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  1. #1

    Worst loss ever for me

    Okay, not what you're thinking. For whatever reason, this loss has been one of the hardest ever for me to take. Not sure why. What losses hit you guys the hardest? Before now it was always Carrawell's last game, and the 86 final (I was 12 and cried all night). I didn't cry, but I sure woke up hoping last night was a bad dream.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    New Jersey
    Quote Originally Posted by Jason W View Post
    Okay, not what you're thinking. For whatever reason, this loss has been one of the hardest ever for me to take. Not sure why. What losses hit you guys the hardest? Before now it was always Carrawell's last game, and the 86 final (I was 12 and cried all night). I didn't cry, but I sure woke up hoping last night was a bad dream.
    1986 was the worst (I was a Duke soph), 1999 was second (because the team was so talented and I hate losing to UConn), and 2004 was third (because it's a game we should have won and I hate losing to UConn).
    Rich
    "Failure is Not a Destination"
    Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    South Florida
    This is right up there. I wasn't this upset when we were struggling the years before the NC b/c my expectations were low. I am having a hard time letting go. It doesn't help that Carolina won.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    The Republic of Texas
    1999 UCONN
    2004 UCONN
    2006 LSU, felt soooo bad for JJ and Shelden (esepcially JJ, favorite Duke player of all time)

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Everywhere

    2002

    2002. Because we were the best team in the country, hands down. Because Boozer was fouled after pulling down the rebound in the last second but no call. Because Mike Davis was annoying. After that loss I went outside and shot free throws for an hour or two. That one was worse believe it or not. We should have won it all that year.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Great Falls Va + Avalon NJ
    99 and 04 were much worse for me. 99 was a team of destiny and 04 we played so well and should have beaten favorites and were robbed. This season lost that destiny feel when Kyrie got hurt and then just seemed cursed when we played the wrong team on the wrong night. I'm also still basking in the afterglow of last year - it helps mute the feeling for this year.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    New Orleans
    I was a grad student for the 1999 championship game and was in Cameron to watch it on the big screen. That was it for me. Nothing else comes close.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Columbus, OH
    This is going to sound odd but for me it was the 1998 regional final to KY. I was numb for 2 days. I hate when a team blows a big lead and I loved Wojo and I think he became the first senior to not make at least 1 final four under Coach K (once the run started). Still upsets me thinking about it. Especially since they had overcome so much from the previous years.

  9. #9
    2004 vs UConn. For so many reasons...

    I was ready for that game, but I thought, like the line from "A Few Good Men"... we'll keep doing our thing, and we'll fight the good fight, but we're going to lose... and we're going to lose HUGE...

    But watching that game was almost surreal... we were playing our minds out, and it looked like Coach K was somehow pulling it off, like the master. Heck, even Shav Randolph was having the game of his life! The the absurd series of whistles started

    I can't even describe how angry I was. We HAD them on the ropes, we were about to spring the upset... and couldn't keep a player taller than 6'6 on the floor.

    What was worse was that I consoled myself with the idea that things would be OK in 2005. We weren't expected to do great things in '04, but we still made the Final Four. Sure, Chris Duhon would be leaving, but Luol "I really, REALLY value education" Deng would be back, and Shaun Livingston would take over at PG... while JJ, Shelden, Daniel, and hopefully Shav would complement them for a juggernaut.

    Bitterly disappointing.

    1999 I can deal with because Elton, William and Corey wanted other things. Felt bad most of all for Langdon.

    2000 I felt worst for C-Well. It felt all season like he was holding the weight of the previous year on his shoulders, and he broke down when he couldn't pull it off.

    2002 was bad. 10-19 from the line? Ugh.

    2006 was also a killer. After crushing Texas early in the season and then trying so hard to ride out JJ and Shelden to their richly deserved finale... it ended so unceremoniously...

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Nashville
    If Carolina loses at some point, I'll feel a lottttt better about this one...

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Greg_Newton View Post
    If Carolina loses at some point, I'll feel a lottttt better about this one...
    Yeah, but the reason this one half hurts and half doesn't is that we had Kyle and Nolan make a huge sacrifice... I feel so empty for them. Kyrie gave his all to get back on the floor, and we see our NPOY candidate go ice cold. It was just hard to see. Especially when you saw how hard Kyle was working. He has been a warrior from day one, and in his last game he was still doing it. It is hard seeing him go out on his shield, because he had always come back so strong from everything for four years. As a team though, this performance wasn't good enough, and I know that. That creates the mixed emotions of acceptance and pain.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Greg_Newton View Post
    If Carolina loses at some point, I'll feel a lottttt better about this one...
    Yeah, but the reason this one half hurts and half doesn't is that we had Kyle and Nolan make a huge sacrifice... I feel so empty for them. Kyrie gave his all to get back on the floor, and we see our NPOY candidate go ice cold (it happens, but you hate to see it end his and Kyle's careers on a night that was honestly bizarre). It was just hard to see. Especially when you saw how hard Kyle was working. He has been a warrior from day one, and in his last game he was still doing it. It is hard seeing him go out on his shield, because he had always come back so strong from everything for four years.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    North Carolina
    2006 - Senor Night and LSU
    2011- @UNC and vs Arizona

    There has been such a difference in how badly the losses this season have felt than in previous years. Its because I'm a student now, I think. Being inside of Cameron, you're such an integral part of the game. Especially for this years UNC game. We helped pick Duke up and will them to victory.

    I felt so helpless for this game and the second UNC game. I just wanted to help, but I couldn't. Like, I don't know. I could have gone to Anaheim. I should have. And if I did maybe I could have helped pick the guys up when things started to go badly...

  14. #14

    From Me

    2004 to UConn. We had the better team. I try not to blame the refs but the refs were horrible.

    1999 to UConn. Again I think we had the better team.

    2002 to Indiana. A game we should have won. Yes Boozer was fouled but it never should have been that close.

    This one does not hurt as much. We just could not stop them. They played great

    Thinking about last year helps.

    What is bad about this year is that UNC or UConn could win it all.

    SoCal

  15. #15
    1998, no way we were losing to Stanford and Utah
    2002, easy walk to the championship game, and although beating Maryland wouldn't have been certain, they played horribly that night.

  16. #16
    2006 because I made the trip from Charlotte to Atlanta solo, drove down for the game and drove back the same day after seeing us lose and then staying for the 1st half of the wvu/Texas game. The place was all LSU, I felt the refs went out of their way to let them play and the only way I could dump my elite 8 ticket before leaving was to sell it at a loss to an LSU fan.

    During that 4.5 hour drive home all I could think about was how bad I felt for jj after his magical run up to the tourney (except for that senior night).

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    nashville, nc
    for me it is a three way tie:

    86 lousville
    99 uconn

    94 arkansas---this one mostly because we had gone so much further than anyone expected and to come up short due to what can charitably be described as a low percentage thurman shot just hurt...bad.

  18. #18
    Since most of the important games have been mentioned, I'll give general reactions:

    1986 - Crushing. I was on the Quad watching on a giant projection screen. Seeing JD, Alarie, et al, lose was devastating.

    1994 - I agree with a previous poster. We were never supposed to get that far, but Grant put us on his back and carried us ... Only to lose to a Hail Mary throw (not a shot). That was hard.

    1999 - Bitter. We had a team for the ages - UNLV-like. We coasted through the tourney. Then, we get to the championship and never matched UCONN's intensity. They wanted it more. Very disappointing.

    2004 - A previous poster said he didn't want to blame the refs. There's no way you can't. Atrocious calls at the end. The refs changed the game. IMHO, we bear the burden in 1999 because we didn't want it badly enough. This game was stolen, and considering that the lowest of the low cut down the nets makes this particularly devastating.

    2006 - Wow. In warm-ups, I expected to see a sharp, focused JJ. Instead, I saw a drained JJ with dark circles under his eyes. He wanted it so badly, he wore himself out before it even started. We never recovered. Losing to a less talented team always hurts.

    2011 - I confess I chickened out. Once I knew we had no hope, I turned the TV off. I simply didn't have the strength to watch Nolan and Kyle come off the court. I knew there would be tears. What makes this so hard is knowing that without THE injury, we would have been the 2009 Holes (except classy and with the ability to play defense). Frank Martin said we were unstoppable. For 8 games we were. If we'd been able to refine THAT team over the entire season, no one would have stopped us. Yeah, opportunity lost for this group of young men - especially the seniors hurts a lot.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Top 5

    5. 2002 to Indiana. Another huge lead choked away. The no call at the end. The missed free throw after the miracle 3 point shot by Williams.

    4. 1990 to UNLV. My senior year - and we just got punked. Cameron was like a funeral home.

    3. 1999 to UConn. Mainly because we were so great. Of course Maggette didn't play the entire 2nd half, which I still see as one of the greatest non-discussed Coach K decisions ever.

    2. 1998 to Kentucky. First big lead that we let go in a huge game like this. Couldn't believe it after we lost.

    1. 2004 to UConn. The bad calls. The terrible, terrible, terrible decision by Coach K to put in Williams with 2 fouls and under 2 minutes to go in the 1st half, with us having a 7 point lead (and then he gets his 3rd foul). The fact that we had played them so well...only to suddenly not be able to guard at all in the paint because of our fouls...and the fact that the winner got a joke of a Georgia Tech team, who everyone knew would lose, and lose badly, and then they did just that to UConn. I was so mad, I couldn't fall asleep for about 4 hours.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Norfolk, VA

    March 2, 1974

    Like others have posted, the 1986 loss to Louisville was very painful and it is probably the most painful loss from my perspective. However, I'll throw another game into the mix for consideration: March 2, 1974. With 17 seconds left in the game Duke has an 86-78 lead on Carolina, but manages to lose in overtime. Whenever Duke suffers a season ending loss such as the one to Arizona a couple nights ago, I always think back to 1974 to gain a little perspective and realize how great the just concluded season really was. In Neil McGeachy's lone season as the Duke Head Coach, the team finished 10-16 and 2-10 in the ACC. While losing in the Sweet 16 to Arizona was painful, it wasn't as painful as 1974.
    Bob Green

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