Ranking Tournament Losses

[MGP]

1980

#1 seed. Bouie and Louie.

Lost to Iowa.

Freaking Iowa.

Disappointing, but that was a good team. They went to the Final 4 and were led by Ronnie Lester, an AA.

 

[MGP]

Good call on Navy especially after having beaten them handily earlier in the year and it was played in the Dome. David Robinson just absolutely owned us in the second half.

They shot like 40 FT's that game. Almost as disgusting as the Elite 8 game against Ohio St. years later...

 

[HOFCeluck]

I've said this before but I'm glad I was five back in 1987. How you people carried on with your lives after that game is beyond me.

 

[rrlbees]

Indiana ‘87






The rest

 

[MGP]

Arkansas '95 really hurt. Defending champs, we had it won, and then...

 

[MGP]

They shot like 40 FT's that game. Almost as disgusting as the Elite 8 game against Ohio St. years later...

scratch that - 52 FT's

 

[dasher]

1980

#1 seed. Bouie and Louie.

Lost to Iowa.

Freaking Iowa.

A tech foul called by Booker Turner turned that game. Turner was a rabbit eared ref from the Pac 10. And who showed up at the carrier game to work the Navy NCAA game? Booker Turner.

 

[Madbiker]

1980

#1 seed. Bouie and Louie.

Lost to Iowa.

Freaking Iowa.

I was at that game. Iowa had Ronny Lester a future NBA guard who made our guys look like they were running in quick sand. But yeah, a devastating loss we expected to win.

 

[Trueblue25]

This is the worst thread ever created by the hand of man. Nothing is real, we are all made of water.

Lmao back to the sparty forum thread

 

[SUfanNC]

I hate to be mean but they kept showing his blind father after every time he scored. I must have called him a MF 150 times in the second half.

In my head it went right to Marsh talking like the video that was posted of the Gtown fan from our game earlier this year!!!

 

[Madbiker]

1. Indiana 1987 Championship game - THE most painful. I remember laying face down on the floor for 15 minutes after Smart's shot went in. We were the better team. Had more & better future pros. Were ahead most of the 2nd half. Just missed a bunch of free throws at the end that would have put it away. It still hurts.

2. Illinois 1989 Regional Final - we were up 7 at halftime and I was checking airfare to the FF. Maybe the best SU team of all time. DC/Owens/Sherm/Stevie.
3. Richmond 1991
4. Rhode Island 1988
5. Michigan 2013 - it was not a charge
6. Butler 2010
7. Arkansas 1995 - Moten calls time out we don't have. We had them beat. Then Arkansas went on to win it all.
8. Vermont 2005
9. Ohio State 2012
10. Georgetown 1984 BET Final when Graham punched Andre Hawkins, no call.

 

[rrlbees]

1. Indiana 1987 Championship game - THE most painful. I remember laying face down on the floor for 15 minutes after Smart's shot went in. We were the better team. Had more & better future pros. Were ahead most of the 2nd half. Just missed a bunch of free throws at the end that would have put it away. It still hurts.

2. Illinois 1989 Regional Final - we were up 7 at halftime and I was checking airfare to the FF. Maybe the best SU team of all time. DC/Owens/Sherm/Stevie.
3. Richmond 1991
4. Rhode Island 1988
5. Michigan 2013 - it was not a charge
6. Butler 2010
7. Arkansas 1995 - Moten calls time out we don't have. We had them beat. Then Arkansas went on to win it all.
8. Vermont 2005
9. Ohio State 2012
10. Georgetown 1984 BET Final when Graham punched Andre Hawkins, no call.

That’s a heartbreak list.

 

[djorange1989]

Indiana ‘87






The rest

my sentiments exactly. I didn't recover from that game at all until early April of 2003.

 

[djorange1989]

1. Indiana 1987 Championship game - THE most painful. I remember laying face down on the floor for 15 minutes after Smart's shot went in. We were the better team. Had more & better future pros. Were ahead most of the 2nd half. Just missed a bunch of free throws at the end that would have put it away. It still hurts.

2. Illinois 1989 Regional Final - we were up 7 at halftime and I was checking airfare to the FF. Maybe the best SU team of all time. DC/Owens/Sherm/Stevie.
3. Richmond 1991
4. Rhode Island 1988
5. Michigan 2013 - it was not a charge
6. Butler 2010
7. Arkansas 1995 - Moten calls time out we don't have. We had them beat. Then Arkansas went on to win it all.
8. Vermont 2005
9. Ohio State 2012
10. Georgetown 1984 BET Final when Graham punched Andre Hawkins, no call.

Triche and DC missing free throws were brutal, but i think the worst was the ole matador defense we played after Triche missed his 2nd FT. IU was down three and took about 3 seconds to go down court and get a layup. We were so afraid to foul them that they were given way too easy of a path to the basket. ok, I need to stop talking about that damn game, I will start to cry.

 

[MSOrange]

I was at that game. Iowa had Ronny Lester a future NBA guard who made our guys look like they were running in quick sand. But yeah, a devastating loss we expected to win.

Lester was really good. He hurt his knee in the regular season and missed about 15 games and then hurt it again vs Louisville in the Final 4, of course way before we had the technology to really deal with serious knee injuries.

 

[realorange]

Bees is right about Indiana '87 and then others.

The Illinois game was a big hurt, but the pain didn't last as long. Yes, we had one of the very best teams in SU history, but Illinois had the best they ever had as well. Great game that would be won by a great team either way.

 

[Jake]

Marsh there is no way that the 1988 Rhode Island game was worse than Butler.

OMG. Seriously??

Waaaaaaaaay more painful.

Not being sarcastic, but we're you alive for that game?

 

[Eric15]

OMG. Seriously??

Waaaaaaaaay more painful.

Not being sarcastic, but we're you alive for that game?

I was 6 years old. I guess I'm in the minority on this topic.

 

[themole]

1. Arkansas
2. Butler
3. Richmond
4. Indiana (surely would be higher had I been older ... and this was also my initiation into the fandom)
5. Michigan State
6. Vermont
7. Dayton/Marquette

 

[Jake]

I was 6 years old. I guess I'm in the minority on this topic.

Ok. At 6 it's hard to get a feel for what is going on. I was 23...it was awful.

 

[Fat tire 13]

1. Indiana 1987 Championship game - THE most painful. I remember laying face down on the floor for 15 minutes after Smart's shot went in. We were the better team. Had more & better future pros. Were ahead most of the 2nd half. Just missed a bunch of free throws at the end that would have put it away. It still hurts.

2. Illinois 1989 Regional Final - we were up 7 at halftime and I was checking airfare to the FF. Maybe the best SU team of all time. DC/Owens/Sherm/Stevie.
3. Richmond 1991
4. Rhode Island 1988
5. Michigan 2013 - it was not a charge
6. Butler 2010
7. Arkansas 1995 - Moten calls time out we don't have. We had them beat. Then Arkansas went on to win it all.
8. Vermont 2005
9. Ohio State 2012
10. Georgetown 1984 BET Final when Graham punched Andre Hawkins, no call.

That's a great list. Maybe bump Arkansas up a little more, but overall agree 100%. I wrote about Illinois before, and that one hurt. I'm also a big sucker for when a great 4 year player (Moten, Sherm, etc.) get close, and then lose in a heartbreaking way.

 

[MSOrange]

Ok. At 6 it's hard to get a feel for what is going on. I was 23...it was awful.

I was 11 and it was just brutal, particularly coming off the Indiana heartbreaker and that was also a time when we had a heck of a time getting past the 2nd round.

 

[HOFCeluck]

1. Michigan State

2. Vermont

3. Butler

4. Michigan

5. Dayton

6. Marquette

7. Arkansas (probably would be higher if I was older. WE HAD THE POSESSION ARROW MOTEN)

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Indiana ‘87






The rest

My list is strange. I was studying overseas during that 87 run so experienced via the Herald Tribune two days after each game happened. No internet and no satellite TV. Hence, that loss had little impact on me.

And, since 2003, nothing is quite as painful.

Therefore, my list is as follows:


Kentucky 1996 (tough both being at game and being so close - did not sleep a wink that night)
Illinois 1989 (thought we could win it all)
Iowa 1980 (I idolized Louie and Bouie as a kid)
Richmond 1991 (had tix to regionals at meadowlands - both housemates were Richmond grads)
Butler 2010 (still painful since I thought we had legit shot to win it all even ex AO)
Michigan State 2000 (at game - blowing that lead was tough)
Minnesota 1990 (Tony PH'n Scott)
Rhode Island 1988 (Sherm - sigh)
Vermont 2005 (was there...that just flat out sucked)
Navy 1986 (the Admiral - at home)

 

[malpearl31]

For reasons I can't quite explain, I decided to re-watch the 2010 Butler game. (Definitely the first and only time I've done so.) We're down 31-19 with 4:08 to play in the 1st half... I think I have to stop watching this right now... I'm screaming at my computer.