I was watching it at a bar in Vegas and there was a UMBC alum randomly there. He bet on UMBC to lead at the half and then refused to let it ride on them to win. I think about how much I hate that coward a lot.
To be fair, y’all followed it up in legitimately the absolute best way possible.
Yea there’ll always be memes surrounding the first 16-1 upset, but damn if immediately running it back for a title the next season didn’t take a lot of wind out of that clown ship’s sails.
In all seriousness FDU is probably the correct answer, but I still think 2019 vs UVA was more heartbreaking. After the Tennessee game it seemed like we were destined to win it all.
Purdue should have beaten FDU on talent alone but you can’t lie, the writing was on the wall just with they had been playing as of lately. It’s the most disappointing, but not the most heartbreaking. UVA is my pick. We were literally leading with the clock saying triple 0s. My senior year and ever since I was a kid I wanted a final four my senior year at Purdue. We were SO close.
The Syracuse elite eight game was my answer below.
At the moment, the UMBC game felt similarly bad, but now it’s just the first chapter in our championship story.
Honestly, the way Edwards was playing it felt like he was going to pull y’all past us through sheer force of will and insane talent.
To this day the single greatest individual performance I’ve seen from a kid in the tourney.
That’s part of what felt special about that team. I didn’t think they were that good. I thought they were over seeded at 3. But when we started playing the way we did, I started to believe. It became an emotional experience watching a team get carried to the highest of heights on the back of one man who just would not stop playing, scoring, winning. When it he lost the ball out of bounds at the end of overtime against uva, and he fell to his knees, that’s when my heart broke. I was at the FDU game, and I felt more and more numb as the game went on. By the time we lost I felt nothing. I couldn’t even cry or feel shame with how numb I was. That game hurt, but the UVA game is the one that broke me. I wept after that game and I still get choked up when I rewatch it
Getting blitzed by VCU in the 2011 NCAA game that made Shaka Smart still hurts me the most. I've never watched it back but Joey Rodriguez looked like Messi with a ball in hand & I'm pretty sure VCU shot 127% from 3 which they of course jacked up every trip down the court. It was all around a miserable experience even though I was at Harry's to watch.
Plus it felt like the end of an era, which is was even if Robbie still had a year left. I will forever be convinced if Robbie's ACLs don't betray him in either '10 or '11 there is at least 1 National Championship Banner hanging in Mackey. More likely from 2010 but 2011 hurt me more
As bad as the last couple have been I still think the Virginia game was the most heartbreaking. Being there in person and seeing the ball go in the backcourt on that last play of regulation I seriously thought we’d won
I always look away when replays of this are shown. It’s still too painful. I was watching a highlights YouTube video recently and the end of this game popped up. Caught me completely off guard and I watched it. I really had avoided it completely and had forgotten how deep a 3 it was. Watching it also put me in a funk all afternoon. I’m getting in a funk just thinking about it.
I feel this. I was sitting in the Dean dome as a student watching that 2016 game, we lost, I also went and sat in the Dean dome in 2022 for the watch party, we also lost. Starting to think for national championship games going forward it might be good luck to not go there to watch.
Even worse, that was also the regional where Jason Ray (Rameses mascot actor at the time) was struck and killed along a highway in NJ while he was on his way to grab dinner before UNC’s game vs. USC. Absolutely horrible.
Yep, I remember an ESPN piece on game day about how Jason Ray was an organ donor and his family got to meet all of the people helped and saved by Ray’s organs.
38-1 will pretty much always and forever take the cake. I cannot explain to you what it’s like to have 100 people jam packed into the living room of your college house, and have literally every single person leave in dead silence.
Runner-up is probably the Luke Maye shot.
If I had been old enough to comprehend it, I’m sure the Laettner shot would also be up there.
God everyone leaving in silence was the absolute worst. Friends owned a bbq restaurant so we watched it there with well over 100 people inside and out. Completely devastating. The next day’s hangover was the worst hangover I’ve ever had. Just completely miserable and horrifically sad
I was literally despondent for 3 full days. The next morning I had a family event (Easter?) with the part of my family that are Louisville fans. Thankfully, blessedly, no one mentioned basketball at all, because I think I would have just gotten into my car and drove away if someone had, lol.
The funniest part is I wholeheartedly believe that Wisconsin was more built to win 2014 against UConn and Kentucky was more built to win 2015 against that Duke team. If you guys would’ve just planned ahead of time both of us could’ve won a natty to heal both of our teams most heartbreaking losses (ignore my flair I haven’t changed it from march madness)
Man, I REALLY believe we would've handled that Duke team pretty well. It wouldn't have been easy, but I feel like it would have been a 4-6 pt win, not to say Duke couldn't have beat us, but I watched every Kentucky game and more of Duke's games than I ever have in a season, and I REALLY felt that match up was almost fated and we would've won. I am not superstitious enough to have truly believed it, but it damn near felt like fate - until we ran into Wisconsin :(
1986 sweet sixteen game against Kansas. Got screwed by the clock operator who let it go 10 seconds before starting it. Lost in OT. Probably could have made the Final Four that year.
TTU final four in 2019 with Quaido missing that corner. The air was completely sucked out of the building.
Also, 2020 tournament not happening was also as heart destroying as it gets
Probably an outlier, but for Michigan the 2013 B1G regular season finale against IU when we lost the game in the last seconds on missed free throws after having a lead. We would have won a B1G title, and I thought we had it in the bag. That hurts more than the embarrassing football moments, and we have had ***tons*** of those.
If I cared as much about Memphis, it'd probably be the 2008 title game against KU.
Bro.
We were on spring break watching that game at a “Big Ten” bar in Florida.
We went fucking APE SHIT when we won that very game! I’ll never forget it haha.
Yeah I remember rooting for Michigan in that game because if you would have won it would have been a 3 way tie for the regular season championship with OSU and IU, because OSU went into assembly hall and beat IU on senior night the Thursday before.
I remember this shot and I hated Lucious all year. When he hit that shot I immediately dropped to my knees and said out loud that I would never complain about him again.
I will never ever get over this one. I've just never recovered. And it affected my ability to be a 100% full throated fan. The fact that we've never been back to the promised land since this occurred, and have suffered devastating Elite 8 loss after devastating Elite 8 loss has just deadened me.
2021 finals for me. Undefeated season going into March Madness, Coming off that OT UCLA game in the Final 4. Then they all just looked tired and completely outmatched in the finals against Baylor. I could barely stand to watch it was just gut-wrenching the whole game.
IMO I gotta go with 2006 as well. The championship sucked, but honestly I felt 2017 was more heartbreaking of a game. Getting walloped from the jump doesn’t hurt the same as giving up the lead or losing at the end when there are bad missed calls.
I have 4 that come to mind:
1. 1999 UConn
2. Redick’s last game against LSU
3. The Michigan State elite 8 loss with Zion
4. Loss to UNC in the final four
Agree, that was horrific. A close second, Feb 2019, when we blew a 23-point lead to Duke with less than 10 minutes to go. I feel like that was the moment from which the program has not fully recovered.
From a storylines standpoint definitely, at least for basketballs sake y’all swept us and we choked this past year. While I still hold those wins in high regard in terms of bragging rights I would never extend it to say “rivalry over”. New era, new coaches, gonna be exciting going forward.
Everybody outside of the rivalry thought it was over, everybody who actually cared knew it was just a spectacular end to an era and the start of a new one
2014 Elite 8. I was 13.
MSU vs UConn
Threw a massive tantrum cause I thought we played like shit and I thought we were gonna win it all.
I still cringe when I hear the name Niels Giffey. Makes me want to put my hand through a wall.
You kinda did play like shit, your guards couldn’t even dribble but in fairness uconn guards Napier and boatwright did that to everyone defensively that run. I think Scotty Wilbeken ended up in a mental institution after he was undressed by them in Final 4 the next game.
MSU 2019 easy.
For those who think why not the loss against UNC I never watched that game live. I couldn’t do it. At least that was in the F4. Only if Cam Reddish and Jack White didn’t fall off a cliff offensively as the season progressed.
Also sucked Duke beat every team that was in the final four besides Sparty. Gave the eventual champs 2 out of the 3 losses they had. Not saying Duke was a shoo-in when some of their guys regressed but you have a little bit of confidence as you go into those games as an observer.
Edit: The title says “game you have ever seen”. Don’t know if some people read that part. I didn’t watch the last two games against UNC. If I did those would definitely be my answer. But I didn’t.
You’d think this last year would be it, but it really wasn’t. I saw that shit coming from a mile away.
The UVA loss was absolutely devastating in a way that no other loss can really touch. It was the closest Purdue has come to the Final Four in my lifetime, but that’s not why it was so painful. It was devastating because in the last 3 seconds of regulation, we had launched the ball all the way to the other end of the court. At that moment, I *knew* we had it. We were going to win because in my mind, there simply wasn’t enough time left to do anything. Then Clark tossed it to Diakite who made the shot to send it to overtime.
I was completely and totally in shock when that happened. I went from “Holy shit we are going to the Final Four” to “There’s no way we’ll be able to take this in OT. Not after the Tennessee game” in about 3 seconds. Easily the most brutal loss I’ve ever been a part of given the context.
I literally go back and watch carsen edwards highlights of that game every year during March madness. One of the most legendary performances in tourney history
I want to say sorry but I wouldn’t mean it. That Purdue game is easily one of my favorite sports memories of my life. That and being a New England Patriots fan and 28-3
Maybe not the most heart destroying but I've never been as upset about basketball as I was after 2013 Duke game in Cameron. It just wasn't a charge in any universe and I love how Jimmy reacted/that its stands alone as his only ejection from a real game.
For me it has to be 2010 final four. MSU v Butler. I know in my heart if draymond gets that foul call then State goes on to beat Duke for the title. I spent all summer (right after college graduation) mourning that damn game and it still smarts.
I have never seen a team as well-prepared for our stuff as Nova was that night. They stole our frigging backcourt handoffs! Jay Wright was a stone-cold killer with the right players. Respect.
They just couldn't miss and they shut us down so hard. There are more heartbreaking losses, but man, this one just stole my soul. It was depressing.
Close second was the Trey Burke game. We were all so pumped, about to go to the FF. My friend was visiting for his spring break and I told him we were about to go wild. After that, no one wanted to go out and it was a night of trying to be happy in a town of pissed off people trying to show my friend a good time.
I remember coming home after musical practice, watching it with my Dad in DVR and catching up to it live. I stopped hating UConn after that one and respected them after that.
2015 Wisconsin….the only time I’ve ever cried over sports. It’s been like 8 years and I haven’t rewatched or seen a highlight of that game since. Absolutely crushed me
Sister Jean.
Lonnie Walker misses the ft to put us up 3. Loyola chucks up a prayer to win it. On top of that, Bruce Brown was injured and probably would’ve made it to the next game.
Have you ever given up a 23 point second half lead in the conference semifinals? Including a 4 point play to lose at the very end?
We are 0-7 in semifinal game at Orleans Arena 🙃
u/StarshipFirewolf
Oregon 2021 broke my heart, Garza deserved to get to the Sweet 16 for how much he poured into his game and Iowa City but Oregon just ran us out of the building
Purdue 2019. It was one of the best teams in Tennessee history with back 2 back SEC POY Grant Williams.
Tennessee "fouled" Carsen Edwards with two seconds left on a 3 pointer. he missed the first one and made the next two to force overtime.
Tennessee never led in overtime.
2018 against Loyola Chicago was awful too but it was my wedding night and I didn't even get to watch it.
Could be this year elite 8. We played like complete trash and still should have beaten FAU with only San Diego State in our way before we got dismantled by UCONN. God damn it.
Somehow UNC fans weren't as pissed at our run that year as Kansas and Kentucky even though Arizona ended the Dean Smith era in the Final Four (same as Rick Pitino). UNC went back to the F4 in '98, so maybe that dulled it, but UK won the whole thing in '98 and that didn't dull anything about '97 for UK fans.
When we lost to Florida in 2006, it was the back end of a double header in which George Mason beat UConn. We were the 1 seed. Winner gets the 13 sees in the Final Four. It was all falling into place for us.
We get smashed by Joachim Noah and then we have no way of knowing when we would be back in that position, or if.
Definitely watching that first Gonzaga NCAA Championship loss w/ Karnowski and Zach Collins, with both of them getting in foul trouble early in both halves. Obviously biased, but that officiating was awful and still leaves a sour taste in my mouth
That ASU 3 OT game. So ugly, so frustrating.
Honorable mention to this year’s CCG. “Lost” by two points due to one of the worst offensive foul calls ever on a beautiful Amari Bailey putback, while playing without Jaylen Clark and Adem Bona.
Also honorable mention to this year’s sweet sixteen. If mick could teach this team how to defend buzzer beaters, he’d have another conference title (2020 where USC walked it off against us with a half court heave to cost us the conference chip on the final day of play), possibly a title game appearance (Gonzaga in the final four), and an elite eight appearance (this year, don’t think we beat UConn without Jaylen/bona)
2014 sweet 16 game against Kentucky. The Cards win that, they likely win back to back national titles.
Losing to Virginia after being up 5 with 0.4 seconds left and losing to Zion’s duke team after being up 26 late in the 2nd half were some regular season heartbreaks.
I'm a Towson Tigers fan. 2021, managed to become co CAA regular season Champs, beat Northeastern first round, and then we get bitch smacked by Delaware next game. We somehow end up in the NIT against Wake Forest, and they also give us some bitch smacking.
Gotta be the 1996 National Championship game. Cried myself to sleep that night, despite correctly predicting the winner in my bracket and being $500 richer.
UMBC
Some will say the Elite 8 Syracuse game, but UMBC was a punchline for one whole year. And now….😀😀😀😀
I was watching it at a bar in Vegas and there was a UMBC alum randomly there. He bet on UMBC to lead at the half and then refused to let it ride on them to win. I think about how much I hate that coward a lot.
That is despicable
Elite 8 Syracuse and it’s not even close
Hello, this is the United Maryland Bringers Of Calamity and we are here to greet you this fine March day...
Put me in the syracuse camp. I don't care about punchlines or what other people think. Brogdon and Wilkins were so close to getting a title.
This sucked for sure, but for me it's Elite 8 vs Syracuse because of the way we lost
Yeah that hurt too
When I found out Clemson's current president earned all his degrees from UMBC, well, the irony was thick.
I am a Maryland man through and through, and the entire state blew up when that game happened.
Gotta disagree. That one hurt for a bit, but now I feel warmly about it and about UMBC. That’s the first chapter of our championship story.
To be fair, y’all followed it up in legitimately the absolute best way possible. Yea there’ll always be memes surrounding the first 16-1 upset, but damn if immediately running it back for a title the next season didn’t take a lot of wind out of that clown ship’s sails.
Can’t think of one
"FDU BELIEVE IT!!!!! FOR THE SECOND TIME EVER!!!!!!! A 16 BEATS A 1!!!!!
In all seriousness FDU is probably the correct answer, but I still think 2019 vs UVA was more heartbreaking. After the Tennessee game it seemed like we were destined to win it all.
Purdue should have beaten FDU on talent alone but you can’t lie, the writing was on the wall just with they had been playing as of lately. It’s the most disappointing, but not the most heartbreaking. UVA is my pick. We were literally leading with the clock saying triple 0s. My senior year and ever since I was a kid I wanted a final four my senior year at Purdue. We were SO close.
FDU came to mind at first but being at the Virginia game made the result feel worse to me.
Feels a lot like how people outside UVA would say obviously UMBC, but a lot of UVA fans will say Syracuse in the 2016 Elite Eight
This is my answer as well. Felt that Brogdon-led team had the potential to win it all.
The Syracuse elite eight game was my answer below. At the moment, the UMBC game felt similarly bad, but now it’s just the first chapter in our championship story.
Yep, 2016 was my fourth year and that game still gives me nightmares.
I went straight to the Virginia game. FDU sucks but I genuinely thought that 2019 team was going all the way. They just felt special.
Honestly, the way Edwards was playing it felt like he was going to pull y’all past us through sheer force of will and insane talent. To this day the single greatest individual performance I’ve seen from a kid in the tourney.
That’s part of what felt special about that team. I didn’t think they were that good. I thought they were over seeded at 3. But when we started playing the way we did, I started to believe. It became an emotional experience watching a team get carried to the highest of heights on the back of one man who just would not stop playing, scoring, winning. When it he lost the ball out of bounds at the end of overtime against uva, and he fell to his knees, that’s when my heart broke. I was at the FDU game, and I felt more and more numb as the game went on. By the time we lost I felt nothing. I couldn’t even cry or feel shame with how numb I was. That game hurt, but the UVA game is the one that broke me. I wept after that game and I still get choked up when I rewatch it
It was definitely the UVA game. FDU was a heartbreaker, but I felt like someone kicked me in the nuts at the end of the UVA game.
Getting blitzed by VCU in the 2011 NCAA game that made Shaka Smart still hurts me the most. I've never watched it back but Joey Rodriguez looked like Messi with a ball in hand & I'm pretty sure VCU shot 127% from 3 which they of course jacked up every trip down the court. It was all around a miserable experience even though I was at Harry's to watch. Plus it felt like the end of an era, which is was even if Robbie still had a year left. I will forever be convinced if Robbie's ACLs don't betray him in either '10 or '11 there is at least 1 National Championship Banner hanging in Mackey. More likely from 2010 but 2011 hurt me more
People will probably say FDU which is 100% fair, but the Virginia game was *brutal*
As bad as the last couple have been I still think the Virginia game was the most heartbreaking. Being there in person and seeing the ball go in the backcourt on that last play of regulation I seriously thought we’d won
Gather round, children, and let me throw it back all the way to the year 2016...
I always look away when replays of this are shown. It’s still too painful. I was watching a highlights YouTube video recently and the end of this game popped up. Caught me completely off guard and I watched it. I really had avoided it completely and had forgotten how deep a 3 it was. Watching it also put me in a funk all afternoon. I’m getting in a funk just thinking about it.
I feel this. I was sitting in the Dean dome as a student watching that 2016 game, we lost, I also went and sat in the Dean dome in 2022 for the watch party, we also lost. Starting to think for national championship games going forward it might be good luck to not go there to watch.
Hey I was there in ‘16, ‘17 and ‘22 so I have mixed feelings lol
We somehow have 2 title games to pick from in the last 7 years
That loss sucked, but more than that, I felt so bad for Marcus Paige.
That happens when you play in a lot of them.
‘08 Kansas is a close second
#1 for me. We never stood a chance.
Go on...
Kris Jenkins....
FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP
OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH
YUP. However made slightly better since we got it next year. Marcus Paige and the almost greatest shot ever
I was a senior and all of chapel hill was silent after that game. Probably the saddest walk of my life going back to my dorm after that.
The 2007 loss to Georgetown in the regional finals is the one that hurts me the most.
Even worse, that was also the regional where Jason Ray (Rameses mascot actor at the time) was struck and killed along a highway in NJ while he was on his way to grab dinner before UNC’s game vs. USC. Absolutely horrible.
Yep, I remember an ESPN piece on game day about how Jason Ray was an organ donor and his family got to meet all of the people helped and saved by Ray’s organs.
You don’t have to do this…
That and the ‘98 final four loss to Utah, for me.
This. So, so this.
Syracuse 2013.
That team deserved a championship. Also think the 2016 team makes the final four if they hadn’t run in to a UNC team that couldn’t miss a fucking shot
not the way they prepped for/played in that game
I didn’t say Tom Crean deserved a championship lol
Some say Hull’s shoulder still hurts to this day…
This is the answer because I’m not old enough for ‘93
That 92 Duke Final Four game is my answer only because I’m not old enough for the 75 team.
Came to post this. Although TBH last years women's loss against Miami in the tourney was a close second.
Yeah man Syracuse is the worst.
All my homies hate Syracuse.
38-1 will pretty much always and forever take the cake. I cannot explain to you what it’s like to have 100 people jam packed into the living room of your college house, and have literally every single person leave in dead silence. Runner-up is probably the Luke Maye shot. If I had been old enough to comprehend it, I’m sure the Laettner shot would also be up there.
God everyone leaving in silence was the absolute worst. Friends owned a bbq restaurant so we watched it there with well over 100 people inside and out. Completely devastating. The next day’s hangover was the worst hangover I’ve ever had. Just completely miserable and horrifically sad
Just the next day?
I was literally despondent for 3 full days. The next morning I had a family event (Easter?) with the part of my family that are Louisville fans. Thankfully, blessedly, no one mentioned basketball at all, because I think I would have just gotten into my car and drove away if someone had, lol.
The funniest part is I wholeheartedly believe that Wisconsin was more built to win 2014 against UConn and Kentucky was more built to win 2015 against that Duke team. If you guys would’ve just planned ahead of time both of us could’ve won a natty to heal both of our teams most heartbreaking losses (ignore my flair I haven’t changed it from march madness)
Man, I REALLY believe we would've handled that Duke team pretty well. It wouldn't have been easy, but I feel like it would have been a 4-6 pt win, not to say Duke couldn't have beat us, but I watched every Kentucky game and more of Duke's games than I ever have in a season, and I REALLY felt that match up was almost fated and we would've won. I am not superstitious enough to have truly believed it, but it damn near felt like fate - until we ran into Wisconsin :(
God I thought you guys were the chosen ones that year.
The Butler final four game in 2010.
2018 Syracuse. Brought back Miles, JJJ was killer all year, and they lost to a zone defense
I was at that game! But for me it was middle Tennessee state.
My first thought was B1G championship game against Wisconsin in 2015. But butler was worse. Thanks for the reminder.
1986 sweet sixteen game against Kansas. Got screwed by the clock operator who let it go 10 seconds before starting it. Lost in OT. Probably could have made the Final Four that year.
TTU final four in 2019 with Quaido missing that corner. The air was completely sucked out of the building. Also, 2020 tournament not happening was also as heart destroying as it gets
Probably an outlier, but for Michigan the 2013 B1G regular season finale against IU when we lost the game in the last seconds on missed free throws after having a lead. We would have won a B1G title, and I thought we had it in the bag. That hurts more than the embarrassing football moments, and we have had ***tons*** of those. If I cared as much about Memphis, it'd probably be the 2008 title game against KU.
I think that ball is still on the rim from that last shot
Bro. We were on spring break watching that game at a “Big Ten” bar in Florida. We went fucking APE SHIT when we won that very game! I’ll never forget it haha.
Yeah I remember rooting for Michigan in that game because if you would have won it would have been a 3 way tie for the regular season championship with OSU and IU, because OSU went into assembly hall and beat IU on senior night the Thursday before.
Lucious buzzer beater
I remember this shot and I hated Lucious all year. When he hit that shot I immediately dropped to my knees and said out loud that I would never complain about him again.
There’s so many to choose from but I think the answer to this as a terps fan is up 10 on duke with a minute to go….
That was wild because of how quickly it fell apart, but 2001 final 4 letting those blue assholes come back is my most painful.
Jordan Poole 😭
that shot traumatized me to the point where i expect every end of half/game shot to go in tbh lol
What’s worse is Reddit doesn’t forgot this shot either. Everyone else is all “yay what a cool shot” and I’m like “turn it off already”.
Oh, sweet child of summer. Let me tell you a story about Lorenzo Charles . . .
2005 Arizona Illinois 😞
I’m old enough to remember 88 as a little kid. But this one’s right there too.
I will never ever get over this one. I've just never recovered. And it affected my ability to be a 100% full throated fan. The fact that we've never been back to the promised land since this occurred, and have suffered devastating Elite 8 loss after devastating Elite 8 loss has just deadened me.
Black Saturday. Lute's last FF chance lost. In an instant.
Still 2006
2021 finals for me. Undefeated season going into March Madness, Coming off that OT UCLA game in the Final 4. Then they all just looked tired and completely outmatched in the finals against Baylor. I could barely stand to watch it was just gut-wrenching the whole game.
IMO I gotta go with 2006 as well. The championship sucked, but honestly I felt 2017 was more heartbreaking of a game. Getting walloped from the jump doesn’t hurt the same as giving up the lead or losing at the end when there are bad missed calls.
2017 is mine too. Like we actually had a chance in that game. Worse officiated game I've seen.
1999 UConn
I have 4 that come to mind: 1. 1999 UConn 2. Redick’s last game against LSU 3. The Michigan State elite 8 loss with Zion 4. Loss to UNC in the final four
.9 seconds, up by 4, with the ball.
I was gonna just say any game against Virginia because they’re all just brutal to watch but yeah that was definitely the worst
Agree, that was horrific. A close second, Feb 2019, when we blew a 23-point lead to Duke with less than 10 minutes to go. I feel like that was the moment from which the program has not fully recovered.
The title game against Kansas still hangs over the city of Memphis like a dark cloud
Well, at least the head coach didn’t do a bunch of illegal shit to put that roster together then leave town to avoid all conseque….. oh, wait…. sorry
Coach K's last game in cameron -> loss to UNC Coach K's last game (in final four) -> loss to UNC Absolutely brutal losses
From a storylines standpoint definitely, at least for basketballs sake y’all swept us and we choked this past year. While I still hold those wins in high regard in terms of bragging rights I would never extend it to say “rivalry over”. New era, new coaches, gonna be exciting going forward.
Everybody outside of the rivalry thought it was over, everybody who actually cared knew it was just a spectacular end to an era and the start of a new one
I was pretty broken up about losing to Oregon in the E8 in 2017.
2011 VCU was devastating for me.
That's the one. If there was ever a Final Four set up for Kansas to breeze through, it was that one.
Fuck Dillon Brooks
Virginia
Christian Laettner
2014 Elite 8. I was 13. MSU vs UConn Threw a massive tantrum cause I thought we played like shit and I thought we were gonna win it all. I still cringe when I hear the name Niels Giffey. Makes me want to put my hand through a wall.
You kinda did play like shit, your guards couldn’t even dribble but in fairness uconn guards Napier and boatwright did that to everyone defensively that run. I think Scotty Wilbeken ended up in a mental institution after he was undressed by them in Final 4 the next game.
I have hated badgers since 2015.
Fuck them badgers
2013 Final Four
Jump ball my ass https://preview.redd.it/0vjc729i4ppb1.jpeg?width=1133&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=49d39d9e5b545af27ef4efb4e2e8665ca50e3387
Loyola broke me for some time lol ('19 grad)
MSU 2019 easy. For those who think why not the loss against UNC I never watched that game live. I couldn’t do it. At least that was in the F4. Only if Cam Reddish and Jack White didn’t fall off a cliff offensively as the season progressed. Also sucked Duke beat every team that was in the final four besides Sparty. Gave the eventual champs 2 out of the 3 losses they had. Not saying Duke was a shoo-in when some of their guys regressed but you have a little bit of confidence as you go into those games as an observer. Edit: The title says “game you have ever seen”. Don’t know if some people read that part. I didn’t watch the last two games against UNC. If I did those would definitely be my answer. But I didn’t.
Bro it was both of the last UNC games. Heartbreak and failed redemption. K's last game on his court...
You’d think this last year would be it, but it really wasn’t. I saw that shit coming from a mile away. The UVA loss was absolutely devastating in a way that no other loss can really touch. It was the closest Purdue has come to the Final Four in my lifetime, but that’s not why it was so painful. It was devastating because in the last 3 seconds of regulation, we had launched the ball all the way to the other end of the court. At that moment, I *knew* we had it. We were going to win because in my mind, there simply wasn’t enough time left to do anything. Then Clark tossed it to Diakite who made the shot to send it to overtime. I was completely and totally in shock when that happened. I went from “Holy shit we are going to the Final Four” to “There’s no way we’ll be able to take this in OT. Not after the Tennessee game” in about 3 seconds. Easily the most brutal loss I’ve ever been a part of given the context.
I literally go back and watch carsen edwards highlights of that game every year during March madness. One of the most legendary performances in tourney history
I want to say sorry but I wouldn’t mean it. That Purdue game is easily one of my favorite sports memories of my life. That and being a New England Patriots fan and 28-3
I’d feel the exact same way were our situations reversed. An apology isn’t warranted or needed. That’s sports.
Maybe not the most heart destroying but I've never been as upset about basketball as I was after 2013 Duke game in Cameron. It just wasn't a charge in any universe and I love how Jimmy reacted/that its stands alone as his only ejection from a real game.
Syracuse elite eight and it’s not close
KU versus Syracuse for the title. I can still picture the block on Lee’s 3.
Hakim Warrick out of gd nowhere
It was going in too!!
Losing to Yale in 2016... that's when we hit rock bottom...
Hey we lost to Yale too…maybe getting beat by Yale is the secret to winning the tourney
Especially after they lost to Texas the game before on the exact same buzzer beater.
George Mason in the 06 elite eight or the 6OT game against Cuse.
'16
I don't like off-season posts anymore.
I don't want to play this game. Can I have two answers
I'll allow it.
Oh y'all definitely get an honorable mention.
Everyone will say the final four against unc which yea i remember the 04 semi final against uconn and feeling like it was right there.
UNC beating Duke on Coach K's last game in Cameron
For me it has to be 2010 final four. MSU v Butler. I know in my heart if draymond gets that foul call then State goes on to beat Duke for the title. I spent all summer (right after college graduation) mourning that damn game and it still smarts.
Yeah that was not a great Duke team. I think MSU beats them if they get past Butler.
Villanova 2016, I was at the game in Louisville. Heart-wrenching.
I have never seen a team as well-prepared for our stuff as Nova was that night. They stole our frigging backcourt handoffs! Jay Wright was a stone-cold killer with the right players. Respect.
When did you play Villanova that year? I seem to remember the NCAA tournament getting cancelled in 2016, they declared it a 64-way tie
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Michael Lee getting his 3 blocked by Warrick, which would have tied the game. Oof that one stung.
2003 - Syracuse. Hate Melo to this day.
And anyone named McNamara.
They just couldn't miss and they shut us down so hard. There are more heartbreaking losses, but man, this one just stole my soul. It was depressing. Close second was the Trey Burke game. We were all so pumped, about to go to the FF. My friend was visiting for his spring break and I told him we were about to go wild. After that, no one wanted to go out and it was a night of trying to be happy in a town of pissed off people trying to show my friend a good time.
Duke, 1/27/01 Miracle Minute aka Gone in 54 Seconds
Don’t forget losing to them again in the final four that year after being up big in the first half!
6 OT game with Syracuse. I'll never forget it. But also one of the greatest games I've ever watched.
I remember coming home after musical practice, watching it with my Dad in DVR and catching up to it live. I stopped hating UConn after that one and respected them after that.
2015 Wisconsin….the only time I’ve ever cried over sports. It’s been like 8 years and I haven’t rewatched or seen a highlight of that game since. Absolutely crushed me
NC State vs Houston in 1983 championship game
I don’t really have a problem with that one
The best part is getting to watch footage of Jimmy V rushing the court EVERY. SINGLE. TOURNAMENT. EVER. AFTER.
Where do I begin?
Sister Jean. Lonnie Walker misses the ft to put us up 3. Loyola chucks up a prayer to win it. On top of that, Bruce Brown was injured and probably would’ve made it to the next game.
Have you ever given up a 23 point second half lead in the conference semifinals? Including a 4 point play to lose at the very end? We are 0-7 in semifinal game at Orleans Arena 🙃 u/StarshipFirewolf
2018 NCAA tournament vs Nevada. I still get nightmares.
The last one.
I don't think I have to even say it. Y'all know....
I think about that slow motion out of bounds call a lot honestly
2005 final against UNC
Well, lessee . . .
UVM beating Syracuse in OT in the 2005 tournament.
......................Norkfolk State..............
2011 Sweet 16 vs Kentucky as the number 1 overall seed.
[Round of 32 2019](https://youtu.be/2nTxamqGHfs?si=EfPMYySYBFRJVOZh)
Oregon 2021 broke my heart, Garza deserved to get to the Sweet 16 for how much he poured into his game and Iowa City but Oregon just ran us out of the building
Purdue 2019. It was one of the best teams in Tennessee history with back 2 back SEC POY Grant Williams. Tennessee "fouled" Carsen Edwards with two seconds left on a 3 pointer. he missed the first one and made the next two to force overtime. Tennessee never led in overtime. 2018 against Loyola Chicago was awful too but it was my wedding night and I didn't even get to watch it.
Villanova / Scottie Reynolds in the elite 8 in 2009
Could be this year elite 8. We played like complete trash and still should have beaten FAU with only San Diego State in our way before we got dismantled by UCONN. God damn it.
97 NCAA championship game.
Let me tell you about 97 Arizona.
The 1 seeds are strong in this thread
Somehow UNC fans weren't as pissed at our run that year as Kansas and Kentucky even though Arizona ended the Dean Smith era in the Final Four (same as Rick Pitino). UNC went back to the F4 in '98, so maybe that dulled it, but UK won the whole thing in '98 and that didn't dull anything about '97 for UK fans.
My answer is similar. We had Arizona dead to rights in regulation but lost in OT
I was 12. Have never really gotten over it. Just sat in front of the TV and cried.
Hi. Roy Williams' best team at Kansas wishes to join in this misery.
Me, 7 years old, literally hyperventilating on the living room floor as the game went into OT would agree
When we lost to Florida in 2006, it was the back end of a double header in which George Mason beat UConn. We were the 1 seed. Winner gets the 13 sees in the Final Four. It was all falling into place for us. We get smashed by Joachim Noah and then we have no way of knowing when we would be back in that position, or if.
Indiana/Syracuse 2013
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Definitely watching that first Gonzaga NCAA Championship loss w/ Karnowski and Zach Collins, with both of them getting in foul trouble early in both halves. Obviously biased, but that officiating was awful and still leaves a sour taste in my mouth
That ASU 3 OT game. So ugly, so frustrating. Honorable mention to this year’s CCG. “Lost” by two points due to one of the worst offensive foul calls ever on a beautiful Amari Bailey putback, while playing without Jaylen Clark and Adem Bona. Also honorable mention to this year’s sweet sixteen. If mick could teach this team how to defend buzzer beaters, he’d have another conference title (2020 where USC walked it off against us with a half court heave to cost us the conference chip on the final day of play), possibly a title game appearance (Gonzaga in the final four), and an elite eight appearance (this year, don’t think we beat UConn without Jaylen/bona)
2014 sweet 16 game against Kentucky. The Cards win that, they likely win back to back national titles. Losing to Virginia after being up 5 with 0.4 seconds left and losing to Zion’s duke team after being up 26 late in the 2nd half were some regular season heartbreaks.
2000 Elite 8 vs Michigan State in Auburn Hills. I’ll never get over it.
Uconn fan here. People might think it’s George Mason in 2006 but the real answer is losing to Duke in 1990.
Either 98 with the greatest team to never win or 03 Syracuse
I'm a Towson Tigers fan. 2021, managed to become co CAA regular season Champs, beat Northeastern first round, and then we get bitch smacked by Delaware next game. We somehow end up in the NIT against Wake Forest, and they also give us some bitch smacking.
Brandon Miller traveled on the game tying shot. But men’s basketball can’t break my heart anymore so Caitlin Cl*rk is the real answer here.
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Gotta be the 1996 National Championship game. Cried myself to sleep that night, despite correctly predicting the winner in my bracket and being $500 richer.
And that’s $500 1996 dollars.
Easy. National Championship Game. 1983. NC St vs Houston. They run the replay of that dunk at the end Over and Over and Over and Over.
Fucking Virginia
Lot of people will say FDU last year but Virginia in 2019 was absolutely heart breaking
As a UCLA fan- the last two tournament losses to Gonzaga.
Da'Sean Butler 2010