You can change one UConn loss to a win. Which game are you chosing? | Page 4 | The Boneyard

You can change one UConn loss to a win. Which game are you chosing?

For me it is the OT loss in the 2006 Elite 8 game to George Mason. That team had so much talent that had they won, they probably would have won that NC.
 
Regarding 2006 as talented as that team was something just felt off all year. Had we made the final four it would've absolutely been a complete shit storm at the Final Four sight with the media especially for Calhoun and I'm not sure how he would've handled it at the pressers with the media. We would've been total villains and and public enemy number 1 with the press going after Calhoun.

The way we were playing I do think Florida beats us and the conspiracy is that we probably get jobbed by the officials after the whole lab top incident the way Calhoun was viewed that year.

Of course I wish we had made the final four but I think it would've been a very unpleasant FF experience for the fanbase, the team and certainly for Calhoun.
 
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My issue with the 2006 team was lack of ball handling. Always felt like it was going to eventually trip us up.

Sum was less than the whole of its (insanely talented) parts.
I thought that team was walking into the title game so the GM loss was a gut punch. But I was dating Ryan Thompson’s ex-gf at the time so I was also being a little bit of a hater. 😳
 
The very first Duke game. 1964 elite eight. 101-54. Duke lost to ucla in the final.
 
George Mason 2006, mostly because 4 of us bought final 4 tickets before this game thinking prices would rise fast after UConn beat GM. Never really considered they might lose. Three of us still went to Indy (RCA Dome) but it was really weak without the Huskies.
 
MI 2026
Dook 1990
Mason 2006
Twerps 2002
UCLA 1995
UNC 1998

That's one National Championship and all 5 of our Elite Eight losses (in the modern era)

I was at the Dook, Mason and Maryland games (also attended MSU & IL Elite Eight wins, so the jinx is ova)
 
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Rankings

1. Michigan (referees) 2026
2. George mason 2006- we win that natty
3. Kansas 2024- would have been 38-2 tying 2012 Kentucky)
4. 2009 Syracuse 6 OT
5. 2003 sweet 16 Texas - does winning that natty take away from 04?
6. Maryland 2002- don’t think we get by Kansas
7. 2025 Florida- we make the final four if we win
8. 2025 seton hall
9. 2003 buzzer beater Miami
10. Nc state 2005
11. 2015 SMU AAC Final
12. 2008 San Diego
13. 2003 Pitt BET
14. 2026 SJU BET
15. 2000 SJU BET
16. 2001 SHU- we make the tourney with that wi.
17. Any big game in 2009-2010 I’ll go with syracuse
18. 2008 WVU BET- Joe Alexander dunk pisses me off still
19. 2005 UMass
20. 2012 Iowa State- I actually think we beat 2012 Kentucky if we faced them in round 2, I liked the matchup
21. 2000 home game ND
22. 2005 UNC
23. 2004 UNC
24. 2003 UNC
25. 2014/2015 home game Texas

Honorable mentions:

2014 Duke at the medowlands, 2020 Villanova, the buzzer beater at Wichita I think 2020, 2021 creighton BET, 2021 Creighton home, 2024 Colorado, 2035 SJU Gampel

Did not go with 09 Michigan state because we would have gotten killed v. Unc in the final w/o Dyson

The 1990s heartbreak led to 1999

Left 2004 alone because we won the title but @ Syracuse, ND were good options. I tried to leave the title seasons slone

2022 New Mexico State led to the Hurley revamp
 
Rankings

1. Michigan (referees) 2026
2. George mason 2006- we win that natty
3. Kansas 2024- would have been 38-2 tying 2012 Kentucky)
4. 2009 Syracuse 6 OT
5. 2003 sweet 16 Texas - does winning that natty take away from 04?
6. Maryland 2002- don’t think we get by Kansas
7. 2025 Florida- we make the final four if we win
8. 2025 seton hall
9. 2003 buzzer beater Miami
10. Nc state 2005
11. 2015 SMU AAC Final
12. 2008 San Diego
13. 2003 Pitt BET
14. 2026 SJU BET
15. 2000 SJU BET
16. 2001 SHU- we make the tourney with that wi.
17. Any big game in 2009-2010 I’ll go with syracuse
18. 2008 WVU BET- Joe Alexander dunk pisses me off still
19. 2005 UMass
20. 2012 Iowa State- I actually think we beat 2012 Kentucky if we faced them in round 2, I liked the matchup
21. 2000 home game ND
22. 2005 UNC
23. 2004 UNC
24. 2003 UNC
25. 2014/2015 home game Texas

Honorable mentions:

2014 Duke at the medowlands, 2020 Villanova, the buzzer beater at Wichita I think 2020, 2021 creighton BET, 2021 Creighton home, 2024 Colorado, 2035 SJU Gampel

Did not go with 09 Michigan state because we would have gotten killed v. Unc in the final w/o Dyson

The 1990s heartbreak led to 1999

Left 2004 alone because we won the title but @ Syracuse, ND were good options. I tried to leave the title seasons slone

2022 New Mexico State led to the Hurley revamp

I like this whole post but if you’re going to have 25 games including some overall pointless regular season games, and not have a loss in the final four as a favorite, I gotta question it.

I like your analysis but 2009 has to be in there somewhere.
 
I like this whole post but if you’re going to have 25 games including some overall pointless regular season games, and not have a loss in the final four as a favorite, I gotta question it.

I like your analysis but 2009 has to be in there somewhere.
I personally find it easier to lose on Saturday than Monday but to your point let’s call msu 2009 the new number 3 with a fictitious 2 of the 2009 title game

Those regular season games either were shocking, cost us a bid,, the 2000 nd home game was my second year watching the sport it stung and hurt our seed, and then there’s the fact that we went 0-4 v. Roy Williams
 
For me, it's 1990 Duke with 2009 Michigan State as a distant runner-up.

I was a college sophomore in 89-90 and in an era without the internet. I relied on The USA Today and calls home to keep up with the day to day results of that wondrous season. I would rush to the campus library on a Monday morning to see where they were ranked. At one point, their jump in rank cause me to let out an involuntary yelp which earned me a dirty look from the reference librarian. I watched the Big East Tournament run while home on break, reveled in Tate George's miracle shot and curled up in a fetal position after the Duke loss. After that game, I feared that that we were never going to get over the hump and get to a Final Four. Boy, was I wrong.

In 2009, having enjoyed '99 and '04, I travelled to Ford Field to see UConn play Michigan State. Without Dyson and with then-Freshman Kemba struggling, I watched them lose. I mention this game as the runner-up only because I was there.
 
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I personally find it easier to lose on Saturday than Monday but to your point let’s call msu 2009 the new number 3 with a fictitious 2 of the 2009 title game

Those regular season games either were shocking, cost us a bid,, the 2000 nd home game was my second year watching the sport it stung and hurt our seed, and then there’s the fact that we went 0-4 v. Roy Williams
I'm fascinated that your account was created in 2016, and I've seen at least a handful of posts from you in the past day or so, with big topics and detailed memories.

How many posts have you made in 2026?

How many did you make when you first signed up?

Have you been reading The Boneyard regularly for this entire almost decade long period?

Was there ever a burst of posting activity like this recent one, prior to this?

I'm very curious because you posts have seemingly come 'out of nowhere,' but you clearly have a lengthy history as a UConn fan for someone with only a dozen total posts.
 
So few of your posts actually apply to basketball. You are a Boneyard gnat. Why don't you try staying on topic.
Have you noticed the consistency with which your efforts to control how a message board should operate fails, and that many posters criticize your voluminous content and constant posting in a voice that pronounces with assumed authority rather than first person observations? I have.
 
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Have you noticed the consistency with which your efforts to control how a message board should operate fails, and that many posters criticize your voluminous content and constant posting in a voice that pronounces with assumed authority rather than first person observations? I have.
Good sir (or madam), hast thou not marked the steady course by which thy labors to govern the manner of this message board do falter and fall away? For lo, many a voice among the posters doth rise in gentle (and not so gentle) reproach—taking issue with the great flood of thy words, and the ceaseless cadence of thy postings.

Moreover, they do remark upon a tone thou oft assum’st—one clad in the robes of authority, as though thy speech were decree—rather than the humbler raiment of personal thought and witness.

These things, I confess, I too have observed.
 
Have you noticed the consistency with which your efforts to control how a message board should operate fails, and that many posters criticize your voluminous content and constant posting in a voice that pronounces with assumed authority rather than first person observations? I have.

I might counter that the board needs every different type of personality to allow it to have the value we all find in it as demonstrated by our constant interaction.

It is the back and forth from different viewpoints no matter how ridiculous they seem and the personalities that go with each person who takes the time to post a thought, that makes this place so entertaining.

And this year with Mullins coming back flying right into the face of the opinions from the most in the know members who always know better than the rest of us “casuals” is so refreshing.
 
I might counter that the board needs every different type of personality to allow it to have the value we all find in it as demonstrated by our constant interaction.

It is the back and forth from different viewpoints no matter how ridiculous they seem and the personalities that go with each person who takes the time to post a thought, that makes this place so entertaining.

And this year with Mullins coming back flying right into the face of the opinions from the most in the know members who always now better than the rest of us “casuals” is so refreshing.
All for diversity of thought, but it's much healthier to stay conversationally on point then delving into some posters message board cred. Address the view, not the poster.
 
All for diversity of thought, but it's much healthier to stay conversationally on point then delving into some posters message board cred. Address the view, not the poster.


Yeah that is not happening…..straying from the topic is embedded into the DNA around here….
 
Michigan #1
Michigan State 09 #1B

That UCONN team had a lot of guys with heart and resilience that I loved. Sticks. AJ. Adrien. I am confident Thabeet shuts down Hansborough and we win our third title. Taking one from NC
 
Good sir (or madam), hast thou not marked the steady course by which thy labors to govern the manner of this message board do falter and fall away? For lo, many a voice among the posters doth rise in gentle (and not so gentle) reproach—taking issue with the great flood of thy words, and the ceaseless cadence of thy postings.

Moreover, they do remark upon a tone thou oft assum’st—one clad in the robes of authority, as though thy speech were decree—rather than the humbler raiment of personal thought and witness.

These things, I confess, I too have observed.
I'm delighted by these posts that read as though an AI agent was prompted to rewrite another's post that replies to you in the manner of an ancient literary tongue. It's almost enough to make me think that RutRut isn't itself AI. Well done.

To the thread's topic, which you might label Rare.

Though I've seen and felt the sting of nearly every famous loss mentioned in this thread (with the notable exceptions of Florida '94 and UCLA '95), I will throw in with those who chose the team's most recent loss.

Even with concerns about driving back home late at night after the game - in order to show up for an 8:40 doctor appointment on Tuesday morning - I felt a duty to travel up & down I-65 and witness the game live at Lucas Oil Stadium. I wasn't going to forfeit the chance to be present for a 7th National Championship 110 miles from my home.

I sat in Section 515, nearly the least expensive ticket available, obtained minutes before tip-off. I was surrounded by Michigan fans as far as my eyes could see.

I could either look at the little rectangle down below at the center of my field of vision, or the 30x50 rectangle visually stacked directly above the floor. It showed the game on 4 sides and nearly at eye level.

Because of where the video feed cameras were positioned and which side of the stadium I sat, the action played out in opposite directions!

Two different NYC friends used the exact same phrase to describe such a view: "mind-." Yes, it was disorienting.

Even from up near the closed-dome ceiling, many player contacts played out with cartoonish exaggeration, some to mock fouls that were called, and some to highlight fouls that were not called. The thread about the refereeing 'irregularities' accurately noted what I was able to see in real time and replay from two different directions, and at greater distance. Eliot Cadeau & Morez Johnson, Jr were the big winners. The latter almost as unlikeable as TKR (my abbreviation a nod to RR).

I wish the outcome were different, but I had no regrets for traveling or great sadness about the loss.

I missed all TVcommentary and commercials, and, if course, the playing of "One Shining Moment," but the projected hologram of Bobby Knight juggling 10 Husky puppies while atop the live 9-man human pyramid at center court that honored the 50th anniversary of the undefeated 1976 Indiana National Championship team was a memory I'll forever savor.

Along with many other celebratory recognitions at half court, it was remarkable spectacle in the NCAA's hometown, and the second leg of the B1G's 2026 triple crown of championships, with the Cuban-Cingetti Indiana football colossus, and the UCLA WBB team hoisting the trophy before having 5 players drafted in the WNBA'S 1st round, and one more in the 2nd, as fitting bookends.

Whoda ever thunk it? Or, in the alternative, "Suck it, SEC!"

UConn?
Well yeah, but c'mon, it weren't gonna be, not this time around.

Was this on topic enough for you, RoofRoof?
Am I not here abiding?
 
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Duke beating UConn in NJ. Because I bought tickets and traveled to see it.

Wish I saved the money and time
 
I'm fascinated that your account was created in 2016, and I've seen at least a handful of posts from you in the past day or so, with big topics and detailed memories.

How many posts have you made in 2026?

How many did you make when you first signed up?

Have you been reading The Boneyard regularly for this entire almost decade long period?

Was there ever a burst of posting activity like this recent one, prior to this?

I'm very curious because you posts have seemingly come 'out of nowhere,' but you clearly have a lengthy history as a UConn fan for someone with only a dozen total posts.
Sent you a direct message, I have followed along for about 10 years
 
- Michigan 2026 (so close to #7)

- Michigan State 2009 (Jerome Dyson- could’ve possibly beat UNC if fully healthy)

- George Mason 2006 (Probably most frustrating loss because how much better we were)

- Texas 2003 (TJ Ford really got under my skin & game was in Texas)

- Maryland 2002 (cried like a baby- Caron’s hero performance)

- UCLA 1995 (Ray’s best opportunity)

Before 1991-1992- I didn’t watch because was younger than 5.
Lol the title of -and therefore essence- of the thread was to pick ONE game to change. Not list off every one you could think of

I personally would pick ‘09 because we would have beat UNC, and selfishly, I was a freshman. It would be our second of THREE dual NCs, we would have had an even more incredible undefeated streak in the FF/NC games, that set of juniors/seniors would have the championship they deserved, and we would have had 4 NC in 10 years and 3 in 5.
 
Was just the following the crowd. I apologize for your frustration.

One game would be 26’ Michigan- 7 rings.
 
Rankings

1. Michigan (referees) 2026
2. George mason 2006- we win that natty
3. Kansas 2024- would have been 38-2 tying 2012 Kentucky)
4. 2009 Syracuse 6 OT
5. 2003 sweet 16 Texas - does winning that natty take away from 04?
6. Maryland 2002- don’t think we get by Kansas
7. 2025 Florida- we make the final four if we win
8. 2025 seton hall
9. 2003 buzzer beater Miami
10. Nc state 2005
11. 2015 SMU AAC Final
12. 2008 San Diego
13. 2003 Pitt BET
14. 2026 SJU BET
15. 2000 SJU BET
16. 2001 SHU- we make the tourney with that wi.
17. Any big game in 2009-2010 I’ll go with syracuse
18. 2008 WVU BET- Joe Alexander dunk pisses me off still
19. 2005 UMass
20. 2012 Iowa State- I actually think we beat 2012 Kentucky if we faced them in round 2, I liked the matchup
21. 2000 home game ND
22. 2005 UNC
23. 2004 UNC
24. 2003 UNC
25. 2014/2015 home game Texas

Honorable mentions:

2014 Duke at the medowlands, 2020 Villanova, the buzzer beater at Wichita I think 2020, 2021 creighton BET, 2021 Creighton home, 2024 Colorado, 2035 SJU Gampel

Did not go with 09 Michigan state because we would have gotten killed v. Unc in the final w/o Dyson

The 1990s heartbreak led to 1999

Left 2004 alone because we won the title but @ Syracuse, ND were good options. I tried to leave the title seasons slone

2022 New Mexico State led to the Hurley revamp
Great List!
 
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