Tournament Losses

[Gurleyman]

Also that team was on borrowed time from the second the tournament started. Of all the tough tourney losses '06 has never stuck with me as particularly hard to get over.

I was over it in about 10 minutes. We had a title in 04, AJ and Rashad had their health problems in 05, then the laptop suspensions, and by the time we hit the postseason, that team looked like they had mentally checked out. They played like they wanted to lose the 1-16 game to Albany. Right after losing the 1-8 game to Syracuse. A silly double tech that sent Brandon Roy to the bench when we were down double digits saved us against Washington before Rashad saved us a second time. That team had about a dozen “wake-up calls” late in the year and in the postseason, but they always had one hand on the snooze button. They didn’t have a title in them.

Duke, Florida (94) and Mississippi State were the hardest for various reasons, mostly stemming from the angst of trying to enter new territory. To me, New Mexico State was probably the only really hard one to take this century, just since we were trying to get back to a high level again after a long absence and it felt like we were ready to take a step forward. The others were either good efforts against 1 seeds (Florida 25, Texas 03, Maryland 02, Michigan State 09), our teams not being good enough (Iowa State 12, Maryland 22, Kansas 16), or some injury woes derailing our potential (San Diego 08, NC State 05, Tennessee 00).

 

[boog204]

I came to grips with that game a long time ago given everything that has happened since, especially since I think it was probably better to go down in an all-timer of a game like that than be fed to the UNLV woodchipper but...

Tate George had that game in his hands with like two seconds left when he basically had the steal but lost it out of bounds. Not knowing how the future would turn out for UConn, it kind of felt at the time like their one chance at making the Final Four had just slipped through his hands. I was so crushed after that one.

Maybe it was because I was pretty young and didn't know any better, but that loss didn't kill me like some others. I figured we would be back in that spot fairly quickly and we were in the bare minimum in the Sweet 16 six more times in the decade so it lessened the "pain" of Tate letting the ball slip away. And, as you mentioned, I think we would have gotten run out of the gym by UNLV and I would rather have lost to Duke in the fashion that we did rather than getting embarrassed by UNLV.

 

[boog204]

I was over it in about 10 minutes. We had a title in 04, AJ and Rashad had their health problems in 05, then the laptop suspensions, and by the time we hit the postseason, that team looked like they had mentally checked out. They played like they wanted to lose the 1-16 game to Albany. Right after losing the 1-8 game to Syracuse. A silly double tech that sent Brandon Roy to the bench when we were down double digits saved us against Washington before Rashad saved us a second time. That team had about a dozen “wake-up calls” late in the year and in the postseason, but they always had one hand on the snooze button. They didn’t have a title in them.

Duke, Florida (94) and Mississippi State were the hardest for various reasons, mostly stemming from the angst of trying to enter new territory. To me, New Mexico State was probably the only really hard one to take this century, just since we were trying to get back to a high level again after a long absence and it felt like we were ready to take a step forward. The others were either good efforts against 1 seeds (Florida 25, Texas 03, Maryland 02, Michigan State 09), our teams not being good enough (Iowa State 12, Maryland 22, Kansas 16), or some injury woes derailing our potential (San Diego 08, NC State 05, Tennessee 00).

For me, the Florida and Miss St. losses were the absolute worst. We had arguably the best player in the country on both teams, and they choked in their own way. The NM State game was horrible because we looked so soft and it was such a letdown when we thought things were moving in the right direction. I also thought the Iowa State loss was awful because we just got our butts kicked. Royce White dunking on Drummond on the first play of the game was a harbinger of a total ass-kicking.

I know we were a 2 in 05 with Charlie V, Boone, etc., but I have no memory of that game other than Hodge beating us.

I remember we got beat handily by Duke and Ohio State during Smitty's Junior and Senior year and that sucked at the time. Pretty sure we were up against Ohio State and Jimmy Jackson at the half and then they just steamrolled us and Smitty ended the game sitting on the bench after shooting like 2-15 or something.

I agree with you on George Mason as the 06 team was broken the entire year. We were lucky that Marcus Williams carried us out of a hole against Albany, we played like garbage against Kentucky and Washington and were fortunate to win the Washington game. I wasn't surprised we lost to George Mason. You could just see it coming.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

First I've heard of this.

If you can watch a replay of the game check it out. K ended up about five feet from Tate, with one foot in bounds.

 

[blkknight1]

Any loss that was a springboard for the team.

98 Carolina-young team playing in hostile territory were total underdogs and hung in but in the end lost. Used that experience and we know what happens in 99.

03 Texas-similar to 98. Talented but young going into hostile territory played well but just didn’t have it used it for 04.

22 New Mexico-I know some are saying that this was a bad loss but I disagree. This loss was the loss that showed the staff while it’s great tough minded and great defensively you gotta have offense to win as well.

Disappointing but over quickly
95 UCLA-we were the second best team in that tournament the problem was we ran into the best team in that tournament playing a home game.

02 Maryland-Maryland was on a mission that year after what happened the year before played them well but in the end we
Didn’t have enough.

25 Florida-it was right there for the taking but this was a highly flawed team that never seemed quite right all year long. We had to lose at some point but went out like the champions they had been.

Had to win the Natty to get over
90 Duke-I still hate Christian laettner though

94 Florida-felt like it was supposed to be our year to make the FF. BC had taken out UNC and if we won we had to play BC who we owned that year. Those missed FT by our best player. What could have been?

96 Mississippi state-won the BET for the first time since 90 on Rays miracle shot, were a 1 seed for the first time since 90. The FF was in the meadowland the scene of the crime from 90. We seemed to be on course to play UMass the game so many in the region wanted. Had perhaps our best team ever up to that point. It was all lined up and then gone.

09 Michigan st-we were the best team in the country that year even with the Dyson injury we were 2 best. Had to play in Detroit with an emotionally charged MSU team and crowd. If Dyson doesn’t go down we probably beat UNC.

Got over pretty damn quick

05 NCSt-like another poster said couldn’t tell you anything about that game outside of Hodges last shot.

00 Tennessee-KEAs injury sunk us

08 San Deigo-when AJ went down so did our chances

Still mad about
06 school from Fairfax-yeah I know basically the entire roster outside of like 2 guys had one foot out the door all season. But still we are UConn losing to that school come on.

 

[UConnSwag11]

There is no such thing as a good loss, This one however was not as bas as some have been.

Agreed. The way the game went had us feeling like we were the favorites to win. Loved the effort. Great game, terrible ending

 

[NCHusky91]

I’m more chapped by the good games lost to good teams, like yesterday, UCLA ‘95, MD ‘02, Duke’90, UNC ‘98 (esp since they got screwed in seeding that year). Florida ‘94, Miss St ‘96, GMU ‘06 they played like crap and deserved to lose.

 

[Matrim55]

Any loss that was a springboard for the team.

98 Carolina-young team playing in hostile territory were total underdogs and hung in but in the end lost. Used that experience and we know what happens in 99.

03 Texas-similar to 98. Talented but young going into hostile territory played well but just didn’t have it used it for 04.

22 New Mexico-I know some are saying that this was a bad loss but I disagree. This loss was the loss that showed the staff while it’s great tough minded and great defensively you gotta have offense to win as well.

Disappointing but over quickly
95 UCLA-we were the second best team in that tournament the problem was we ran into the best team in that tournament playing a home game.

02 Maryland-Maryland was on a mission that year after what happened the year before played them well but in the end we
Didn’t have enough.

25 Florida-it was right there for the taking but this was a highly flawed team that never seemed quite right all year long. We had to lose at some point but went out like the champions they had been.

Had to win the Natty to get over
90 Duke-I still hate Christian laettner though

94 Florida-felt like it was supposed to be our year to make the FF. BC had taken out UNC and if we won we had to play BC who we owned that year. Those missed FT by our best player. What could have been?

96 Mississippi state-won the BET for the first time since 90 on Rays miracle shot, were a 1 seed for the first time since 90. The FF was in the meadowland the scene of the crime from 90. We seemed to be on course to play UMass the game so many in the region wanted. Had perhaps our best team ever up to that point. It was all lined up and then gone.

09 Michigan st-we were the best team in the country that year even with the Dyson injury we were 2 best. Had to play in Detroit with an emotionally charged MSU team and crowd. If Dyson doesn’t go down we probably beat UNC.

Got over pretty damn quick

05 NCSt-like another poster said couldn’t tell you anything about that game outside of Hodges last shot.

00 Tennessee-KEAs injury sunk us

08 San Deigo-when AJ went down so did our chances

Still mad about
06 school from Fairfax-yeah I know basically the entire roster outside of like 2 guys had one foot out the door all season. But still we are UConn losing to that school come on.

This is a really great list. Only disagreements are that I don't care about George Mason (and didn't at the time), and I was totally fine with the 09 loss. That was a great MSU team.

Both of these might be hindsight – 4 titles since then eases a lot of pain. But I just never felt that bad about those two even though they were historic.

 

[Inyatkin]

I am still waiting for the day we get matched up with Mississippi State in the tournament. We owe them a 30-point beatdown

 

[bobbygt]

I can look back now objectively and rate the losses. At the time, though, I feel like these losses and whether they were good or bad correlated to my mindset and what I was doing in life. The mid-90s losses (I remember Miss St more than Florida) blew, but I was in college so there were so many distractions to take my mind off of it.

The losses that were the worst at the time were the ones in the mid-2000s, mainly George Mason and Mich State (and the NC State game to a lesser degree), since I was aimless. getting over a bad relationship, and didn't have much going on.

Now being in my late 40s, the loss really stunk yesterday for about 10 minutes, and then I realized I had to pay my credit card, take the kids to a party, and clean the house, so I soon forgot about it.

And similarly with the wins. The 99 championship game is 1 or 2 on my all time happiest sports moments. And while the 11, 14, 23, and 24 titles were beyond awesome, the 2004 Duke game is so tattooed in my brain because it fell in the mid-2000s. I was beyond maniacal watching that game.

 

[Lefty2one]

It's relative to expectations or how well we're playing at the time. We weren't a good team this year and this loss perfectly encapsulated the season. Same with George Mason in 2006; we weren't playing well down the stretch of that season. 2009 was a very good team but without Dyson we weren't quite good enough.

Nothing will be worse than 1990 Duke, 1994 Florida, or 1996 Miss State, prior to reaching the mountain top.

 

[Frank06830]

The loss to Duke in ‘90 was not a good loss. There was no reason we shouldn’t have won that game, and Duke wasn’t better than us. Good losses, like today, are where you play your heart out and lose to a better team. Maryland in ‘02 was the best example of that. UNC in Carolina in the E8 in ‘98. Maybe UCLA the senior year of Donny Marshall and Kevin Ollie.

Yeah. 1996 UCLA with Toby Fuckin Bailey who played lights out. Went on to NBA to avg 4 PPG career average yeah hard time forgetting that game Ray Allen on that team

 

[businesslawyer]

Yeah. 1996 UCLA with Toby Fuckin Bailey who played lights out. Went on to NBA to avg 4 PPG career average yeah hard time forgetting that game Ray Allen on that team

I met Jim Harrick about ten years ago at a beach bar in Majorca. The moment I understood who he was, the first words out of my mouth were "Toby Fuckin Bailey." His response: "UConn fan?"

 

[AdamaNation]

Any loss that was a springboard for the team.

98 Carolina-young team playing in hostile territory were total underdogs and hung in but in the end lost. Used that experience and we know what happens in 99.

03 Texas-similar to 98. Talented but young going into hostile territory played well but just didn’t have it used it for 04.

22 New Mexico-I know some are saying that this was a bad loss but I disagree. This loss was the loss that showed the staff while it’s great tough minded and great defensively you gotta have offense to win as well.

Disappointing but over quickly
95 UCLA-we were the second best team in that tournament the problem was we ran into the best team in that tournament playing a home game.

02 Maryland-Maryland was on a mission that year after what happened the year before played them well but in the end we
Didn’t have enough.

25 Florida-it was right there for the taking but this was a highly flawed team that never seemed quite right all year long. We had to lose at some point but went out like the champions they had been.

Had to win the Natty to get over
90 Duke-I still hate Christian laettner though

94 Florida-felt like it was supposed to be our year to make the FF. BC had taken out UNC and if we won we had to play BC who we owned that year. Those missed FT by our best player. What could have been?

96 Mississippi state-won the BET for the first time since 90 on Rays miracle shot, were a 1 seed for the first time since 90. The FF was in the meadowland the scene of the crime from 90. We seemed to be on course to play UMass the game so many in the region wanted. Had perhaps our best team ever up to that point. It was all lined up and then gone.

09 Michigan st-we were the best team in the country that year even with the Dyson injury we were 2 best. Had to play in Detroit with an emotionally charged MSU team and crowd. If Dyson doesn’t go down we probably beat UNC.

Got over pretty damn quick

05 NCSt-like another poster said couldn’t tell you anything about that game outside of Hodges last shot.

00 Tennessee-KEAs injury sunk us

08 San Deigo-when AJ went down so did our chances

Still mad about
06 school from Fairfax-yeah I know basically the entire roster outside of like 2 guys had one foot out the door all season. But still we are UConn losing to that school come on.

Thank you. This was the point of this post!!! Not the worst gut wrenching short comings. The ones that showed grit and promise. UNM won us 2 rings!!! They’d be in my top 5 even though we played awful. But this UF loss keeps us in the A list of conversation. Look. Florida is a heavy favorite and they are getting no press it’s all about us!!

 

[uconngb]

For me, the Florida and Miss St. losses were the absolute worst. We had arguably the best player in the country on both teams, and they choked in their own way. The NM State game was horrible because we looked so soft and it was such a letdown when we thought things were moving in the right direction. I also thought the Iowa State loss was awful because we just got our butts kicked. Royce White dunking on Drummond on the first play of the game was a harbinger of a total ass-kicking.

I know we were a 2 in 05 with Charlie V, Boone, etc., but I have no memory of that game other than Hodge beating us.

I remember we got beat handily by Duke and Ohio State during Smitty's Junior and Senior year and that sucked at the time. Pretty sure we were up against Ohio State and Jimmy Jackson at the half and then they just steamrolled us and Smitty ended the game sitting on the bench after shooting like 2-15 or something.

I agree with you on George Mason as the 06 team was broken the entire year. We were lucky that Marcus Williams carried us out of a hole against Albany, we played like garbage against Kentucky and Washington and were fortunate to win the Washington game. I wasn't surprised we lost to George Mason. You could just see it coming.

People probably don’t remember this, but at halftime of the OSU game, which we led after pounding Nebraska in the 1st Round, Fatso Francesa, who was a CBS studio analyst at the time, said “Uconn is playing the best basketball of any team in the tournament”. We proceeded to get buried in the 2nd half.

He was never in the studio again and I’ve hated him ever since……

 

[Price0809]

Agreed. The way the game went had us feeling like we were the favorites to win. Loved the effort. Great game, terrible ending

Didn't think we'd lose until the turnover that lead right to a Florida fastbreak. It was a great second round game. It deserved to be a standalone game on a Sunday afternoon for the entire country to watch.

 

[RuffRuff]

I met Jim Harrick about ten years ago at a beach bar in Majorca. The moment I understood who he was, the first words out of my mouth were "Toby Fuckin Bailey." His response: "UConn fan?"

The real UCLA PIA that year was Tyus Edney, who took the ball full court the game before to beat Missouri at the buzzer. No UCLA in our path that year, decent chance we win the whole thing. We'd have gone on to play a meh Okie St team and then an Arkansas team that got to the finals by skin of their teeth with a first round 1 pt win, 2 OT wins. UCLA beat both by double digits.

 

[Ewekon]

1995 team played a great game in the Elite 8 against UCLA. UCLA was just a little better that afternoon.

Tyus friggin edney

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Yeah miss st loss was up there too. Erik dampier and dahntay jones squad

Ricky Moore injured.
Made up for it as a senior.

 

[Frank06830]

No one I see mentioned the 1996 loss to Mississippi St at Rupp arena.
i was there and devastated. 60-55. A low scoring mish mash where UCONN was favored by 8.
It was Ray Allen last year. I vividly remember walking out of the arena with Big Red telling him with Ray gone don’t see us ever winning championship. Red assured me we would be back. Back with 6 natty’s. Great lesson to be learned.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

1. 1990 Duke with the lead in OT and Tate Goes for the steal and knocks the ball OB
Then he hits the long 3 to break my heart . i still have nightmares
2 1994 Loss to Fla on 2 missed FT then a BC team we took twice beats them in the next round. But we sucked in OT . awful game
3 1995 Lose to UCLA only Ray had 36 pts , Doron 24, Donny 15, and Knight 12
KO had 8 assists . We simply couln’t defend them . 102-96 great offensive game
4 1896 loss to Miss State although in retrospect the 1994&1995 teams had more talent
Ray and Doron averaged abt 1/2 of the teams total pts and the bench was very weak
Rash and Ricky were 6&7 as freshman and Ricky didnt play in that game for some reason
5 1998 loss tio UNC in North Carolina
They did have Antawn Jamison, Shammond Williams and Vince Carter

anything after 1999 didnt have the same sting as for a while it looked like a FF let alone a NC wasnt in the cards
2002 lose to Maryland
2006 lost to George Mason that wasnt FF
2009 loss to MichState