Most "memorable" losses or losses you will not be able to forget

[Cassius Klaiber]

Not exactly the most meaningful loss, but at the time losing to Georgetown at Gampel in 2013 hurt. In KO's first year and with no postseason, that would've been a big win to get us back on the map. To storm back from a big deficit on the Omar Calhoun 3, only to squander a 7 point lead late in double OT made it feel like a lot of momentum was wasted.

Things turned out okay the next year anyway.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I think Florida is the worst. Dook 90 was absolutely gut wrenching, but we were playing with house money after Clemson and the good vibes of that season mitigated the loss, the future was bright. Against Florida, UConn pulling defeat from jaws of victory was a 'we truly may never make a final four' moment of utter despair.

Both losses made the 1999 Gonzaga & Dook wins all the sweeter & took away much of the awful taste of those two defeats.

 

[WrenchFan69]

2OT Georgetown game from 2013. My first crazy loss as a student at UConn.

 

[alexd]

For me...a similar list....

1990 Duke is easily at the top.....my first season with HCC season tix....what a fun ride...I just figured they would never lose and were destined to win it all especially after Clemson.

Florida - Donyell....Ugghhh

Miss St. - After the game, I remember going outside with my buddies to smoke what were planned to be celebratory Arturo Fuente 858's. Hard to enjoy them.

G. Mason

 

[jibsey]

Because of the talent level on that team George Mason. Also I had to watch that game in a bar in Northern Virginia, ouch.

 

[UConn Esq]

Aside from the big ones above, the 2004 UConn-UMass game in Amherst was a dagger for me. UConn was ranked 7th or so at the time. I took the trip from Storrs up to Amherst only to watch us get upset by 2. I had to sit in the stands watching all these minutemen storm the court.

 

[Rico444]

George Mason was a tough one for sure. Texas in 2003 when Marcus White went up for a rebound and the ball got pinned between the backboard and the rim and Texas had the arrow. The toughest was probably the Maryland loss in 2002. Caron was the first player I really fell in love with, and that team of kids seemed like they were destined to win it all. Caron would've been looked at like Kemba if we could've pulled that out and won two more times.

 

[Husky25]

George Mason-'06 (Best UConn team to not make the final 4).

'Cuse 6-OT '09 (Hurt a little less, given the Final 4 run, but at the moment, it was heart wrenching. Plus I remember it occurring during a tough personal stretch)

Mississippi State-'96 (though the '96 Tournament was vacated after the fact, so even if they went deeper, it never happened).

 

[uconngb]

Florida 94'. Donyell missed the 2 free throws and only needed 1 to ice it and send us to the FF.

While this isn't technically correct, since it was a Sweet 16 game, for all intents and purposes it is, since we would have gone on to play BCU and at that point I think we had beaten them 18 or 19 times in a row. For me, the 3 year stretch of losses in the tourney that this started were the worst: First, we needed only 1 free throw from a guy who had gone 20/20 from the line just a couple weeks before, then we play one of the best games we've ever played in the tourney only to lose to UCLA, followed by maybe our worst performance ever in the tourney, somehow only scoring 55 points and losing to Miss St. At that point, I really thought we'd never make a Final Four.

 

[QDOG5]

Duke
Florida
G Mason
Miss St.
San Diego
And I'm very happy I didn't have to put Albany on this list.
The finality of the tourney games makes them more memorable to me.

 

[gtcam]

Duke 1990 NCAA loss
UCLA NCAA loss
George Mason NCAA loss
Florida 1994 NCAA loss
Regular season games losses are sometimes gut wrenching BUT NCAA losses are the most heartbreaking no there's no tomorrow
I was at the 6OT game and after 4 OTs I was numb and just in awe and I remember mumbling "anybody but cuse, anybody but cuse"

 

[Travelman6]

Aside from the big ones above, the 2004 UConn-UMass game in Amherst was a dagger for me. UConn was ranked 7th or so at the time. I took the trip from Storrs up to Amherst only to watch us get upset by 2. I had to sit in the stands watching all these minutemen storm the court.

Remember that game when uconn was like 9th in the country and umass led 34 to 9 at the half? Worst half ever, than uconn storms back and scores 50 in the second and wins with relative ease (well, considering the first half any way) 59-48. That was an amazing second half, one of the best I have ever seen. 50 to 14 in the second half, lol.

 

[uconngb]

Duke 1990 NCAA loss
UCLA NCAA loss
George Mason NCAA loss
Florida 1994 NCAA loss
Regular season games losses are sometimes gut wrenching BUT NCAA losses are the most heartbreaking no there's no tomorrow
I was at the 6OT game and after 4 OTs I was numb and just in awe and I remember mumbling "anybody but cuse, anybody but cuse"

The 6 OT game didn't really bother me that much, other than the fact it was Cuse, cuz it didn't really have much meaning. Frankly, the worst part about it was they had long stopped selling beer at the Garden, but you couldn't leave.....so all those OTs ending up being literally sobering.

 

[Jaker]

Dook in 90 and Terps in 2002 for me.

 

[Travelman6]

The 6 OT game didn't really bother me that much, other than the fact it was Cuse, cuz it didn't really have much meaning. Frankly, the worst part about it was they had long stopped selling beer at the Garden, but you couldn't leave....so all those OTs ending up being literally sobering.

If it was not cuse, no big deal. Even though it was the cuse, it was not the worst loss. After 6 ot, I can not complain, Uconn showed they had heart, that was what really mattered and that took them places later in the year!

The Florida loss stung the most...thinking more, that hurt more than any other.

UNC and Uconn in 98 did not hurt because I knew UNC was a very good team. They showed Uconn what they needed to do moving forward, for 99. I think somehow that loss helped guide them to the 99 miracle! For sure that loss happened for a reason IMO. But florida...no, gut wrenching loss. Gmason too though that team slept walk through the last part of the season...God they were talented though, but again, kemba had more heart than the starting 5 combined.

 

[Jaker]

The loss to that cheating Harrick and UCLA also hurt.

 

[Waquoit]

1990 NCAA Tourney. Losing by one to Duke in OT off Tate's botched steal.

How can it be anything else? Worst gut punch ever. I was literally in a daze.

 

[BugsyCT]

Losing Ricky Moore in the 1st round of the '96 tourney didn't help matters against Miss State. Still, we just played lousy, and in retrospect, we would have been scarred for years had they gone on to make their first FF and then learn later on it would be vacated.

The pre-77-74 tourney games seem to resonate with more people than the losses 2000 & after (except GF'inMason). You young'uns had it easy lol.

 

[Vuce]

Been said by numerous people here already but Dook 1990 tops the list. It was hard to imagine that team losing with the way the season played out. Picked to finish near the bottom of the conference having just lost an NBA draft pick (Cliffy), an unknown Israeli kid joining the team, starting off 0-2 in the league then winning the regular season title, storming through the Big East Tourney, playing the 1st two rounds of NCAA Tourney at Hartford Civic Center and the miracle ending vs Clemson. Then, having the Dook game "almost" wrapped up with Tate George almost able to hold on to a steal which would have run the clock out before you know what happened. Then it was just numbness......

 

[alexd]

Been said by numerous people here already but Dook 1990 tops the list. It was hard to imagine that team losing with the way the season played out. Picked to finish near the bottom of the conference having just lost an NBA draft pick (Cliffy), an unknown Israeli kid joining the team, starting off 0-2 in the league then winning the regular season title, storming through the Big East Tourney, playing the 1st two rounds of NCAA Tourney at Hartford Civic Center and the miracle ending vs Clemson. Then, having the Dook game "almost" wrapped up with Tate George almost able to hold on to a steal which would have run the clock out before you know what happened. Then it was just numbness.

The worst part of the ending of Dook '90 was that Tate didn't need to hold on to the ball to seal the game....it went off his hands and started rolling up the sideline and went out of bounds....if it had just rolled a little more to the left it would have continued rolling up the court and time would have run out. Game UConn. Final Four bound.

 

[boog204]

"Good" Losses:
Duke/Laettner... Pissed me off, but it was the start of great things
Maryland - The legend of Caron
UCLA - The legend of Ray
MSU - I did not think we played poorly so it always stuck with me as a loss in the final four. Nothing to be ashamed of there.
Cuse 6 OT - I'll be honest, I was just glad someone won. Tough to get really upset considering the effort involved.

"WTF" Losses:

George Mason... nuff said
Florida - Donyell had gone 20 for 20 from the line a week earlier.
Miss St. - This one, in particular, killed me b/c we played like such p****ies.

"Embarrassing" Losses:

PC in 2010 - They dunked on us about 200 times in the 2nd half. It was like a video game.
Kansas 05 - Huge billed CBS game between two top 5 teams and we were beaten by 30+
Nova 05 - See above. Kittles destroyed us; I think he dropped 36. I absolutely despised Jason Lawson.
Iowa State 2012 - Royce White dunked on us on the opening play; we were down 20 instantly.
Louisville 2014 - Absolutely throttled
San Diego 2008 - AJ went down and we just folded...
Miami - Darius Rice
St. John's under Mike Jarvis - To be honest, I do not even remember if we lost to them. But I despised Jarvis and his players seemed to take on his demeanor. Zendon Hamilton.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

The game at GTown where Hibbert made that 3, smh.

He hits that shot all the time in practice

 

[Husky25]

"Good" Losses:

Is this where you would put the 1998 Tournament loss to UNC in Greensboro?

 

[boog204]

Is this where you would put the 1998 Tournament loss to UNC in Greensboro?

Yeah... I guess my "criteria" is if we played well and were beat, then it is a good loss. Against UNC, they were definitely the superior team and that loss taught us some things that we needed to improve to win in 99.

 

[boog204]

Oh, I'll add Smitty's last game against Ohio State, too. We came out tough and were literally beating them up all over the court. The announcers and analysts were talking about the strength of Big East basketball, etc. Then Ohio St blew our doors off and Smitty was benched in his last game for being so ineffective.