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

[BigErnMcCracken]

All of my all time memorable loses were before our first championship.

90 vs Duke is #1 for me. I was 12 and still remember the numb feeling when Laettner's shot went through.

94 vs Florida is #2. Marshall bricked 2 free throws. I remember my dad going nuts, first time I had ever seen him that upset after a game.

96 vs Miss State is #3. That Uconn team was stacked, Ray Allen was my favorite Uconn player of all time. I though after that game we were cursed and would never get to a F4.

These are my three, too.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I'll certainly never forget Gary McGhee's sudden loss of structural integrity in his ankles

 

[Huskies4ever]

An odd thread, but what are Uconn losses you will never forget?

Syracuse 127 Uconn 117 in 6 overtimes will top the list for most, I am sure. I could not even get angry, it was just so epic.

UCLA 102 Uconn 96 - A shoot out in the mid 1990s. A classic game, even though Uconn was on the losing end, it was no shame losing to them.

Ole Miss 60 Uconn 55 - This team was stacked, one of the hardest losses to take, which is why I will never forget. I think many people had Uconn in the final 4, so hard score to see.

Florida 69 Uconn 60 OT - Another very hard loss to take. One of the first games I watched as a fan, but I never left after that.

Gmason over Uconn in overtime 86-84. Many people thought this Uconn team had the talent to make a title run or at least make the final 4. Those dreams were ended a little too short. I think this 2006 team had more talent than 2011 and 2014 but less heart. Much less heart. This was very painful.

San Diego 70 Uconn 69. One of the very few times Uconn lost in the first round under Calhoun and for that, one that will be hard to forget.

In 1999 when the cuse stomped Uconn, I do not recall the score, but it was when Uconn had two short term injuries. For some reason I felt calm after that, I felt like Uconn was going to come back with a vengeance! A 70-59 win over Stanford soon after, on the road no less, would prove that and a 62-48 win over MSU.

edit: I think that cuse game was 59-42

They're all forgettable (especially if they involve the Cuse - those didn't happen). I remember all of the above except 1990, I've only seen replays of the Duke game. Those losses, all the way up to George Mason, stung, but I think after winning our last two titles, those losses don't come to mind as much.

 

[gtcam]

No. 95 was better. The '06 team had a major flaw (one ball handler), and the sheer volume of talent in the frontcourt masked it for most of the season.

"06 might have the edge with 4 1st round picks and 1 second but for a team that loaded and ranked so high all season, they really didn't blow out any BE opponents and struggled in the tourney vs Washington and of course the GM debacle.
Can't imagine what it would have been like if Bynam didn't go to the NBA.
But the other loss that year which really got me was in the BE tournament - we had just made it into NYC, didn't even check into the hotel, and when the game was over we checked in with no games to look forward to. Freak'n Cuse beats UConn in OT in the quarters. We said to hell with it and sold our 4 packages to some Nova and Gtown fans, made $150 over face value each, spent to money on food and concerts - watched the games in the hotel or drinking holes. Thinking about that, after going to all the BE tourneys, that was probably the most carefree and pleasant times in March in NYC (except for the UConn BE championships)

 

[selles]

The Duke loss is the most iconic, but the Mississippi State game made me despair like nothing before or since. I hate that we live in a world where Ray Allen never got to play in a Final 4.

Yeah, easily Mississippi State here too. The Duke loss was a bittersweet ending, but the whole Dream Season was such a wonderful and unexpected ride that I couldn't be too down about it. It hurt for a few days, but the overall gloriousness of that season eased the pain.

Mississippi State on the other hand....I have to believe that most of the posters who go on about the need for dominant seasons were too young to really experience that 1994-96 period. That was our most dominant run of regular seasons ever - 49-5 in the Big East - and we went to two Sweet 16's and a Final Eight. But when the final whistle blew against Miss St, none of that mattered in the least. There was only misery. We had failed again when the lights were brightest, our core was moving on, and who knew when, or if, we'd be back. That was very, very tough to deal with.

 

[QDOG5]

Just watched Duke 90 on YouTube. Adelnaby missing that bunny at the end of regulation made me feel good. Then the last sequence made me feel sad. Not so much not covering the inbounder as not covering Laettner. He never should have been left alone no matter where he was on the court. Oh well, stuff happens. But it was not the most egregious example of not covering the inbounder. Just watch the last play of the NC last year. Jenkins is Nova's best shooter and he inbounds and runs down the court unguarded. After a time out? That's a no no Roy.

 

[mauconnfan]

These are my three, too.

Yeah had a real hard time not including Miss ST agree on that one big time. I mean if Ricky was on the bench where he belonged vs Colgate late we win that game he would've been playing in this one. He would have locked down Wilson or the other guard (ballard?) and kept one of them from having a career game. And Sheffer had the bad hami......this UConn team was very underrated!

 

[UConn94]

I'll go off the grid with a game I was at in North Carolina. 1998 Elite 8 game in Greensboro - "Neutral" site game against UNC, although that UNC team was loaded and I think it set us up for 1999 Championship. I was also at the Mason loss, that one stung. Miss St hurt but 94 Florida hurt the most. Especially since Donyell was out until like 5:00 AM that same day leading up to the game!

 

[willie99]

great list by OP

 

[UC313]

Pittsburgh. At gampel. Musta been 03 or 04. Rudy gay team. Its a straight up blizzard, we're on espn prime time.

They opened the doors to students because people couldnt make it in. Im a year removed from storrs and i just spent a bunch of time at Ted's. We go up 15. Maybe 20. Patoni tiles were shaking free from the roof.

We mailed in the second half and lost. That was a looong ride home.

It haunts my sleep.

 

[August_West]

Pittsburgh. At gampel. Musta been 03 or 04. Rudy gay team. Its a straight up blizzard, we're on espn prime time.

They opened the doors to students because people couldnt make it in. Im a year removed from storrs and i just spent a bunch of time at Ted's. We go up 15. Maybe 20. Patoni tiles were shaking free from the roof.

We mailed in the second half and lost. That was a looong ride home.

It haunts my sleep.

Chevy F'in Troutman

 

[UC313]

Chevy F'in Troutman

Ugh.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Chevy F'in Troutman

The guy was really good with the talent he had. Smart, tough, pain in the ass opponent who would find lots of ways to foul without being called. How we would kill for a Chevy Troutman today.

 

[Mr. French]

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.

Tremendous post, that mirrors my thoughts and memories perfectly.

And i didn't become a UConn fan until Donyell's year, so that loss shocked me (though I can't personally use it cuz at age 11 I didn't watch, I found out the next day and was stunned, I thought we'd smoke Fla).

Then Ray was my fav player and still is, and that and '96 were my first two seasons being a diehard, start to finish. Then Ray left, and as a youngster I was devastated.

 

[businesslawyer]

George f###ing Mason. And until I can hear Living on a Prayer played at a wedding or bar mitzvah without having to walk out for air, I wish you clowns would stop acting as if anything comes close to that

 

[Chin Diesel]

Worst loss ever?

Summer of '90 I had some friends taking summer classes at RIT in Rochester. I went up for a weekend for a few keggers in some off-campus apartments.

I had some allergies or a head cold and wasn't feeling too well. I bought a pint of Jack and was slow sipping to clear the sinuses. It worked well.

After a few beers at the party I met a girl, who by all accounts was fine and out of my league. Everyone said we were hitting it off well; we went out the apartment in to the stairwell started chatting and getting friendly. It's at that point that friends say, I just straight passed out standing up, stumbled down the stairs and took an extended nap on the landing.

Opportunity lost.

 

[August_West]

Worst loss ever?

Summer of '90 I had some friends taking summer classes at RIT in Rochester. I went up for a weekend for a few keggers in some off-campus apartments.

I had some allergies or a head cold and wasn't feeling too well. I bought a pint of Jack and was slow sipping to clear the sinuses. It worked well.

After a few beers at the party I met a girl, who by all accounts was fine and out of my league. Everyone said we were hitting it off well; we went out the apartment in to the stairwell started chatting and getting friendly. It's at that point that friends say, I just straight passed out standing up, stumbled down the stairs and took an extended nap on the landing.

Opportunity lost.

If that was worse than the Duke loss you needed to get out more

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

.

Mississippi State on the other hand...I have to believe that most of the posters who go on about the need for dominant seasons were too young to really experience that 1994-96 period. That was our most dominant run of regular seasons ever - 49-5 in the Big East - and we went to two Sweet 16's and a Final Eight. But when the final whistle blew against Miss St, none of that mattered in the least. There was only misery. We had failed again when the lights were brightest, our core was moving on, and who knew when, or if, we'd be back.

+1000. I wonder if the people who dismiss 2011 and 2014 as flukes and say they'd prefer a 32-4 regular season were around when UConn was the best team never to have won one.

Winning a national championship is really freaking hard. It requires a ton of pieces to fall in place, including - sometimes - external factors beyond your control. 2011 and 2014 were insane occurrences that I think have obscured in some peoples' minds just how hard and rare it is to win the whole thing.

 

[kobe]

Nothing comes to mind

 

[Chin Diesel]

If that was worse than the Duke loss you needed to get out more

It probably was the summer after the Chrissy shot. I didn't care. I was in upstate NY telling all the 'cuse fans to stuff it after the dream season.

Worst sports loss was Bucky Dent in '78. I was still single digits in age as a Sawx fan and my mother's a Yanks fan. When Yaz popped out to Nettles she looked at me and said something along the line of her wanting the Yanks to win but didn't want to see Yaz end the game. I told her to F-off or something similar. My dad threw me across the room. It was worth it.

 

[Jimbo]

Been spending most of my time on the women's board lately, but I've been a fan of the men for longer, so reading this thread all the way through was like reopening a bunch of old wounds and pouring in salt. For me, the bad NCAA Tournament losses are always worse than any others. The 6OT debacle annoyed me to no end, but at least there was a chance to regroup after that, and eventually reach the Final Four. Watching an entire season come crashing down and die right before your eyes is another beast entirely. And most of those pre-1999 losses, from back when we had the most tournament wins of any program never to reach the Final Four (and every successive loss made it feel more and more like we were snakebitten and might never get over that hump), are still more painful for me to think about than almost anything that's happened since 1999. Here's what sticks out in my memory:

1990 - This was the absolute worst, and not just because I was in 5th grade and it was the season when I first became a UConn fan. Such an unbelievable run by our Dream Team, and Tate's miracle shot against Clemson, the whole deal, and then to watch all the magic and euphoria of that whole season suddenly guillotined by that Duke dou¢hebag with the stupid hair. That game broke my heart in a way that none of these other games could. I swear that the loudest chorus of boos I've ever heard in Gampel Pavilion was on 3/29/99 when CBS cut to that Duke guy's face in the crowd at Tropicana Field. We never did manage to pay him back, but we finally exacted some sweet revenge on his school on that night.

1994 - Gut-wrenching, and such a missed opportunity because UNC's upset loss had blown our path to the Final Four wide open. I remember futilely saying a prayer to help Donyell hit one of those free throws. Didn't work. Just a devastating loss against a team we should have beaten. This game was still on my mind when Shabazz and co. stormed back to wreck Florida's season in the Final Four 20 years later.

1995 - I think I've actually suppressed any specific memories I had of this game. I can understand why folks are saying it was a great game and we just got beat by a better team. But this was probably my favorite of the mid-90s UConn teams, and I despised Harrick and that UCLA team, so this one really cut a deep scar. Of all these losses, this is the one that makes me wonder what might have been, because our guys were playing at such a high level when they got knocked out. I still want to throw a grenade at my TV every time I see the final play from that bleeping UCLA-Missouri game, because I think that cost us a legitimate shot at a title.

1996 - This was such an uninspired, lackluster, discouraging loss against such an inferior team that I couldn't bear to watch the rest of that year's tournament. And it was just a sad way for Ray's college career to end. There are only two things that make this game a little easier to take, in hindsight. One, as someone said above, we'd have been forced to vacate any additional wins in any event. And two, this was simply not the same team after Ricky went down—recall that we struggled for long stretches against Eastern Michigan in the second round as well—so I don't think we would've gone much further anyway, as poorly as we were playing.

1998 - We were a young team on the rise and not as good as UNC, so it was hardly surprising that we lost. Mostly I remember being pissed at the committee for putting us in their region because I thought we deserved better, and I still think we might've cracked the Final Four that year if we'd been given a fairer draw.

1999 - Everything changes, obviously.

2002 - I don't remember this one hurting all that much; it felt kind of like 1998 in that we had a good run but just ran into a more talented, experienced team and couldn't quite topple them. I'd probably have felt worse about it if I'd known Caron wasn't coming back.

2005 - Worth a mention only because this team had a lot of talent, and a second-round loss to a #10 seed isn't a great way to go out, but I think the fact that we'd just won the previous year helped take the sting out of this one.

2006 - I'm going to be in a tiny minority here, but while this game annoyed me quite a bit, it didn't actually hurt that much. I spent months yelling at my TV, imploring that year's team to show some heart to match its talent. Finally, as we were in the process of blowing a huge lead against Notre Dame in February (even though Williams saved us with a triple-double and we eventually won in OT), I consciously reached the sad conclusion that we absolutely did not mentally have what it took to win a championship. I made my peace with that fact and spent the rest of that season quietly watching the rest of the games, with no doubt in my mind that we'd fall short in the end. When it finally came to pass against George Mason, I simply shook my head and thought, "well, at least it wasn't against Albany."

2008 - This pissed me off mostly because Calhoun had never lost a first-round game as our coach before, and I'd always loved that fact. A.J.'s injury just threw a monkey wrench into that game, and even though we still had a chance, too many things just didn't go right in the end. Frustrating.

2009 - I felt we were legitimately outplayed here, but it was annoying primarily because I resented our having to play a de facto road game in the Final Four against a lower-seeded opponent. (So, did I feel bad five years later when MSU had to deal with us at MSG? Nope.) I think this team, if healthy, would've had a fighting chance against UNC or anyone else that year, but our defense was never quite right again after we lost Dyson. The MSU loss hurt a little less because I was so proud of our guys for shaking off the 6OT fiasco and fighting their way to the Final Four at less than full strength.

2012 - Tough to get too upset or feel too awful when the team puts forth that pitiful an effort, especially in a theoretically even 8/9 matchup. It just sucked that this turned out to be Calhoun's last game, because he deserved better than that. Still happy that we could pay ISU back two years later.

Sorry for the excessive length, but I found this strangely cathartic and got a little carried away.

 

[Giscombe12]

All of the major ones have been covered here ('90 Duke the worst for me) but one regular season game stands out to me.

February 20, 1988 at the Civic Center against Syracuse. Down 10 at the half, UConn comes back. Eight seconds left, tie game, UConn ball at mid-court. Jeff King throws it right to Stevie Thompson who dunks for the game winner. Like a kick in the junk to this then 15 year-old. Thankfully better days were on the horizon.

 

[Excalibur]

All of the major ones have been covered here ('90 Duke the worst for me) but one regular season game stands out to me.

February 20, 1988 at the Civic Center against Syracuse. Down 10 at the half, UConn comes back. Eight seconds left, tie game, UConn ball at mid-court. Jeff King throws it right to Stevie Thompson who dunks for the game winner. Like a kick in the junk to this then 15 year-old. Thankfully better days were on the horizon.

That was the first UConn game I ever attended . . .

 

[yukonyc212]

I think you have a point with the bad luck/location connection, but the other common link appears to be you.

lol touché... however I was at 4 of our 5 final 4s and 3 title games so maybe it all balanced out.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

That 90 Duke game literally hurt until we won in 99.

But it still stings even today 4 NCAA Championships later.


All I could see was Tater dribbling us to Denver in slow motion for a long time. And then it didn't happen.

 

[AreBee1969]

'90 loss to Duke was the worst.

We had a Jungle bonfire anyway, although much smaller than the Clemson fire. I remember one absolutely hammered girl saying over and over "UCONN # 1 in our hearts."

After that...has to be a tossup between George Mason '06 and Florida '94.

Dishonorable mention: Carolina '98 in Greensboro. I was in Worcester for the NC State loss in 'o5 . Texas in '03 on a ball stuck between the rim and backboard.

 

[Tommyboy]

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.

My stomach got a little queasy just reading that. I can still see Tate bent over with his arms together after missing it.

 

[RJScootin]

No doubt George Mason has to be the worst. not even a close 2nd.

 

[Marbles90]

Just amazing how close UConn came to winning more than four.

This quote hit home to me. It really is amazing how many could have been won.

I'm a 1990 grad so all the 90's losses mentioned earlier resonate for me. 1990 was incredible. I went to every game that year as a student - Gampel opening, MSG BE, Hartford opening rounds and the meadowlands for Tates incredible shot and then the gut wrenching loss when Laettner's shot went in. I was definitely heading to Denver that year for the Final Four as my dad called it a once in a lifetime opp and he would help me get there. So yeah, the Duke loss hurt the most.

It's funny though, for some reason when I saw this post, the first loss that came to my mind was the Miami Darius Rice game. Not sure why. I remember Ben Godon hitting a free throw that put them up 4 and thinking "it's over". Then thinking what was Taliek doing running away from Tooles. Where was he going? Ahhh memories.

 

[gampelcrazies]

2009 MSU game. My dad and I drove all the way from CT to Detroit. Thought UConn was a lock to play UNC for the title. It was a long drive back to CT.