toughest tourny loss from 2000 on
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SUFan44
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They all sting - especially when you think we could be good.
But Alabama was especially painful. Was the year after the title and the year after I graduated. My college roommate and I flew to Phoenix from Syracuse (I was living in Buffalo, he was in grad school at SU).
Everything was set up perfectly - Alabama had upset someone and wasn’t supposed to be there - then we would play UConn. Who was the best team in the country at the time. At the very least, we would beat Alabama and see two SU games.
Of course, we lose and now we are stuck in Arizona for 3 days. Worse places to be but a miserable trip across the country.
But Alabama was especially painful. Was the year after the title and the year after I graduated. My college roommate and I flew to Phoenix from Syracuse (I was living in Buffalo, he was in grad school at SU).
Everything was set up perfectly - Alabama had upset someone and wasn’t supposed to be there - then we would play UConn. Who was the best team in the country at the time. At the very least, we would beat Alabama and see two SU games.
Of course, we lose and now we are stuck in Arizona for 3 days. Worse places to be but a miserable trip across the country.
HoustonCuse
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Butler. 1000x Butler. Still mad about the suplex.
It’s definitely Butler, for most painful.
But, for reasons that I can’t totally articulate, the Marquette one was uniquely annoying for me. It just felt like, of all of those great teams post-2008, that was the tourney game we really shouldn’t have lost.
But, for reasons that I can’t totally articulate, the Marquette one was uniquely annoying for me. It just felt like, of all of those great teams post-2008, that was the tourney game we really shouldn’t have lost.
OttoinGrotto
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Butler, and not just because I was there for it.
Sherman20
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Can we say AO? His injury actually made the Butler loss easier to accept.
otherwise I’d say Ohio State in the elite eight or Michigan in the final four.
Going back pre-2000, losing to Illinois in the Elite Eight in 1989 was the hardest loss I ever experienced. That team was so freakin good. And the 1987 title game of course.
Cusefan0307
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Michigan
Butler
Vermont
Those are the 3 that stand out to me.
Butler
Vermont
Those are the 3 that stand out to me.
sufandu
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I go back and forth between Vermont and Butler. There was no reason we should have ever lost to Vermont. We were the more talented team by a mile. There was no shame in losing to Butler. They were preseason top 15 and were ranked most of the year, and they came within one last second shot of winning the NC. But that 2010 team was so good and so much fun to watch. It's easy to see us beating that Duke team if we swap spots with Butler.
Cusefan0307
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Triche and Fair played well against Michigan, but Southerland(2-9) and MCW(1-6 and 5 turnovers) did nothing and that killed us
In the Butler game we had 18 turnovers and they had 7.
In the Vermont game we had 24 turnovers! Warrick had 10 himself and Gerry went 4-18. They also called a stupid technical on Roberts for slapping the backboard after a Dunk. That was an awful game to be at.
In the Butler game we had 18 turnovers and they had 7.
In the Vermont game we had 24 turnovers! Warrick had 10 himself and Gerry went 4-18. They also called a stupid technical on Roberts for slapping the backboard after a Dunk. That was an awful game to be at.
OttoMets
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IIRC, Sullinger was more or less held in check (and sat a lot of the first half with two fouls) but Lenzelle Smith had a career game. I share the feelings on Craft and the refs. I can't say that game was more painful than MSU, Vermont, or Butler, but it was at least as painful. Especially stepping out of the Garden in the rain in the middle of the night facing a really long drive.
OttoMets
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If they were poker hands, which would win? Butler/Marquette/OSU/Michigan, or Richmond/UMass(OT)/probation/Missouri(OT)/Arkansas(OT)?
I'll tell you, until they got the monkey off their back with the Georgia win in 1996, that '90s stretch was feeling like the worst possible streak for awhile.
Trueblue25
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Felt my soul leave me and die in the Marquette and Butler losses.
Butler was worse though.
Butler was worse though.
Cusefan0307
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I wasn't to upset about 2012 personally. We were dead in the water without Fab Melo in the FF.
OttoMets
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I like this rationale. Still doesn't cover the emotional gut-punch factor, but it's reasonable. Usually the season ends because we play pretty badly and have a crappy offensive game (usually with a horrible scoring drought). And that applies to the awful Vermont, Butler (started 0-11, I think), and OSU (never extended our lead when Sullinger went out) losses.
But against MSU we played really well in the first half. Then when we should've come back to earth we came out with that Hart-Brown lob and some effective half-court sets and poured on a little more. We were the better team for 25 to 30 minutes and really playing our best basketball in a month.
Then things went as you described.
But as you say, unlike most of those turds, this was a game that we had a good shot to win.
721Comstock
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Only pick one? You’re not the boss of me!
Ok - here’s the ones that hurt least:
UNC FF - we were “happy to be there”, and that was a bad matchup for us.
aTm - GMac was a gimp, we were over seeded due to his miraculous BET run.
Kansas - I don’t even really remember this game.
Alabama - kinda ditto.
Oklahoma - Blake Griffin was a force of nature. No shame taking this L.
Duke - not a heartbreaking L.
Baylor - ditto. Didn’t expect much, wasn’t disappointed
The WORST LOSSES:
Butler - this is the one.
LOVED that Shut It Down team, and even with losing AO we’d played really well in the prior games.
When Butler hit that 3 that bounced like 5x before going in, I knew it wasn’t gonna be our day.
This L will never not hurt.
OSU - Aaron Craft just hand-checked somebody again with impunity.
WITH Fab, we likely crush them.
But even without, we shoulda won that game, but it’s hard playing 5-on-8.
Refs were SOOOO BAD that both teams thought they got jobbed.
And they were right
Sparty - until Butler, THIS was the L that stuck in my craw.
Had that game under control, and then the wheels fell off.
De facto home game for Sparty too. BS.
Michigan FF - even though the “over and back” call on Scoop was more egregiously wrong than the “charge” on Triche, this was the much more impactful awful call.
We win that game (which the correct block call would have likely allowed), and we face a Llvll team we can definitely take down.
Which would have somewhat made up for the disappointing endings of ‘10 & ‘12.
Just imagine the alternate universe where AO doesn’t get hurt, we say F it and play Fab anyway, and RoboTriche gets the block called on him? Sigh.
Marquette - BS squared.
We NEVER shoulda been playing them that early, and then the atrocious call against Scoop. GRRRRR.
Dayton & Vermont - just sucked to exit early to teams we’d likely beat 9 out of 10 times.
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cliftonparksufan
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I agree with you except I never felt we were going to win the Ohio State game. They were favored and playing better than us. It wasn't a good match up for us. I was at both Vermont and Dayton. Both were bad, Vermont way worst. We should have beat Butler. They had a good team but we were talented. Playing that far from might not have helped.
Eric15
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Everyone complains about the Ohio State officiating and hardly anyone about the Marquette officiating.
The Marquette game was a literal misinterpretation of the rules on the over-and-back. Easily the biggest officiating blunder of an SU tourney game of my lifetime.
The Marquette game was a literal misinterpretation of the rules on the over-and-back. Easily the biggest officiating blunder of an SU tourney game of my lifetime.
Orangezoo
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I would add Dayton too. That team was heading into the wrong direction but I always felt had we been able to get that one it would jumpstart us to make a run.
Cusefan0307
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Conspiracy theorists would say the officiating was bad from 11-13 due to our NCAA issues.
MikeSU02
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I can't choose between 2000 MSU, 2005 Vermont and 2010 Butler. The first two I really questioned What JB was doing. The latter was more severe disappointment at what could have been.
For MSU game, I was stunned. It seemed like JB forgot how to coach when they started coming back.
Vermont was an abomination from start to finish. That was a game where if the rosters showed up at a public court and the ball got rolled out, you expect us to win every single game.
