Inconsequential loss that annoys you the most

[fidel]

I'm going with Duke/Ohio State 2011. I got tickets to the game and the anticipation of seeing Duke live again (while not winning a championship - was in Indianapolis) was palpable for me.

The letdown of a 22 point loss, especially following the great tournament in Maui and beating Michigan and Kansas, was not what I was expecting. I had seen a lot of Duke games in Cameron, watched a lot on TV, but this was the first time I had seen the team get blown out at the other team's arena. Ugh.

So, I think fondly of doing Cameron cheers from the cheap(ish) seats behind the students in Indianapolis. Those around me thought I was insane. Whoever the Dukie was sitting next to me, thanks for being stupidly ecstatic along with me.

[Tom B.]

Sorry, Kenyon Martin. Old man lapse. It will happen to you too someday...

Also, it wasn't Kenyon Martin who hit the winning shot -- it was Melvin Levett. Martin was involved in the play, though -- he caught the long inbounds pass and fed the ball to Levett as he streaked to the basket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm_1vbpbUzQ

[Mike Corey]

I'm going with Duke/Ohio State 2011. I got tickets to the game and the anticipation of seeing Duke live again (while not winning a championship - was in Indianapolis) was palpable for me.

The letdown of a 22 point loss, especially following the great tournament in Maui and beating Michigan and Kansas, was not what I was expecting. I had seen a lot of Duke games in Cameron, watched a lot on TV, but this was the first time I had seen the team get blown out at the other team's arena. Ugh.

So, I think fondly of doing Cameron cheers from the cheap(ish) seats behind the students in Indianapolis. Those around me thought I was insane. Whoever the Dukie was sitting next to me, thanks for being stupidly ecstatic along with me.

Beat me to the punch.

I remember speaking with someone prior to the game who tried to quell my anticipation for a big Duke win by warning, "This is going to be a tough game. We're exhausted." And then OSU dismantled us.

[DukieInKansas]

I'm going with Duke/Ohio State 2011. I got tickets to the game and the anticipation of seeing Duke live again (while not winning a championship - was in Indianapolis) was palpable for me.

The letdown of a 22 point loss, especially following the great tournament in Maui and beating Michigan and Kansas, was not what I was expecting. I had seen a lot of Duke games in Cameron, watched a lot on TV, but this was the first time I had seen the team get blown out at the other team's arena. Ugh.

So, I think fondly of doing Cameron cheers from the cheap(ish) seats behind the students in Indianapolis. Those around me thought I was insane. Whoever the Dukie was sitting next to me, thanks for being stupidly ecstatic along with me.

Any loss to Ohio State is not inconsequential - at least in this family. My father was a Michigan man and Ohio State was a bad word in our house.

[Monmouth77]

December 1996 - Michigan beats Duke when Tractor Traylor busts down the lane and slams in down with about 5 seconds left. I hated Michigan.

This is it for me. Camped out for this one. A rare non-conference home loss in a game we were winning throughout and should have won. And this was not exactly a vintage Michigan team. Traylor could barely get above the rim, and his game-winning dunk was a heavy clunking thud that sent a stone right down to the pit of my stomach. What a bummer.

[BlueSheed]

Florida State beating Duke in Cameron on that last second jumper in January 2012 was rough. We hadn't lost at home in a long time until then. We ended up losing to Miami at home too a few weeks later.

[msdukie]

This is it for me. Camped out for this one. A rare non-conference home loss in a game we were winning throughout and should have won. And this was not exactly a vintage Michigan team. Traylor could barely get above the rim, and his game-winning dunk was a heavy clunking thud that sent a stone right down to the pit of my stomach. What a bummer.

According to the NCAA, Michigan did not win this game.

[Newton_14]

A more brutal loss for me was game in Cameron in December 2005 against VPI. They win the game on a put back with about 2 seconds left and not enough time left for Dockery to regain the lead. I am remembering this correctly?

See you just had to go there and ruin it and make me fess up. That was one of only two times I gave up and cut the TV off too soon. I rarely get mad at a loss unless we just stink up the joint and lose to a team who has no business beating us. Like that night. So i hit the kill switch and go to bed stewing over the "loss". Driving into work the next day I am still stewing and refuse to listen to my normal sports talk radio show to avoid hearing the gloating...

Finally I give in and turn it on. Very weird. No one is talking about the big Duke upset. Then they go to break and right before that, the guy says "More on Duke's incredible buzzer beating winning shot last night in Cameron on the other side of the break"

I'm like what? You can't be serious. Longest commercial break ever. Thankfully I did not cut the recorder off when I cut the TV off so I could go back but it felt like cheating so I only ever saw Dockery's shot on TV replays.

That sucks. Like really bad... UpidStae.

[dukelifer]

According to the NCAA, Michigan did not win this game.

But I think Duke still lost it.

[sagegrouse]

As we starting sliding downhill in 1995, losing our first three conference games, we played a Virginia squad in Cameron. My daughter was a senior, and this was my first year with season tickets. The Gaudet-skippered Blue Devils led 40-19 at the half. Surely, this run of lousy games was gonna come to an end. Nope! Virginia tied it in the second half and won the game in the second overtime. Blowing a 21-point lead at home!

OF or Jim Sumner might remember better, but Duke may have led by as many as 25 points in the first half.

[wsb3]

Last year of the Iron Duke Classic. Davidson beat Duke on a shot at the buzzer. I was there.

[Tripping William]

As we starting sliding downhill in 1995, losing our first three conference games, we played a Virginia squad in Cameron. My daughter was a senior, and this was my first year with season tickets. The Gaudet-skippered Blue Devils led 40-19 at the half. Surely, this run of lousy games was gonna come to an end. Nope! Virginia tied it in the second half and won the game in the second overtime. Blowing a 21-point lead at home!

OF or Jim Sumner might remember better, but Duke may have led by as many as 25 points in the first half.

Joe Smith tipped it in at the buzzer in the "Battle of Assistant Coaches Taking Over For The Ill Head Guy." (Billy Hahn coached the game for Maryland, because Gary had pneumonia.) I was there, as a grad student. It was awful. So many close losses that year . . .

[Billy Dat]

As we starting sliding downhill in 1995, losing our first three conference games, we played a Virginia squad in Cameron. My daughter was a senior, and this was my first year with season tickets. The Gaudet-skippered Blue Devils led 40-19 at the half. Surely, this run of lousy games was gonna come to an end. Nope! Virginia tied it in the second half and won the game in the second overtime. Blowing a 21-point lead at home!

OF or Jim Sumner might remember better, but Duke may have led by as many as 25 points in the first half.

Great call. That season had many such games. If many recall, despite the teams terrible record, we were in position to win many of those games in the final 5 minutes. The Joe Smith buzzer beat later that year also comes to mind.

[Tom B.]

Joe Smith tipped it in at the buzzer in the "Battle of Assistant Coaches Taking Over For The Ill Head Guy." (Billy Hahn coached the game for Maryland, because Gary had pneumonia.) I was there, as a grad student. It was awful. So many close losses that year . . .

If you're into self-flagellation, here's the video of that play. Watching it again all these years later, two things about it struck me:

(1) Smith's tip-in never should've happened. It was a busted play for Maryland -- Duane Simpkins tried to go baseline and Cherokee Parks slid down to cut him off. Simpkins got caught in the air with nowhere to go, and tried to force...something. It's unclear on the replay whether it was a contested shot attempt that Parks blocked or just a bad pass, but either way, the ball hit Greg Newton in the hands. At that point, we should've had a turnover and the game should've gone to overtime. But Newton fumbled it, and the loose ball bounced right back to Simpkins, who put up a shot. Simpkins' shot missed, but Smith was there for the tip-in, and Newton had the best seat in the house to watch it fall through the hoop.

(2) Just to add insult to injury, Smith's tip-in bounced around on the rim before dropping. The final horn actually went off while the ball was bouncing on the rim -- the ball hung there for a second while the horn sounded, as if to pause and give the finger to the crowd before falling through. That's how bad it was for us that season -- even the ball was conspiring against us.

[Tom B.]

As we starting sliding downhill in 1995, losing our first three conference games, we played a Virginia squad in Cameron. My daughter was a senior, and this was my first year with season tickets. The Gaudet-skippered Blue Devils led 40-19 at the half. Surely, this run of lousy games was gonna come to an end. Nope! Virginia tied it in the second half and won the game in the second overtime. Blowing a 21-point lead at home!

OF or Jim Sumner might remember better, but Duke may have led by as many as 25 points in the first half.

I was at that game. I was in my first year of law school at UVa at the time, but a friend in Durham scored me a ticket, so I drove down for the game. Had to drive back to Charlottesville after the game, go to class the next day, and absorb a ridiculous amount of grief from my Wahoo friends and classmates. Yeah, that sucked.

I don't recall if our first-half lead ever reached 25, but I do recall that we led by 23 early in the second half. I think we may have scored the first bucket of the second half -- then it was all downhill.

The two teams went on very different trajectories after that game. That ended up being UVa's best year in the Jeff Jones era. They finished in a four-way tie for first in the ACC and made it to the Regional Final of the NCAA Tournament, upsetting Kansas in the Sweet 16 before losing to Arkansas in the next round.

[Tripping William]

If you're into self-flagellation, here's the video of that play. Watching it again all these years later, two things about it struck me:

(1) Smith's tip-in never should've happened. It was a busted play for Maryland -- Duane Simpkins tried to go baseline and Cherokee Parks slid down to cut him off. Simpkins got caught in the air with nowhere to go, and tried to force...something. It's unclear on the replay whether it was a contested shot attempt that Parks blocked or just a bad pass, but either way, the ball hit Greg Newton in the hands. At that point, we should've had a turnover and the game should've gone to overtime. But Newton fumbled it, and the loose ball bounced right back to Simpkins, who put up a shot. Simpkins' shot missed, but Smith was there for the tip-in, and Newton had the best seat in the house to watch it fall through the hoop.

(2) Just to add insult to injury, Smith's tip-in bounced around on the rim before dropping. The final horn actually went off while the ball was bouncing on the rim -- the ball hung there for a second while the horn sounded, as if to pause and give the finger to the crowd before falling through. That's how bad it was for us that season -- even the ball was conspiring against us.

(1) Greg Newton? Bad hands? I'm stunned.

(2) It took 19 years, but I firmly believe that Charles Mitchell's last-second baby hook in Cameron last season only stayed *out* as karmic payback for Joe Smith's 1995 tip going *in.* Sometimes that's the way the ball bounces . . . literally.

[NashvilleDevil]

Does the St. John's loss in '10-'11 count as inconsequential or the fact that they were coached by the hater Steve Lavin make it a loss of consequence?

[Bostondevil]

I don't think he hit the winning shot, and maybe even his stats don't stand out as something special, but I'll always remember it as the Muggsy Bogues game - January 17, 1985.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I don't think he hit the winning shot, and maybe even his stats don't stand out as something special, but I'll always remember it as the Muggsy Bogues game - January 17, 1985.

Did he dunk in that game? I saw him dunk in Cameron once. He took about 5 steps before leaping, and wasn't called, but I didn't particularly care. It was still cool to see a midget dunk the ball, even if he was on the wrong team. (By the way, nobody was near him, he was on a break away.)

[Philadukie]

Fun thread, in a, as someone else noted, self-flagellating kind of way.

One of the more recent losses that sticks out in my mind is the 2011 loss to St. John's at MSG. I remember feeling angry and frustrated that we were by far the better team but were getting just outplayed by a younger, arguably more athletic and (at least that day) hungrier team in front of their home town. At one point, it seemed that every one of their possessions was an open break that would end with a made pull up or nasty dunk. It was painful to watch and made me brood even more about not having Kyrie.

But what made this game nearly unbearable was the fact that it was Steve Lavin's first year back as a coach after a stint at ESPN. I seem to remember him always saying negative things about us in terms of athleticism, post play, taking charges, etc., and this game felt like some kind of self-congratulatory confirmation of all his previous negative comments. It made me sick!

For icing on the cake, in retrospect, I think this game was a foreshadowing of the loss to Arizona in the tournament. Young, athletic teams, led by a lottery talent, that played out of their minds in front of a home crowd. Cue violin!