disappointing losses

[nashvillehoyas]

1982 North Carolina
1983 Memphis State
1985 Villanova
1989 Duke
1996UMass
2007 Ohio State
2008 Davidson

[happyhoya1979]

Iowa 1980, a game that played out the same as Davidson, has to be at the top of this list just short of UNC 82. Our team would have easily beaten Louisville that year since Iona (which we beat easily) had blitzed the Cardinals in the regular season. There is truly a missing banner in McDonough from that awful afternoon.

[hoyatables]

I think 2001 (Maryland) and 2006 (Florida) were tough -- and in some ways even tougher than the Ohio State and Davidson losses. In 2001 we had a chance to beat an area rival and make a statement. And in 2006 we had a chance to beat the ultimate champions.

[sweetness]

I don't consider '01 that tough of a loss as we were definitely inferior to that Maryland team with Dixon.

[hoyatables]

Mar 29, 2008 21:01:16 GMT -5 sweetness said:

I don't consider '01 that tough of a loss as we were definitely inferior to that Maryland team with Dixon.

Sure, but seeing that we won't meet Maryland on the court anytime soon during the regular season, it was a rare chance to establish bragging rights against a crosstown rival.

[Cambridge]

Mar 29, 2008 20:03:15 GMT -5 nashvillehoyas said:

1982 North Carolina
1983 Memphis State
1985 Villanova
1989 Duke
1996UMass
2007 Ohio State
2008 Davidson

Technically the UMass loss never happened.

[tgo]

1996 uconn i think makes the list
if we didnt win the BET in 07 i think cuse 2006 BET semi's would loom larger in people's memories as well

I cant see anyway the 2001 md loss is anywhere close to the list, it would have been a big upset if we won that game (i expected us to win but still) and it would have more than likely resulted in a loss to stanford in the next game, with the disappointment in the others is not just that we lost but that we didnt get a chance to hoist a trophy or win additional games that could have led to a trophy. 06 florida stung but not close to the level of these others. 06 florida i put on par with 1993 minnesota NIT final. game we should have and could have won in an important situation but in 06 it would have still been uphill to the title (we didnt match up with the other contenders as well as we did with the gators) and 93 was only the NIT.

[DFW HOYA]

It was before my time, but the 1975 Central Michigan game probably trumps more than a few on your list.

[MCIGuy]

Hmm.

1996 BET loss to UConn. Definitely.

1993 loss to Maryland at US Air Arena. Withthe arrival of Joe Smith and that win, the Terps and Gary Williams became the unofficial kings of the area.

1996 loss to UMass in the Final Eight. Bad enough the Hoyas went down; what made it worse was the fact they were embarrassed on national TV.

1989 Final Eight loss to Duke. Like two ships passing in the night. That would be one of the last truly great Gtown teams of the JT Jr era; meanwhile Duke and Coach K's run was still just in the beginning stages. The fortunes of the ACC and the Big East seemed to change with that game too.

1987 loss to Providence in the Final Eight. A chance to get back to the Final Four without Ewing was squandered.

All three losses to Carmello's Syracuse in 2003. Three great games by Sweetney, all of them wasted.

2006 BET semi-finals loss to Syracuse. The Hoyas gave away that one.

[ichirohoya]

In my time I'd have to rate the Davidson loss and the 06 BET Cuse loss near the top.

That being said, Thank god that for the past 3 years we've been able to talk about dissappointing losses and not the endless litany of frustrating bad losses from 01-02 and 02-03.

[HoyaChris]

Mar 29, 2008 22:00:08 GMT -5 DFW HOYA said:

It was before my time, but the 1975 Central Michigan game probably trumps more than a few on your list.

The Central Michigan loss would have been more disappointing if anybody had known about it. To recap, in their first NCAA appearance since 1943, the Hoyas lost a tie game on free throws at the buzzer, when Hoya guard Jon Smith was called for an offensive foul on a jump shot 40 feet from the basket.

What reduced the disappointment?

1.) We were just happy to be there.
2.) We probably only had 100 fans in the stands since the game was played in Alabama.
3.) The program wasn't really that popular. We probably averaged 1700 fans a game in McDonough that year.
4.) Nobody saw the game on TV since it was not televised - at least back to D.C.
5.) Because it wasn't televised, the only way to follow the game was by listening to Rich on the radio. Rich was either in his first or second season and not tremendously clear. It took about a minute and a half to figure out what was going on.
6.) The game was played over spring break and nobody was on campus.

I remember being the only person on first New North who really cared. I was, however, crushed.

[RDF]

To me the most frustrating losses in the III Era (in order)

1. National Semifinal against Ohio State. Team had an opportunity and the best player on the team--or most important I should say decided to "let the game come to him" and not do what he had done to transform himself/his team from middle of road Big East team, to Champion and NCAA Championship contender. You only get so many chances and this was first time since 1989, I honestly felt Georgetown could win a National Title. To see it go without Green playing his best sucked. For that to be his last Hoya game--sucked.

2. This year's BET Tournament Final---seeing how the Hoyas played prior to Championship Saturday--the momentum was on their side and a chance to be a special team, riding a confident high prior to the tournament was there for them. Instead--we see a microcosm of what this year's team was--one that was talented, streaky, but just not physically/mentally tough enough in the big games away from DC. You can't win championships if you can't beat championship level teams away from home. To get OWNED on glass--frustrating.

3. Syracuse Loss in BET Semis---I was in a meeting and flying home and had game taped--only to have outcome told to me by my girlfriend as I entered my home--with her saying "Tough one tonight"--which ruined my night--and after watching highlights and hearing how great we played in First Half, only to get worked in 2nd--and WHO did the working, disgust.

4. Davidson game this year--had a chance to blow a team out and didn't capitalize on it. The mentality of this program should be BORN from this defeat. It should be about destroying someone when you are ahead, it should be about playing even tougher/harder when you are ahead, and it should be about more then just some shaky calls. Championship teams overcome this, they don't give a crap where they are playing, and they want to go up 37 when up 17--not relax and play down a level and get sloppy.

5. Any loss where the team is more worried about running the "system" and not playing ball. See Duke loss last year, Nova loss last year, Nova win--this year on Wallace FT's, and any game where guys pass up open, high percentage shots or pull ball out when having an advantage in open court to "run the stuff". Passive play is not going to win the big games and it's not going to win a championship.

[jerseyhoya34]

For me, I'd put it in this order, which may be affected by whether or not I was at the game --

1. BET Semis Loss to Syracuse - The frustrating part of this one was giving away the huge lead, letting SU's best player/scorer beat us, and having the second or third option have the final shot on our end. Experience made even worse by being outnumbered considerably by SU faithful and listening to Scranton Worship. This game also meant something given that we had not played in a BET Final in some time.

2. BET Final Against Pitt - This one has been discussed ad infinitum. The only thing I'd mention is that we were outhustled and didn't match Pitt's effort, which was not characteristic of GU ball and what our group had put forth for the past 2-3 years.

3. Davidson Loss - Any time you give up that kind of lead, it is a kick in the groin any way you slice it or analyze it. Watching on tv, I, at least, got the feeling that we could/would lose about half-way through the second half, so I did not get frustrated by the moment as much as someone in the crowd of UNC partisans might have. And, I did not have to endure that long car ride back from Raleigh. In hindsight, it is also becoming more clear that we lost to a team with a hot hand in Curry.

4. Villanova Loss in 2006 - This game was frustrating from the point of view of having a Big Monday, which was a big deal at the time considering what we had endured under the previous coach and what it meant in terms of recognizing our team. Then, we play sloppy, don't take care of the ball, and play timid. To make matters worse, we let the 5'10" volume shooter beat us, and what followed were threads up the wazoo about how we should have taken Scottie Reynolds. The sting is taken away a bit by things like our current 3-game streak against VU and Mr. Reynolds' 4-13, 2 rebound, 4 turnover, and 0 assist performance against KU in a regional semifinal game.

I'd put games like the Florida game, OSU game, and others in a separate category. I was not disappointed as much as I just wished that our guys achieved more and kept their runs going.

[EasyEd]

The 1985 NCAA Championship loss to Villanova is #1. All the others are way down the list.

[uptownathlete]

I hope its fresh in Sapp's mind next season that Jeff went out on a very disappointing note last season, and Roy, Pat, Jon, and Tyler went out on a disappointing note this year.

[BSM]

I'm always surprised when discussing disappointing losses that no one mentions Xavier in the 2nd round in the Hoosier Dome in 1990 or Michigan State in the 2nd Round in Dayton in 86. Xavier were led by the immortal Tyrone "T Bag" Hill and Derek Strong. Hoyas were a 3; Xavier (with Pete Gillen coaching) were a 6. Hoyas never got going and save for David Edwards throwing in some shots at the end, it wasn't close. If I remember, that was the season that Zo hurt his foot early.

The Michigan State (w/Scott Skiles) game was disappointing because the team never gelled all season. Reggie was a sophmore.

The most disappointing loss for me will always be Iowa in 1980. Ronnie Lester on one leg; Hoyas on a 15 game winning streak and Iowa shoots some crazy percentage in the 2nd half.

The story of Hoya basketball--for all the good times (and there have been a lot of good times), there's an equally long long list of games that broke hearts.

[guru]

There's an argument to be made that no other big-time hoops program has suffered as many memorable, national stage losses as we have.

We're not necessarily the pre-2004 Red Sox, but sometimes we do seem snakebit

[vcjack]

Mar 30, 2008 16:38:27 GMT -5 guru said:

There's an argument to be made that no other big-time hoops program has suffered as many memorable, national stage losses as we have.

We're not necessarily the pre-2004 Red Sox, but sometimes we do seem snakebit

The Phi Slamma Jammas laugh at this assertion, Cuse could make a good argument as well

[MCIGuy]

Mar 30, 2008 16:29:07 GMT -5 BSM said:

I'm always surprised when discussing disappointing losses that no one mentions Xavier in the 2nd round in the Hoosier Dome in 1990 or Michigan State in the 2nd Round in Dayton in 86. Xavier were led by the immortal Tyrone "T Bag" Hill and Derek Strong. Hoyas were a 3; Xavier (with Pete Gillen coaching) were a 6. Hoyas never got going and save for David Edwards throwing in some shots at the end, it wasn't close. If I remember, that was the season that Zo hurt his foot early.

1)Zo hurt his foot the following season
2)The Xavier loss was a bit of a surprise but those Hoyas had been exposed as pretenders in earlier games. The lack of a true SF hurt a bunch too.
3)Either Bryant or Tillmon picked up a bunch of early fouls and had to sit
4)Xavier had two big guys who would play in the pros


But yeah it was a disappointing loss. People still thought that Hoya team could make the Final Four (well, Vitale did at least).

[guru]

Mar 30, 2008 16:41:54 GMT -5 vcjack said:

Mar 30, 2008 16:38:27 GMT -5 guru said:

There's an argument to be made that no other big-time hoops program has suffered as many memorable, national stage losses as we have.

We're not necessarily the pre-2004 Red Sox, but sometimes we do seem snakebit

The Phi Slamma Jammas laugh at this assertion, Cuse could make a good argument as well

I suppose Cuse has had some tough ones - though the only one that leaps to mind is the 87 final - but Houston? Come on - they lost one huge game. And I'm not sure I'd call Houston a big-time program.

Look at it this way: Even our NEAR memorable losses (Princeton) are remembered more than most big upsets.