MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Mar 31, 2005 16:40:11 GMT -5
There were four times i which JT's Hoyas made it to the Elite Eight and lost. Of the four which was the most disappointing?
1980 I believe the Hoyas lost to Lute Olsen's Iowa. Never saw the game but have read some things about it.
In 1987 Reggie and the Miracles lost to Providence. My memory of that game is not that great. I may have caught a few minutes of it
In 1989 the Hoyas lost to Duke in the Meadowlands. Personally this is the most disappointing to me because this was about the time I became a regular watcher of college hoops. I hated Duke for the longest time after that.
And in 1996 AI's bunch lost to UMass. Game wasn't eevn close despite the national anticipation.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2005 16:52:24 GMT -5
'96 for me - because it was my senior year, and I had already started thinking about what it was going to be like to go see the Hoyas play in the Final Four in person....
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hoyahoyasaxa
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Post by hoyahoyasaxa on Mar 31, 2005 16:54:29 GMT -5
2005 loss to South Carolina to keep us out of the NIT Final Four. Terrible, just terrible...
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Grandpa
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Post by Grandpa on Mar 31, 2005 16:55:10 GMT -5
1996 was most disappointing to me since my fan-dom began in '92-'93 (my freshman year). Considering the talent on that team, it was quite disappointing to me. The other games were before I got into college hoops and the Hoyas, so I've got little knowledge / connection to them.
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Mar 31, 2005 16:57:09 GMT -5
Good off season topic. Of course, any time you get to one win from the Final Four and don't make it.... that is going to be disappointing.
That said, for me the most disappointing was 1980. Yes, we lost to Iowa. And, we had a 14 pt. lead in the second half. Lost the game by one point. Team had Craig Shelton Johnny Duren and Sleepy Floyd.
JT-Pops had been the coach for about 6-7 seasons and was building toward this. SHelton and Duren were seniors -- their last chance. Getting from 3-23 the year before JT to the elite eight -- WOW! that was big. No one had expected it. And there we were just moments away from taking our first trip to the final four since the NCAA's became the nation's #1 tournament decades before.
It was a VERY tough loss. For me, the most disappointing of the four.
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the_way
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Post by the_way on Mar 31, 2005 17:03:27 GMT -5
I think for me was not even the elite 8, but the Big East Championship Tournament game of 1996. Anytime you have an 11 point lead over a bitter rival like UCONN with 4 minutes to go while you were dominating the game and were the better team, and you don't score a point only to lose the game. That was heartbreaking.
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Post by ninetyoner on Mar 31, 2005 17:15:13 GMT -5
1989 against Duke. Easter Sunday afternoon. Alonzo and Laetner were both freshmen, Hoyas had dodged the bullet against Princeton in the first round. In '87 and '96 we were the lower seed (I think). In '89 we were the Number 1. Tough loss and (in retrospect) the start of the slow, significant step down in Hoya hoops. Here's to better days ahead.
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tgo
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Post by tgo on Mar 31, 2005 17:17:26 GMT -5
similar as above, since i was a senior at the game in 96 that was devastating, of course since UMASS didnt win that game then we couldnt have lost right?
We got killed in that game so it deadened the blow a little, after the game started we were never thinking about a trip to the meadowlands, long drive home from hot-lanta after that game, then working at yates that morning, brutal.
We were the 2 seed playing the 1 seed in that game, everyone thought we would lose to Hamm & Texas Tech on thursday so i hadnt had much time to build up the final four expectation yet.
Far more devastating to me was the USUCK loss in the BET that year since we had that game in hand. That still haunts me and will at least until we win one. a poll on worst BET finals loss or BET loss in general would be interesting too.
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Post by Frank Black on Mar 31, 2005 17:23:22 GMT -5
I was a junior in 1996 and that's the only one I was involved with as a real Hoya fan, so that's obviously disappointing. But I can't say it was in retrospect the worst of the four because UMass was just better. They didn't have the talent that G'town had but they were SO much better prepared and disciplined. That '96 team was maddeningly inconsistent you may remember. They lost seven times in the regular season. With guys like Othella, Victor Page, Jerome Willimas, and of course AI, that team should have won it all. But JT could not bring the talent together consistently. The 1989 team WAS dominant, only losing five times and rolling through the Big East tournament. Losing to Duke was a tough, tough pill to swallow. Losing in 1987 also could be the worst given that it was to a Providence team that the Hoyas had beaten I believe twice that year. And we were a number one seed in the NCAAs. Overall, I vote 1989.
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Post by Frank Black on Mar 31, 2005 17:28:16 GMT -5
Actually, it seems we lost to Providence at the Civic Center that year.
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HoyaChris
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Post by HoyaChris on Mar 31, 2005 17:50:15 GMT -5
I don't think that there is any question that for those of us who lived through all 4 of the elite 8 losses that the losss in 1980 was by far the worst. The reason is that, pre-Ewing, we had absolutely no expectation that we would ever get back to an elite 8 again. We were in the process of losing the two best players who had ever played for Georgetown, Craig Shelton and John Duren, as well as two other starting seniors. That departing class had been ranked for the first time in 1978 and had had awful problems with year end injuries in each of the prior two years.
The way we lost, by a point after having a big half time lead and playing well in the second half just made it worse. And 1980 was not a vintage final four year, Iowa (who beat us) Purdue, UCLA and Louisville (who won). We could have won it all.
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Mar 31, 2005 18:21:18 GMT -5
I was alive and a Hoya fan for all 4, but I was 2 years old in 1980, so I can't really reflect on the disappointment of that game. I know my father will likely choose that game, but for me it comes down to 87 and 89, and both games left young Jack in tears. I remember 1987 as being more difficult to handle, in part because I never thought they could lose to Providence, a lesson I should have learned in 1985 against Nova. The way the Friars did it with that newfangled 3 point shot seemed unfair, like the rules had been changed just for that game to allow Pitino's team to be the Cinderella story. I know now that GU was not a great team that year, but it hurt even worse to see Syracuse in a Final Four and not the Hoyas. I think that was the most painful defeat for me.
1989 in retrospect is more frustrating, as I see that game as the day the baton was passed from Georgetown to Duke as the dominant power of Eastern college basketball, a transition from the 80's to the 90's, and the beginning of the Laettner legend. It was then that I really started to hate Duke, and everyone else loved them at least for a while. Back then GU was the most hated program, now it is Duke, and I wonder what would have happened if Charles Smith had not fallen ill prior to the tournament and Princeton had not stolen the Hoyas' mojo in Providence. That team was definitely good enough to beat Seton Hall and Michigan in the Final 4, although a matchup with the Flying Illini in the final would have been awesome.
1996 was exciting before the game, and by then I knew I was going to GU, but the game was never really close. I had followed that UMass team all year living in the Boston area, so I knew they were good, but I never expected them to take it to Georgetown so badly. Travieso's block on Jerry Nichols' 3 is indelibly etched in my mind. I was disappointed, but by the time the game ended I was more resigned than anything.
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Post by WilsonBlvdHoya on Mar 31, 2005 20:17:33 GMT -5
I saw 3 of the 4 elite eight losses (in 87 I was in Peru and the shortwave radio died on me for the Providence game--I have to believe that incident will take away many years in purgatory for me, assuming I even make it there!!) and the worst, by far, was 89 for reasons explained above. GU entered the NCAAs ranked #2 in the nation, fresh off of a thrashing of SU in the BET for its 6th title in 10 years. Then the Princeton game, Charles Smith's injury, a dodging of a bullet in the regional semis against NCSU when Corchiani was called for traveling when he didn't (similar to Ray against UNC) and the ignominious end to Duke and Phil Henderson, who still doesn't have a BA to my understanding. Before that game, I had every expectation that GU would win the national championship; something I cannot say for the 80, 87 and 96 teams.
The baton of Eastern basketball supremacy was passed on that day and I look forward to the day, very soon, when JT3 wrests it back to its rightful place from the phony, supercilious and hypocritical AMEX spokesman.
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GPHoya
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Post by GPHoya on Mar 31, 2005 20:25:31 GMT -5
Jack is right that 1980 was the worst. My best friend came over with a law school buddy of his named Jerry who declared that the game was over when the Hoyas went up 14. I never saw Jerry before or since, but I will never forget or forgive him. Iowa scored on 14 out of their last 15 possessions and Ed Spriggs missed a dunk. I have have been waiting 25 years to muss up Lute Olsen's hair, but was happy to see the Illini do the job on Saturday.
The other three were like watching a car crash in slow motion and being powerless to stop it. I expected that we would win all three, but we never had control or momentum and the better team that day won each time. The 89 team was the best to go down and should have been our third national championship in a decade and if the pass had gotten to Sleepy, maybe our fourth.
It makes you appreciate UCLA all the more, though it was a little easier back then. Nevertheless, they never failed when they should have won. Only Wooden should be doing commercials on leadership.
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nodak89
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Post by nodak89 on Mar 31, 2005 21:01:53 GMT -5
'89 was my senior year, and it was DUKE!
In '87 I figured I had another chance for me and my tuba to make it to the Final Four.
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Mar 31, 2005 21:24:12 GMT -5
I totally agree with HoyaChris and GP on this one.
1996 isn't even close to the other three for me, as we were underdogs, and didn't have the better team (better personnel, but not the better team, plus we had no answer for Marcus Camby). The bummer there is that if we hadn't blown the UConn game in the Big East finals, we would have likely been a #1 seed in a different regional, and possibly made it to the final four.
The other three were each tough in their own way, but I go with 1980. The second half of that Iowa game presaged Villanova 1985. There's just no way it should have happened, but Iowa went crazy, and we fell short. I honestly think that if we had won that game, we would have won the national championship (and provided me with my dream game - GU v. UCLA for a national title), and at the time, I didn't know if we would ever get that close again. It was a killer. I consider this the second most difficult defeat in Hoya history.
The 1987 team dramatically overachieved, but I fully expected us to beat Providence. I believe we had played them three times, having split during the season, and beaten them in the Big East tournament. Unfortunately, Providence just caught fire that weekend, as before playing us, they demolished a really good Alabama team. A win in that game would have matched us with Syracuse for a fourth time, and I don't know what would have happened. I think that beating Syracuse three times that season was Pops' greatest coaching accomplishment, as Syracuse probably had the best talent in the country.
Coming into the 1989 NCAA tournament, I thought GU was going to win the national championship. We had run roughshod through the Big East tournament, and appeared to be peaking at the right time. Unfortunately, it turned out we peaked too soon. Charles Smith being below par had something to do with it, but I didn't think we played up to our ability in a single game in the NCAA tournament that year, and I wasn't surprised that we lost to Duke.
So I would say 1. 1980 2. 1987 3. 1989 (but 87 and 89 are very close) 4. 1996
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Mar 31, 2005 23:38:57 GMT -5
I totally agree with HoyaChris and GP on this one. 1996 isn't even close to the other three for me, as we were underdogs, and didn't have the better team (better personnel, but not the better team, plus we had no answer for Marcus Camby). The bummer there is that if we hadn't blown the UConn game in the Big East finals, we would have likely been a #1 seed in a different regional, and possibly made it to the final four. The Hoyas probably had too many losses to get a #1 seed. But if they had won the BET they would have been a stronger #2 seed and would have faced a lesser #1 seed if it came to that.
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HoyaFanNY
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Post by HoyaFanNY on Apr 1, 2005 7:14:52 GMT -5
1989 easily. we were hands down the best team in the country during the regular season. JT did a great job meshing newcomers zo, john turner, and eventually dikembe (even ronny and milton bell) with veterans like smitty, jj, tillmon, bryant, jefferson, allen, edwards, and winston. this teams loss to duke still haunts me to this day.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Apr 1, 2005 7:26:13 GMT -5
It's 1980.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Apr 1, 2005 9:36:32 GMT -5
1980 - no contest.
GP Hoya has already given the reasons.
The really disappointing thing was that the 1980 team could easily have taken any of the Final 4 that year.
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