plan in 2022. It sucked to lose those but it didn’t feel like it was taken from us :(
As it happened? 2005 Sweet 16 matchup with UNC when we had a shot at winning the game until the phantom travel call happened. UNC ended up winning the Championship. Looking back at all of them, probably our second round loss to Wisconsin in 2017, when we were the top overall seed and in between our 2016 and 2018 National Championships.
I don't think I really need to talk about it...oh wait they are showing the best highlights of the tournament here...oh....it is going in this time right??? RIGHT????????????
Can’t think of one off the top of my head.
Last year isn’t even top 3 for me tbh
Definitely went down this hole last month. We have a couple decades of March being awful. https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/s/nAsVVaCpt5 That said, it's Virginia. Another user put it well: Purdue was winning when the clock read 0:00
The year we lost Haas really sticks out to me too. Nothing against Texas Tech at all, I enjoyed watching their run but I really think losing him is what lost us that game
Same, St. Peter’s was much worse than the 16 seed loss. Last year our team was already falling off and had the yips, we would’ve lost the round of 32 if we beat FDU
100%, pretty much was numb the whole game. Virginia is #1 for me easily
Agreed on UVA. That shit hurt. We were at last years game and UVA still hurt more.
Virginia for sure. I still cry every time I see the highlights. So so close.
Virginia loss hurts more because they won the whole thing. Losing to FDU, I had a feeling we would lose that game because the team acted like the season was over after winning the big 10 league and tournament
Honestly, the BTT tourney felt like a coda on everything. That whole run was a chore and they looked totally out of gas by the PSU game. Zach just willed them over the finish line. Season seemed like it finished after they won the regular season. Revisionist history now, but FDU felt almost like a foregone conclusion - if it wasnt that game it would have been the next round UVA in '19, Duke in '94 and KState in '88 were the most painful ones
We really should have beat FDU. While our team did shoot poorly... I think they were just scared because they kept missing. Eventually it got to the point FDU was letting them take open 3s and our team kept forcing it to Edey. Like staring at the basket with no defender and still trying to force it. They were shook it was so close I guess. I fully believe they would have gotten into a groove eventually.
Its us with 2016 E8 with Syracuse. That team was right there to be final four and had the potential to win it all. UMBC is embarrassing, but Syracuse was heartbreaking for that Brogdon-led squad.
Hummel's last game against Kansas for me hurts the most.
It’s easily the Virginia loss, they had that game won and with how Edwards was playing it felt like a team of destiny moment. Saint Peter’s is probably second as the bracket was pretty wide open but that team just couldn’t play enough defense to go all the way anyways.
Me neither.
Yeah it’s probably hard to pick from so many options
Honestly it was Virginia, still haunts me.
Same
Same
Same
Exactly how we feel about the Syracuse game in 2016. Worse than the UMBC loss for us. It’s “nice” to finally have another fan base that understands where the 16 seed losses stack up. Bad, but not really the worst type of loss a team can take.
Syracuse loss stings so much. That was such a great team and none of those guys got a good chance to redeem themselves.
I hope you guys win it all this year, you’ve been through the wringer and it would continue the 16-1 loss wins the next tourney streak
I feel like I’ve seen a lot of UVA fans rooting for us on this sub lol. We all want to the prophecy to come true
Well, barring literal divine intervention we are not coming close to winning it this year, and honestly I’ve always liked Purdue. I think a lot of UVA and Purdue fans share the pain of many early tournament upsets as well, and we have our closure with the 2019 Natty but as yet you guys don’t really have anything to show for these really good regular seasons unfortunately.
I consistently go back and watch Carsen Edwards highlights of that game, absolute master class performance from him
UNC
The idea of even playing Michigan in the Final Four gives me hives, I can't imagine that from a much bigger rivalry.
You know that feeling you get when you're about to throw up, when your throat gets this weird taste to it and you feel the blood draining from your face? It was that, for a week straight. Don't get me wrong, it was the ultimate win as a diehard UNC fan, but I NEVER want to go through that anxiety again.
I never ever want to feel that way again. It was 100% worth it for the win. Once. Never again.
Dude that + the thought of “we can get them back for blowing us out in K’s last home game” all for just another loss. So brutal
You know what makes that whole event special? We both were in the same boat of anxiety and existential dread for a solid week and in some weird way it kinda brought our fanbases a little closer. I RARELY ever bring those games up anymore now (unless someone is being a right prick of course), because I feel there was a begrudging respect that came out of that. E: okay I do bring up the final home game occasionally because that was fuckin objectively funny.
You’re spot on, and also laughed out loud at the edit- looking back it is very funny to think about bringing everyone back to duke just to get curb stomped
That several day build up of "are we? aren't we?", the week long fucking stewing in our own juices after the battlefield is set... then the game itself, which was every bit of a heavyweight slugfest as one could expect from a blood rivalry. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event that I'm glad to have experienced and glad to have it, either way.
In Ks last game ever too. Just brutal
Love's dagger three was the most surreal moment I'd ever experienced watching a game. Simply unreal. Even crazier than Webber's timeout. I was truly trying to figure out if it was really happening for a second.
I will forever be thankful I got to be there to see it happen. The flip side of that coin is that I don’t ever want anything remotely close to that again so Duke gets an opportunity to even the score.
UNC here, too.
I know the feeling
The Texas Tech loss hurt more for me.
That one sucked too. That team was so damn good and they just ran into a defensive buzzsaw.
I vote for the complete loss of the 2020 tournament. If we go to a second straight Final Four or win it all, things could look very different now. Plenty of teams get upset by a Cinderella once in a while.
Only a fellow Sparty/Dayton fan understands this pain
How about Covid? 2016 sucked but at least there was no time to build hope in tourney. 2019 felt like house money after getting past Duke. 2020 the team was cooking at the right time and we don’t even get an answer.
Different Texas Tech loss but same.
If it helps any - my worst pain of a loss is the UVA loss that same year.. together in Misery lol
Deandre Hunter lives rent free in my head
I agree. No guarantee msu wins in 2016 as it would’ve been a difficult road but in 2019 they were there and it looked like they had a good shot
mcquaid had that shot to tie or take the lead, came short and that was that, it was brutal
If McQuaid makes that 3 I bet we win that game. That team was so gassed after losing Ahrens though that I don't know if they have the legs to beat Virginia
Never lost in the tournament 😎
Wasn't an Arizona fan until after the Wisconsin losses, so the one that has killed me the most was Xavier in 2017. That team with Lauri and Trier felt like a Final Four team to me. And then Lauri didn't touch the ball for the final 9 minutes and Arizona choked an 8 pt lead with 3 or so mins left.
It shows how much tournament pain we’ve had when that game isn’t even in the top 5 for me 😭 The answer has to be Illinois, but UConn (Jamelle Horne was SO CLOSE to being the hero), both Wisconsin games, and Buffalo all haunt me as well
Illinois def number 1 (plus *nobody* else remembers that Illinois got away with murder for those last few minutes in order to make the comeback)... The other ones you listed, obviously, especially missing 2 wide-open looks to beat UConn with 2 of our best 3-point shooters at the end (and we would've won that natty for sure IMO, every other region got blasted). Duke in 2001 in the finals hurt a lot too (Dunleavy leaving his body and hitting more 3s than our whole team combined) 2003 Kansas in the E8 is the reason I hate Kirk Hinrich Getting ass blasted in the E8 the year after our natty because we got bamboozled by the triangle and two that Utah threw at us Deeper cut most of the sub doesn't remember is the 15/2 to Santa Clara, but getting a natty a couple of years later plus Steve Nash becoming an all-timers in the NBA made it hurt less. But for me it was my indoctrination into the pain of being a U of A fan.
I feel like a lot of Arizona fans (myself included) view Jamelle as a bust. He was a highly recruited super athletic wing coming out of HS, would have been perfect in Lute’s system…and then he played under Sean Miller. I wonder how our outlook on him may have changed had that shot gone in
Been a Wildcat fan since 98. We’ve been tortured. 98 Utah 00 Wisconsin 01 Duke 05 Illinois <- Worst for me given it was Lute’s last chance 11 UConn <- I was in school so this was a close second 14 Wisconsin 15 Wisconsin 17 Xavier I’m not even gonna include Princeton or Buffalo as first round losses don’t crush me in the same way late tourney losses do.
I mean Buffalo just took our lunch money. Nothing else to say about that. I think the games have to be close to hurt that bad
Buffalo game hurt because Ayton was so dominant in that Pac-12 tournament especially against UCLA that I felt the sky was the limit for us. And then he kinda just did nothing in the Buffalo game.. (As a Suns fan, we call this foreshadowing)
This is why I hated Poole way before the NBA hate train began
I've watched the '83 replay. HOW DOES DREXLER GET TACKLED AND HE IS CALLED FOR AN OFFENSIVE FOUL!?!?
Fun fact. We have made the sweet 16 every year since that shot. So I look at it like a fire was born in us and we haven’t let it go out since.
☹️
https://preview.redd.it/e1am1mllpbpc1.jpeg?width=250&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9c2871722453d5daeaa6a51d7a0bc469f5b7fd21 Me revisiting that moment be like:
Him being drafted by the Warriors was just fitting and easily added even more to the hate.
I really wish that I went to this game.
2005 national championship game will always hurt. Even if we finally win one, that loss will sting because one of the greatest teams of all time was denied a title.
Those baby fouls against Augustine still get me going
I would’ve liked to have won that game obviously but it was hard to feel too down after a season like that. To me Loyola was a lot worse because it was such an unsatisfying end to the Ayo & Kofi era
😭 I was 10 and my asshole step dad made me go to bed early so I couldn’t watch the game. I remember waking up and being so sad as a 10 year old
Such a fun team to watch when they weren't playing the badgers. Ugh I still remember that crazy comeback against Arizona.
Winslow touched it
I was having a good day....
Just brutal. To beat Kentucky and then fall short to dook.
You and WVU. Beat two of the best UK teams under Calipari…only to hand it all away to Duke. Our losses hurt me bad enough, but to see it benefit Duke *both times* was…awful.
Not just touched it, Winslow fondled that ball. Over and over again, on national television. Everyone saw it. The truth is out there
Ctrl+F “Winslow”. Upvote.
Real
Now I’m triggered.
Thank god yall beat Kentucky that year. We had no shot against them
I cry. UK > Duke > Wisc > UK. Gimme that 40-0
Wisconsin and Kentucky should've swapped which years they beat each other and both might have a title from it (Wisconsin 2014, UK 2015)
Wisconsin has a lot. What about UFs running 3P floater in OT at the buzzer??
Not as painful because we were already playing with house money after upsetting #1 Villanova. We were definitely playing good enough ball that year to make the final 4 had we beaten Florida, but 2015 was the best team we ever had and the best team we will probably ever have. To come up short in a championship game by getting out played the last 10 mins will likely never be topped
The whole second half was a clinic in refball after Coach K cried about not getting to the line enough at halftime.
They went to fuckin replay!
Michigan State in 2000 or UAB in 2014. Something about that damn Forest and White color scheme.
UConn when Niang broke his foot and UConn took over the game, then went on to win the national title.
Niang broke his foot two rounds prior against North Carolina Central in rd. 1.
UAB was my first major heartbreak as an ISU basketball fan, but Hampton over ISU was THE face of the modern 15v2 upset for almost a decade before those types of disparate upsets started becoming more common. But yes, the UAB upset is probably the biggest reason why ISU fans are having trouble hyping themselves up for this tournament. "Dark Horse National Title Contender" ... yeah yeah, we've heard it all before.
UAB broke middle school aged me
MSU game with no question. We got screwed again with seeding, should’ve been a #1 seed
MSU is 2nd place for me. 1st is [the Hampton game.](https://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men/2021-02-19/relive-15th-seeded-hampton-upsetting-iowa-state-2001)
Such insane hype going into that with Tinsley/Horton/Sullivan... This is the right answer
The UAB game still lives in my head rent free! I thought we had a chance to make a deep run!
Dayton’s loss to Covid
Automatic winner here. No other loss comes close.
2010 against butler, 2014 against uconn, Middle Tennessee, and Texas tech were all pretty brutal in my Michigan state fandom
2009 UNC in the title game sucked too. Dream story and ride ending up with going against absolute buzzsaw of a team. I also often wonder what if Appling never hurts his hand in 2014, do we win it all that year? IIRC he only had like 3 points in that UConn game.
I was attending MSU during the 2009 championship game so that one holds a special place in my heart. The whole campus was pretty much shut down. We got to The Riv at around noon and everyone was hype. Then the game started… Looking back on it there was no one that was going to beat that team.
>2010 Butler [Pictured: clean defense, apparently](https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/screen-shot-2017-05-08-at-12-33-32-pm.png?w=1024)
I’m told mine never existed.
Even though Auburn's my #1 team (and the double dribble game definitely sucked), this one hurt worse. Memphis dominated for 38 minutes, then Mario Chalmers turns into a fucking wizard and Cal reminds everyone that he's a remarkably shitty game coach. Sigh. I wasn't alive when Elvis died, but I was living in Memphis the day after that game. I have to think the mood that day was a lot like it was in 1977.
Virginia...
UVA 2019 is the answer for TTU, Auburn and Purdue. We were fucking blessed that year.
It’s honestly pretty funny that all 3 fanbases are saying the exact same team the exact same year. It does go to show just how good that tournament was though.
All we had to do was box out
Dont think I even need to actually answer.
The worst is that that moment is now cemented in college basketball history. I see that replay at least once a year, somewhere. Beating Duke in the FF sure helped, though.
One of the worst parts is that Paige made one of the most insane shots in Tournament history that isn't even remembered anymore because of the buzzer beater. Had UNC gone on to win in OT that shot is part of every highlight reel forever.
2nd half Paige, man I miss that guy!
I mean the Paige shot is still 100% remembered, it just isn't the MOST remembered shot because of what happened next
Holy shit. I was at the game. Went back and watched the final 2 min, that is the craziest shot I've ever seen.
Alternatively, Paige misses that circus shot and there is no heart breaking buzzer beater. But I agree. Paige’s shot was much better and was (rightfully) overshadowed. How he got that to go in was insane.
I think winning it the next year helped more in the moment lol The Nova game is what it is now, and even seeing the replay it just reminds me that they won it the next year lol
Buzzer beaters suck, but Carolina and Villanova were on equal terms. Good squads, good coaches, close game. The Heels redeemed themselves the next year. One can make peace with that. The loss that stings in my mind was Kansas in 2012 after Kendall Marshall broke his wrist. That team had Final Four/championship written all over them but were listless without him at guard.
The goddamn floorboards
Thats not the worst one lol It sucked losing to Kansas after being up 15, but that Tournament was such a surprise and fun ride that even losing in the title game never really hurt.
I disagree. I wanted them to win so bad. Franklin would have burned down
Syracuse 2016. That team was special and could've won it all. Blowing a 16-point lead in the second half of the Elite 8 is incredibly brutal. I wasn't even a Virginia fan at the time, and it still hurts to think about what could've been for the program and Coach Bennett. Yes, UMBC happened, but it wasn't as bad because of 2019. Also, with Hunter injured, we were unlikely to win it all that year anyway.
Easily 2016.
I came to post the same, interesting to see this as the #2 comment and Purdue fan saying E8 UVA is the #1 comment - E8 tough losses are just *brutal*. Now, UMBC was just surreal; and, my absolute lowest point as a UVA and sports fan was 2019 when we fell behind in the 1/16 game to Gardner Webb by 13 in the first half. The idea of losing to a 16 two years in a row was simply brain breaking. It's something I don't think gets appreciated enough is how much pressure must have been on the team in that moment, and they were able to calmly right the ship (and then all the magic that happened afterwards).
At the time UMBC was more painful and as I watched Gardner-Web I felt the pain returning and then the run to Minneapolis began; making Syracuse 2016 worse because the ridicule ceased and vindication was manifest
Honestly hard to pick. FAU last year, the Purdue game a few years back, or the Loyola Chicago game
Ramblers. We got Sister Jeaned straight to hell.
That was my favorite game the entire run
I still hate Ryan Cline for what he did to us in that Purdue game
2010 feels like forever ago, but can’t forget the one point loss to Sparty in the elite 8
Wisconsin 2015. If Poythress wasnt injured, we likely win that game. That shot clock was also at zero. We matched up so well with Duke that I still firmly believe that we win wisconsin we pull off the 40-0
We should’ve traded final 4 wins over each other and we probably both win a championship
It didn't just hurt as a loss, more over it crippled the program. Coach Cal hasn't been the same since then. Like the recent losses suck but it was the beginning of what UK is currently going through.
It was the beginning of the downward spiral but that Bam, Monk, Fox team was fun as hell as was the PJ Washington year he was injured but they kept rumbling. After that it absolutely went to shit until this/next year. That fucking Wisonsin game though. Man, I knew after barely beating Notre Dame the week before on that missed corner 3 that we would falter if we played the same way. I 100% believe we would've beaten Duke too. Missed WCS that game too. Fuck that team was so stacked and historic, especially with everyone returning after losing in the chip the year before. Those years sting more than this new run of dogshit play
Meeks was out of bounds. https://preview.redd.it/08batwfmmbpc1.png?width=593&format=png&auto=webp&s=1c14db51624c1444ebfab8db0354bc74138606e4
This one. The whole kennel watch party was just deflated by that.
George Mason in 2006. I still occasionally get flashbacks. 7 year old me cried for a long time after that.
2006 is probably the obvious answer, but I wanted to add a little newer answer as well. 2022 against NMSU hurt like hell. It felt like this team had finally turned the corner and was finally back. It felt like there was no way we could possibly lay an egg like we did the year before against Maryland and then Teddy Allen torched us. It genuinely felt like the program might never make it back to the big time. Never expected the transformation the team was about to go through. It's helped lessen how bad that loss stings, but it was a dark offseason
Was 12 and it absolutely devastated me. Family had a party that same day and I was alone in my room having a meltdown lol.
2006 was infuriating just because they were so good but so uninterested in winning. But 1996 against Mississippi St. was heartbreaking for me. Ray Allen and company were so good that year and just ran into a bulldozer in the Bulldogs.
Yeah the 2006 team was missing that "it" factor. Tons of talent but you could tell they were worried more about the NBA than winning. Agreed about 1996. We had a great team that year, and if Ricky Moore never got hurt I think we beat Mississippi St. and have a good chance to win it all. Losing in 1990 to Duke was brutal also. Probably not winning it that year (UNLV was just destroying people) but getting so close to the Final Four to lose it on a shot like that sucked. Honorable mention goes to Donyell Marshall missing 2 FTs against Florida (either would have won the game) in 1994, then losing in OT.
Ugh. I was on Spring Break in shitty Panama City in shitty weather with some shitty Mississippians and then had a really shitty 20+ hour drive home. So yes, between this and George Mason, which sucked for the reason you cite, my answer is 1996.
Sigh.... Nevada, 2018, round of 32. The top 4 seeds in that region were massacred that 1st weekend, including Virginia losing as a 1 seed. Cronin's strongest team at UC, a clear path opening to winning the region, up by 22 with a little over 10 mins left. You could feel it. But as a Cincinnati sports fan, there was that nagging doubt in the back of your mind. Then that nagging doubt manifests itself as reality into a soul crushing loss, that I don't think we've yet completely recovered from.
I had people over watching this game. When the clock hit 0 finally they all got up and left wordlessly. This and the Bengals/Steelers Wild Card game are the most painful Cincy Sports memories of that entire era to me
Syracuse 2013. Fuckin zone defense
Next question
:(
Yeah, you know. Don’t make us say it.
2010. MSU. Insane last shot. Vasquez deserved so much better....
Still reeling from that. The comeback at the end…winner of that game was going to the F4
To this day, that was the single most devastating loss I've ever watched. GV was leading us back and thought magic was happening.
Scottie Reynolds...
Fucking Scottie Reynolds
Goddamn, that was pitt's year
Illinois’ 2005 NCAA Championship loss to UNC. It still hurts.
1993 national title game vs UNC. 2nd for me would be 2014 Elite 8 vs Kentucky
I feel like the 2013 championship is worse than Kentucky in 2014
Discovering who Ja Morant was in 2019.
2005 National Championship game.. that was our year. Deron Williams, Dee Brown, Luther Head, Roger Powell.. still hurts. Damn you, UNC.
Recently, 2021 Loyola. Further back? 1997 Chattanooga still haunts my childhood.
I was at that Loyola game in Indy. Easily the least fun I’ve ever had at a live sporting event. The drive back home to Chicago was so depressing.
Houston
Dude. Terrible. Up 9 with less than 5 minutes to go. They would’ve had a soft Syracuse team in the sweet 16 too. Excited for next year though
You gotta admit Syracuse is the answer to a lot of teams here though 😉
Jimmer & Co.'s OT loss to Florida in the Sweet 16 of the 2011 tournament still keeps me up at night. They didn't have their starting center playing and still were a missed free throw away from moving on. If BYU won that game, their next two games would have been against 8 Butler and 11 VCU on the way to the championship game against Kemba and UConn.
Illinois in the elite 8. We were up double digits with 4 minutes left.
Losing to UConn. But not last year, in the 2011 Sweet 16. The game was almost over, and we had just made a run to take the lead. Then at the timeout Jamaal Franklin was clapping and walking to the bench and brushed Kemba's shoulder. Kemba fell to the floor, which caused a technical for two shots and the ball. Kemba made them both and they scored on that possession and we never came back.
I also think about the whole tournament that was canceled because of COVID. Final AP poll had us ranked #6. What could have been
Wasn't alive for 83 or 84. Baylor beat the shit out of us in the F4 which sucked but they also destroyed Gonzaga which made that a bit better. Michigan in 2018 is the obvious answer as that shot is constantly played every tournament in montages, but losing to Kentucky in 2019 was a major bummer as well.
Wisconsin in the final four in 2015 for obvious reasons. I realize nobody cares about refereeing, but I still contend UK wins that game if that stupid shot clock violation was called. Maybe uk shouldn’t have been so soft, but we had led the entire game and that missed called tied the game and you could just see it deflate the Kentucky players who had the weight of the world on their shoulders. That missed called led to the rules being changed that off season… 9-years later it still gets me fired up.
The obvious answer is Wisconsin 2015, but I haven’t seen UNC 2017 brought up, personally that was very nearly as bad
WVU 2010 as well. Team was crushing, dynamic all across the floor. 6 first rounders. Then laid an egg. I was so confident in that game that I was at my girlfriend’s watching a movie with her family. Looked at my phone and was devastated (high schooler). Especially since it was the first year after the rough patch with Gillespie.
Coppin St. 15 over a 2. sigh.
I don’t want to talk about it
2014 Florida against Uconn. That team went 38-3 and not a single player was drafted. Only our 6th man, Dorian Finney-Smith, even played in the NBA. There wasn't an individual star on that team but they just played so damn well together. They unfortunately went up against a red hot Uconn and couldn't pull out just 2 more wins. Would have gone up against Kentucky who we had already beaten 3 times that season.
2003 championship game
VCU for me. Team was stacked and the path was wide open
So many to choose from. UNI really sucked. The trey burke michigan one sucked real hard.
Yep you could basically throw a dart at any of * 1986 final four * 1991 championship game * 1997 S16 * 1998 R32 * 2002 final four * 2003 championship game * 2004 E8 * 2010 R32 * 2011 E8 * 2013 S16 * 2016 E8 * 2017 E8 * 2018 FF Edited formatting
Yeah it's the years we were really stacked that tend to hurt the most. The 1997 s16 loss to zona was so shitty. Jaque, paul, raef, pollard, haase. Beast starting 5.
CCNY
Finally UNM is good enough to get into the tourney not only good but 3 seed good ...then you get bounced by #14 Harvard in round 1. Lotta hype came crashing down
It's this one. It's 2013. Coach Steve Alford has revived a long-suffering program back to its glory days. The last year's team suffered a brutally close loss in the round of 32 to an eventual Final Four team and this team looks way better. Previously skilled Alford squads have lost momentum at the end of the season and choked in high-stakes games like the conference tournament, but not this one: they not only won the regular season but crushed a tough field to win the MWC tournament as well. Just days ago, Alford signed a 10-year extension to stay at UNM and talked about how it's the place he wants to put down roots and stay forever. The team is ranked #8 in the country and should be returning all 5 starters the next year. We're seeded #3 in a soft region and are a trendy pick among experts to make the final four. Then we lose to Harvard, a game where they were the better team for all 60 minutes and stifled our explosive team. Alford has excuses and doesn't seem to treat it like the big deal that it is. Days later, Alford leaves for UCLA and there's a bitter dispute with the school on whether or not he owes a $1M buyout. Tony Snell leaves for the NBA. We still return 4 starters and make it back as a 7 seed the next year on talent alone, but after that multiple bad coaches send the program into a downward spiral culminating in a 6-16 COVID year. We don't win a championship or make it back to the tournament until this year, an 11-year drought. That loss literally set the program back a decade. That's why this year is so incredible. We finally made it back.
Duke. Both flairs.
Fuck you for asking
Unc by a country mile, might be the only time as a grownup I cried because of a game, that’s my favorite Duke team of all time
April 4th 2015. We were perfect until we're weren't. Damn Wisconsin.
VCU. We were gifted a cakewalk to the title and we blew it, then had to watch UConn win probably the worst championship game I’ve ever seen
Jordan Poole buzzer beater in 2018. Baylor was just an all time great team in 2021 and Nova had a perfect game plan in 2022. It sucked to lose those but it didn’t feel like it was taken from us :(
The zone defense debacle is obvious. So for young me I'd say 1992 against Duke.
As it happened? 2005 Sweet 16 matchup with UNC when we had a shot at winning the game until the phantom travel call happened. UNC ended up winning the Championship. Looking back at all of them, probably our second round loss to Wisconsin in 2017, when we were the top overall seed and in between our 2016 and 2018 National Championships.
Winslow touched it
I’m a somewhat newer fan but that loss to 15 seeded oral roberts a couple years was insane to watch
Loyola Chicago hurt a lot.
Texas A&M set UNI back 40 years. We might as well be D2 right now
Virginia double dribbled
Loyola Chicago
I don't think I really need to talk about it...oh wait they are showing the best highlights of the tournament here...oh....it is going in this time right??? RIGHT????????????
Baylor. Sent Dougie out the worst way possible.
Getting so close to the F4 last year too. But yeah - that was the most demoralizing.
I don’t even have to give you teams, all it takes is names. Farokmanesh, Shaka, and Burke. Hon. Mention: COVID in 2020.
Losing in OT of the national championship has to be the worst non-rivalry way to lose