What's the worst loss in your time as an SU fan?

[bryanradams]

Which loss? Please...Pitt last week.

Arkansas, because we made such a great comeback and had the game won against defending champs.
Ohio State, because if we have Fab, we win that game and who knows what else.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

There are some great stories in here. Mine is a little bit different because of when I started watching SU hoops.

I was really a bit too young (9 years old) to fully appreciate the devastation that was Indiana. So for me that doesn't really register (thankfully). The Richmond game I was just starting to become an SU basketball fan, but didn't watch the game, and was too interested in Loyola Marymount, LaSalle, UNLV and Georgia Tech that year. So that loss didn't sting.

I finally came to my senses in 1994, and really started following SU full time. The Missouri loss in the tournament hurt a lot because I had a love affair with Adrian Autry that year. That one really hurt. The Arkansas game was a dagger, but I didn't expect the team to go too far that year, so it wasn't as damaging. The way they lost was awful, but it wasn't as bad (for me) as the Missouri game.

Really the UK loss in 1996 was the worst for me. I was 18, had attended half a dozen games at the dome that year, loved John Wallace and Laz Sims, and couldn't believe it when they made that run. It really FELT like destiny to me. This team was destined to slay Goliath, like NC state had done in 1983.

When Wallace fouled out a part of me died. I was never as "true blue" an Orange fan after that. That lose popped my innocent/naive cherry as it were. I sat in my living room with my girlfriend beside me staring at a blank screen after the game ended. And...just kept sitting there. I must have sat staring at that blank screen for 30 minutes. I didn't go to school the next day, and was gutted for weeks over that loss.

It's weird, because in hindsight, they shouldn't have won that game. As a Syracuse fan today, I wouldn't expect us to win. The though, I thought this was a fated journey and that the good guys would always come out on top. That's when I realized sports, and life didn't always have a happy ending. Melodramatic? Sure. But it's the way I felt.

Another funny side story -- I was at the Landmark Theatre waiting for the Jerry Seinfeld concert to start in 2005. I had the UVM game recorded, when all of a sudden, everyone's phone in the bar area started blowing up. There was this collective groan out of everyone there, and the murmurs began that SU lost in overtime. I was pissed off, and beside myself. I couldn't believe it. I walked into Seinfeld, laughed my ass off, forgot about the game, and never watched it. I don't know what or how it happened, because I've never seen it. So thank God for Jerry Seinfled, because I missed a game I'm sure would have been an all-timer for me. So here's my list of three.

1) UK
2) Mizzou
3) Arkansas

 

[runningorange]

I will separate my response into tournament games and non-tournament games. I was born in 87 and have been a fan since 1995 or so.

Tournament Games:
1. Butler (I am still not over this game)
2. Vermont
3. Ohio State (refs screwed what should have been a great match-up)
4. Michigan (we shot very poorly and still had a chance late)
5. Louisville, BET, 2013 (We were going to end the BET the way it should have ended until Southerland picked up his fourth foul)
6. Dayton (I was at this game, we made 1 shot outside the paint the whole game)
7. Marquette (I feel better about this after the elite 8 game, but the over and back call was terrible)
8. Alabama (should have been a cakewalk to the elite 8)

Non-tournament games
1. @Nova this year (the better team lost)
2. Pitt 2007/08 (the Paul Harris game)
3. Cleveland State (I can laugh at this now)
4. @Georgetown 2013 (embarrassing, but this was avenged in the BET and again in DC a few weeks later)
5. Witchia State 2006 (if Nichols makes the lay-up we make the tournament)
6. @Louisville 2010 (some scrub got hot and kept us from closing Freedom hall the way it should have been closed)

 

[Corpi33]

1. Indiana
2. St Johns in BE final when Pearl was blocked by Walter Berry(I had a lot of friends from NYC in college that were St Johns fans)
3. Any loss to G'Town or UConn

 

[SUFan44]

Too young for Indiana, but knowing what I know now it would have been very painful - and still is even if I was only 6 years old.

Remember Missouri being heart-breaking, for no other reason than Adrian Autry's unbelievable second-half performance was wasted. That's the first basketball game I remember growing up. Arkansas stung a little bit, Kentucky I knew we should lose so it was easier to stomach. Really didn't like losing to Duke in the tournament two years after, but they were really good.

During college the big two that stand out to me are Seton Hall and Michigan State. Both my freshman year. Darius Lane.

Junior year loss to NC State was annoying too. I proceeded to come right back to my house on Clarendon and down as many shots of whatever I could.

Post-college, Vermont sticks out as does Alabama (if for no other reason than I flew out to Arizona, as I mention above). Butler and Ohio State, but moreso the reasons that factored into those losses (Arinze and Fab both not playing). Those two teams had Final Four written all over them. The Marquette loss also was annoying

Most recently, the game at Duke stings from last year. Really wanted to get that win to show how overrated Duke has been for all these years.

All of them really do suck though. Glad there are far more wins to talk about than losses over the years.

 

[DNABB5]

The Vermont game was especially bad for me as I was watching my doppleganger score on us.

(Taylor Coppenrath and I are not that dissimiliar looking, but he is really close looking to another Cuse fan I am related to, CaliCuseAholic)

https://www.google.com/search?q=tay...9M4zasATz6YGoAg&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=738

Other losses that stung at the time. GW in 1994 (dame at manley)

Nova in OT

Missouri game (Autry knee shot)

Arkansas

URI

Richmond

UMass (every time really)

Whichista St ( 20+ [point comeback negated by a missed layup)

 

[CuseCPT]

Lawrence Moten.

Arkansas.

Time out.


We won the game. Soul crushing.

That's it for me. I was in high school, the end of that game left me sobbing on the floor. It probably still would today. The combination of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the brutality of the loss falling on the shoulders of a classy and beloved player, and Arkansas going on to win it all and say we were toughest team they played were the perfect storm.

E: apparently Arkansas lost in the title game and apparently I'm not the only that misremembered it. Wasn't Brian Williams a backup PG on that Arkansas team?

 

[senorpalmer]

A lot of the frontrunners are way too obvious, led of course by Indiana. I was 12 years old and cried like my dog had died that night. Most painful moment as a sports fan for me ever.

Some of the not so obvious choices that I don't believe I've seen mentioned...

1) BC 2014--SU is ranked #1 and loses at home in OT against a team that would go on to finish 7-24 on the season. Arguably one of the biggest regular season upsets in college basketball that I can recall in the last 20-30 years.

2) Louisville 2013 Big East championship--Our final moment in the Big East, in a packed house at MSG. Crowd clearly favors SU. SU leads by 15 at one point in the game before a monumental collapse that leads to a decisive Louisville win. I managed to get tossed from this game late, a Louisville fan accused me of something I did not do and security bought his story. To be fair I was kind of being a drunk a-hole by that point but not as bad as alleged. I lost my mind on the play where Hancock(?) was defending MCW and had two hands physically on him (a textbook foul), MCW clears some space and catches Hancock with an elbow before converting a nice drive to the hoop; refs call a flagrant on MCW which completely swings the game in the other direction. Prior to that play I had a healthy respect for Louisville; ever since then I would say that I hate them almost as much as I hated Gtown back in the 80s. The last real Big East championship game ever played should have belonged to Syracuse and not to one of the newcomers. They had that game won and let it slip away in disastrous fashion.

3) Georgetown 1984 Big East championship--if the refs don't overturn the call on Michael Graham's would-be haymaker, SU wins that Big East tournament. It felt like SU lost in the title game of the BET every year during the 80's (in reality, it was 5 times, while winning 2).

4) Georgetown 1988--great game with a wild finish, Gtown was kind of down that year but they were every bit as hard to defeat. SU takes the lead on a bucket with under 10 seconds to play, Charles Smith goes coast to coast and converts a layup just before the buzzer sounds.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

One that hasn't been mentioned: '97 FSU in the 1st round of the NIT. That is still the only game I've watched and come away thinking the guys did just not want to win that one. The effort was abysmal, and I realize the NCAA snub was a bitter pill, but that is not how the game should be played. Shame on you.

 

[Jack Hall]

One that hasn't been mentioned: '97 FSU in the 1st round of the NIT. That is still the only game I've watched and come away thinking the guys did just not want to win that one. The effort was abysmal, and I realize the NCAA snub was a bitter pill, but that is not how the game should be played. Shame on you.

You are right, but one thing you have to say about this yrs team- they have never been a no-show like that. I just dont see Rak and Trevor letting that happen, G too now

 

[Briancuse]

Aaron ---- Heilman.

That was the worst baseball loss in my life, I couldn't sleep a wink that night.

The Timo Perez baserunning disaster in the 2000 world series was a close 2nd.

 

[Shawn91111]

1) '87 IU, title game
2) '89 Illini, elite 8 - 89 team had so much talent

 

[Jack Hall]

1) '87 IU, title game
2) '89 Illini, elite 8 - 89 team had so much talent

Yep i still think our most talented team ever

 

[Cowtown]

1.) Keith F-ing Smart
2.) Vermont
3.) Richmond
4.) Navy
5.) The last game at Manley. F you, John Thompson. Just F you.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Quite frankly I don't know how you people who are old enough to remember Indiana were able to function after a dagger like that.

No way could I handle a loss like that now...and we HAVE a title.

 

[Orange2389]

vermont

 

[Ajflood12]

2011-2012 loss to Ohio state. #1 in nation for 6 weeks, 34-3 record and lost to Arron Craft. Ugh. will always believe we beat Kentucky if Fab plays.

 

[Jake]

and am i crazy here, it was clearly moten who called the TO right?

The absolute worst part about that timeout that people forget? We had the motherf'ing arrow. If we let Luke just sit there in the fetal position, we win.

 

[MSOrange]

Quite frankly I don't know how you people who are old enough to remember Indiana were able to function after a dagger like that.

No way could I handle a loss like that now...and we HAVE a title.

I was 11. Burst into tears after the game because my dad said something that rubbed me the wrong way. I've only watched Smart's shot one time since then. Every other time, I flipped the channel before the CBS intro got to that point.

 

[CuyahogaCuse]

Here's another one from the way back machine / non tourney category.

I submit UConn from the 1990 Big East Tournament.

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/12/sports/uconn-beats-syracuse-for-big-east-title.html

Recognize that prior to that game, UConn and Seton Hall basketball had been synonymous. Both were Big East cellar dwellers. For you young guys and gals, imagine playing historically inept Rutgers for the Big East title. That's what this was like.

So I grew up in Connecticut. Dad worked at UConn. Stepmom too. And sister went there. It was the last day of spring break, and my college roommate from Cape Cod had made his way to my place, and we expected to win. Except. We didn't. I honestly don't remember much about the game. But I do recall the aftermath.

We we're supposed to take a bus back to Cuse from Springfield. Except Greyhound went on strike. After hours of delays, we caught a Peter Pan bus destined for Syracuse. Except it stopped in Albany around midnight. And there we sat ... all night. Under the "rock that is Albany" as we coined that bus station.

Finally caught a bus the next morning to complete the journey.

The rest is history. UConn became a rival and ascended. But despite call their success, they're still in the AAC and essentially irrelevant now. For that, I'm grateful.

PostScript: With UConn, plus Rhode Island, UMass and Vermont on the resume, I never want to see us come across Maine or New Hampshire in the tourney some year. I'm done with meaningful games against New England state schools in March.

 

[thebigeast44]

Nothing will ever remotely come close to the loss in the 1987 national championship game.

 

[thebigeast44]

1) '87 IU, title game
2) '89 Illini, elite 8 - 89 team had so much talent

To this day, I don't feel bad about the 89 loss. Disappointed yes. But that was 2 great teams going up against each other that could have gone either way. Can you just imagine how much better college basketball would be if we could enjoy games and teams like that again. Sadly, an era that will likely never come again.

 

[CAOrange]

Never post, lurk like crazy. I've lived in California for most of the past 17 years, don't get to really any games in person.
From 05-07 I was in grad school at Northwestern and lived in Evanston outside Chicago.
In 2006 Cuse was coming to town in early March to play the lowly Blue Demons. GMac was a senior, team also had Devo, Watkins, and a not-yet-bloomed Rautins, Onuaku, and Nichols.

Wife (also a huge fan) and I spring big dollars for great court side seats at the godforsaken Allstate Arena. So excited.
It was never close. DePaul looked like the Globetrotters. We just sat and watched our beloved Orange get absolutely demolished.
The Tourney losses have been brutal, for me probably the Vermont loss for which I was in Vegas and pounded Cuse every which way, then had my Pac 10 buddies giving me crap the rest of the trip about the loss.

But the DePaul game was just soul crushing.

 

[Cowtown]

Quite frankly I don't know how you people who are old enough to remember Indiana were able to function after a dagger like that.

No way could I handle a loss like that now...and we HAVE a title.

I can assure you, it wasn't pretty.

 

[SyracuseTD]

Ohio State in 2012. Aaron Craft's dumb rosy cheeks haunt me to this day.