PDA

View Full Version : Worst loss ever for me



Jason W
03-25-2011, 10:12 PM
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.

Rich
03-25-2011, 10:26 PM
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).

BlueHeaven
03-25-2011, 10:27 PM
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.

Chris Randolph
03-25-2011, 10:55 PM
1999 UCONN
2004 UCONN
2006 LSU, felt soooo bad for JJ and Shelden (esepcially JJ, favorite Duke player of all time)

DukeWarhead
03-25-2011, 11:02 PM
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.

Utley
03-25-2011, 11:15 PM
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.

Jmac1970
03-25-2011, 11:39 PM
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.

1 24 90
03-26-2011, 12:07 AM
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.

turnandburn55
03-26-2011, 12:11 AM
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...

Greg_Newton
03-26-2011, 12:37 AM
If Carolina loses at some point, I'll feel a lottttt better about this one...

Gthoma2a
03-26-2011, 12:42 AM
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.

Gthoma2a
03-26-2011, 12:44 AM
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.

dukebsbll14
03-26-2011, 12:57 AM
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...

SoCalDukeFan
03-26-2011, 01:08 AM
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

hurleyfor3
03-26-2011, 01:34 AM
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.

gewwang
03-26-2011, 02:06 AM
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).

jefreema
03-26-2011, 02:28 AM
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.

LSanders
03-26-2011, 05:08 AM
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.

Udaman
03-26-2011, 08:53 AM
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.

Bob Green
03-26-2011, 09:25 AM
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.

weezie
03-26-2011, 09:31 AM
Jeez-o-Pete, this is a DEPRESSING thread!

All my old war wounds are starting to hurt.

And just a few minutes ago I felt good about the new focus being on tosu's bombing out.

I'm going shopping. I need some air. :(

Faison1
03-26-2011, 09:36 AM
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.

I was just telling a friend how I woke up several times on Thurs/Fri night wondering if it was just a bad dream, only to realize it really happened. I wonder if Kyle and Nolan did the same thing.

I, too, was 12 for the '86 game, and cried like a baby.

But for whatever reason, 2006 LSU stands out as particularly emotional for me.

I was at the '89 Seton Hall game, and witnessed it first hand.

wsb3
03-26-2011, 09:40 AM
1986 was the most devastating Duke loss for me. Many factors. I loved that team, and still it is my favorite DUKE team ever. Those guys restored the program. And for us older fans that had been through several final fours and still had not won a National Championship at that point. I try to keep in perspective that we have won 4 and i use to just think let me live long enough to see one.

Next would be 99 because we had the best team and the best talent. Most athletic team and the deepest I believe we have had.

rsvman
03-26-2011, 09:59 AM
1999 is when my son taught me a valuable lesson.....

As you will all remember, that team was just dominant. No losses after an early season, last-second loss in Alaska. I was living in south Durham, and working at Duke at the time. My son had just turned 5 in November of 1998. He loved basketball, but because he was so young, he had to go to bed early and never got to see how the games ended up.

The morning after every game, when I was getting him ready for school and taking him out to the bus stop, he'd say, "How'd they do, Daddy?" and I'd respond, "They lost." Then he would say, "No they didn't," and I would say, "You're right. They won, of course. I was only kidding."

The morning after the championship game played out exactly the same way, only this time I wasn't kidding. I said, "They lost." He said, "No, they didn't, Daddy." Then I said, "They really did, dude. They actually, really lost this time. The most important game of them all, and this time they actually lost."

I guess he could tell I was really upset. There were a few moments of silence; we were walking hand-in-hand. Then he looked up and me, smiled, and said, "It's OK, Daddy. It's only a game."


That day has carried me through all the other tough losses. The scene came to my mind again Thursday night, and brought a smile to my face despite my disappointment about the game.

Lid
03-26-2011, 10:00 AM
Jeez-o-Pete, this is a DEPRESSING thread!

All my old war wounds are starting to hurt.


No kidding! I hadn't realized how thoroughly I'd bricked off the part of my brain that holds memories of the 2004 loss, until you guys started hammering away at it. I definitely remember the highs more than the lows. I've put 1986 away in a place never to be revisited...

eta: Love your story, rsvman. I'm in a very similar situation with my kids now. Friday morning, I had to tell them Duke had lost and see those big dark eyes starting to well. Then, I told them it was okay, they could still be Duke fans even if Duke wasn't playing anymore -- and that made everything okay. :)

hq2
03-26-2011, 10:16 AM
The '66 Kentucky loss when Verga got hurt, and Duke could have won it all. I was just a kid at the time, and I was just starting to really get into Duke Basketball. I remember crying the whole second half. What made it worse was the fact that Duke didn't make the NCAAs again for 12 years after that (most of my youth, when I kept the faith, even during the Dark Ages when Carolina was always good and State was winning the National Championship.) A really, really tough loss to take.

Reddevil
03-26-2011, 10:31 AM
Being a Duke fan means the wins are huge and the losses are huge. All of the losses mentioned were tough, but for some reason the NCAA losses to Providence and Kentucky really stung for me.

DukeGirl4ever
03-26-2011, 10:39 AM
Don't ask me for a year because I was in middle school, but Bobby Hurley's senior year....he was the reason I fell in love with Duke Basketball at the age of 10.

The other two are the loss to LSU (JJ Redick is on my top all 5 Duke players), and this year's loss. I hate seeing seniors lose their last game. It's devastating knowing those guys won't be back next year. I'm starting to think I should become an obsessive fan of an NBA team and know that most likely they'll be back the following year. :(

And yes, this thread is depressing, but I am so thankful I have a great place to come to talk me through my depressive state. Without you guys, I'd still be in bed hiding under the covers. But on to the road of recovery...first a little healthy basketball talk and then off to shop - that ALWAYS helps! :p

Rogue
03-26-2011, 10:41 AM
1964 ,, losing to UCLA. I was young and didn't think Duke could ever lose.

1986 I am older and think that DUKE is just the BEST TEAM in the country. That one is the one that cemented the fact in me for life, that it's a 6 game tourney , and the best team doesn't win always.

superdave
03-26-2011, 10:50 AM
If Carolina loses at some point, I'll feel a lottttt better about this one...

Bout to break out a glass of Hatorade myself. Is it wrong to pray for another team to lose?

hq2
03-26-2011, 11:34 AM
Bout to break out a glass of Hatorade myself. Is it wrong to pray for another team to lose?

Not if it's Carolina! (Although I have sometimes pulled for them to uphold the honor of the ACC, which is definitely down this year.)

wsb3
03-26-2011, 11:41 AM
Not if it's Carolina! (Although I have sometimes pulled for them to uphold the honor of the ACC, which is definitely down this year.)

Blasphemy. :eek:

wsb3
03-26-2011, 11:43 AM
1964 ,, losing to UCLA. I was young and didn't think Duke could ever lose.

1986 I am older and think that DUKE is just the BEST TEAM in the country. That one is the one that cemented the fact in me for life, that it's a 6 game tourney , and the best team doesn't win always.

I did cry myself to sleep that nite. I was 7.:(

wsb3
03-26-2011, 11:49 AM
1999 is when my son taught me a valuable lesson.....

I guess he could tell I was really upset. There were a few moments of silence; we were walking hand-in-hand. Then he looked up and me, smiled, and said, "It's OK, Daddy. It's only a game."


Well he was just a kid. Surely later in life he realized that it was life and death. :D

Wasn't there a movie where someone says, "It is only a game." and the response is "And I guess your mother was only a mother.":confused:

jv001
03-26-2011, 12:57 PM
1964 ,, losing to UCLA. I was young and didn't think Duke could ever lose.

1986 I am older and think that DUKE is just the BEST TEAM in the country. That one is the one that cemented the fact in me for life, that it's a 6 game tourney , and the best team doesn't win always.

1978 team that lost to one of the three evil empires(and Goose Givens). Hey Williams reminded me of Givens as both couldn't miss. Givens even hit a long jumper from the corner that somehow banked in. Don't ask me how, but it went in. GoDuke!

kmspeaks
03-26-2011, 01:03 PM
2006 vs LSU. I was born in Roanoke and was a huge JJ fan from the moment I heard about him. I was in college watching at a friend's apartment and there were no dry eyes in that living room when JJ came off the floor.

2002 vs Indiana. This is a prime example of how contradictory you have to be to be a sports fan. I love the video of Jimmy V running around trying to find somebody to hug and Laettner's reaction after he hits The Shot. However watching Mike Davis run around after the buzzer on this one make me wish someone would jump into the picture and take him out. When Williams got fouled I remember thinking, "We're going to win. Guys don't get fouled on a 3 pointer when they're down 4. That's like a movie. So we have to win." I guess this movie was more Coach Carter than Remember the Titans.

If you're really in the mood for some hurting try out this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5F_YIblAvw Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the audio is the Indiana radio broadcast . Around the 12 minute mark, "Gotta get the rebound if he misses this. If he misses this and Duke's able to get the rebound they could win this ball game." How prophetic, if only the whistles hadn't gotten swallowed. :(

oldnavy
03-26-2011, 05:29 PM
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.

Mine too! I was 13 and I remember going outside and slamming my basketball against the garage door and crying. It is the only game that I have cried over, now I hate to admit it, but I usually say a few "salty" words, and move on....

loran16
03-26-2011, 07:56 PM
I have two, though one may seem odd.

The first is VCU in 07, to cap off my horrible sophomore year.

The second actually is from that same year, to Marquette in the CBE classic in Duke's 5th game that season. After this disappointment of the LSU loss the year before in my Freshman year, to lose so early to a supposedly-worse team, i kind of flipped. That season sucked.

Udaman
03-26-2011, 09:01 PM
I will say that for my son, who is 7, the answer (thus far) is Thursday's game....only it didn't happen until today.

The game was on late, of course, so he couldn't watch it. I did, and just didn't have the heart to tell him the team lost (I know he wouldn't want to watch it, and I wanted him to see Smith and Singler's last game).

So, Friday he got home from school and watched the first half. He couldn't watch more because we had a dinner party to go to, and didn't get him to bed until really late. So, he watched the rest this morning. When I came down, he said, "Dad, I'm really nervous. We are down 5, but I still think they'll pull it out." Then I sat there with him and he watched it all. When they were down 17 he didn't say a word. When Nolan and Singler walked off the court with 2 minutes left, he pulled the blanket up over his head....and started to cry. I told him it was all OK and that it was just a game, and that you can't win them all, and that at least we wont it last year, and that all but 1 team loses in the tournament.

He looked up at me and said, "I'm sad they lost. But I'm crying because this is the last time I get to see Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler play for Duke."

DukeGirl4ever
03-26-2011, 09:05 PM
He looked up at me and said, "I'm sad they lost. But I'm crying because this is the last time I get to see Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler play for Duke."

WOW! What a tearjerker! One thing that can make you smile is that you get to share something special with your son for the rest of your lives.

My daughter is three....she obviously doesn't understand basketball yet but she does like Duke. Kyle and Nolan were her favorite players. When she woke up Friday morning I told her that Duke lost and she was sad. I then told her that it was Kyle and Nolan's last game and she replied, "Awe, but mommy, I LOVED them!" Had me crying instantly. What a sad moment, but a great moment at the same time as I realized I could share this special bond with my daughter for many many more years!

moonpie23
03-26-2011, 09:09 PM
04 is like a bad replay of 99........

NashvilleDevil
03-27-2011, 09:05 AM
For me no loss compares to 1986. Every tournament loss stings but that one hurt me the most. Favorite Duke team ever and Johnny Dawkins is my favorite player ever. Broke my 8 year old heart.

Indoor66
03-27-2011, 11:29 AM
Each loss is the worst one. It is the one that just happened.

cameroncrazy3104
03-27-2011, 01:40 PM
2004 UCONN no questions

weezie
03-27-2011, 01:49 PM
For me no loss compares to 1986. Every tournament loss stings but that one hurt me the most. Favorite Duke team ever and Johnny Dawkins is my favorite player ever. Broke my 8 year old heart.

When commentators remark that one player can't win a game by himself, that the team needs to contribute, I always flash back to the Nightmare of Goose Givens.
Lord have mercy, that was a shock that still haunts...

dukestheheat
03-27-2011, 01:49 PM
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.

The 1999 team was a total juggernaut and inexplicably, it lost to UConn. That one still sticks with me. We had the best starting 5 AND the next best 5 out there in my Duke-blue jaded opinion. If I recall it correctly, and admittedly its been awhile since I looked at this, that team's average margin of victory was about 23 points per game.

I am not so down about our loss this year; these three seniors are National Champions and have been uber-successful while at Duke. Sure, it's always sad to see them go but these guys are taking hardware with them! Now, I'm still stunned by the way in which they went out, as is EVERYONE I HAVE MET over the last several days. Even the Carolina fans are coming up and asking 'Dude, what in the world happened!?....'.

dth.

dukelilsis
03-27-2011, 10:15 PM
1978 - I was 7 years old and had been to most of the games in Cameron for the past few years. It mainly hurt because this was my brother's senior year at Duke and I knew it would make him extremely happy for Duke to win.

1986 - I have this game on tape and I still cry when I watch it. I cried myself to sleep that night. Those players held a special spot in my heart much like Nolan and Kyle.

1994 - It was played in Charlotte and where I lived at the time. I was ready to bolt out the door of my apartment and head downtown to celebrate when it all went down the tubes.

2002 - I simply should not have ended as it did. We were the best and should have had it all.

2011 - It still does not seem real. I've dreaded seeing Nolan and Kyle play their last game and simply cannot believe it has happened. From December forward, this has been a year of "what could have been". On Coach K's show this week, Dre spoke of a note that Coach gave the team at last year's Final Four. I'm paraphrasing but it said something along the lines of the saddest thing to write or say is what could have been. That sums up my feelings for the past few days. I just hate it so bad for the guys.

Of course, every loss to Carolina is hard to take but that's a different story.

UrinalCake
03-27-2011, 11:51 PM
1999 Final in a landslide for me. I was a senior that year, and the thought of not winning it all never entered anyone's minds. As fans my class had paid our dues - cheering on a mediocre (by Duke standards) team in 95-96 as freshmen, losing a heartbreaker to Kentucky in 1998, and finally, in our last year, having a can't-miss team of future NBA players set to bring Duke all the way from the nadir of K's back-injury year to its rightful place atop college basketball world. Playing the actual games was merely a formality, as we steamrolled through the season.

And then the unthinkable happened, and we LOST. And it was over. The coronation of our four years ended in abject disappointment, and we would never get it back. A good friend of mine was going through a divorce at the time, and I think this loss was harder for him to accept. Just heart-wrenching.

The previous day our women's team had also lost in the National Final. Several hundred fans still came out to welcome the men's team when they returned to campus, and none of the players could even lift their heads from staring at the ground. We would receive one last kick in the head several days later when Brand, Avery, and Maggette all announced they were leaving early, which had never happened before at Duke.

Bandy
03-28-2011, 03:12 AM
to UConn. I was in Cameron with a lot of friends. All you could hear at the end were sobs. It hurts more to think that the refs were the decisive factor.

Watched the Carolina - Kentucky game today with some friends who went to UNC. We were at a bar in San Francisco surrounded by folks who do not get the passion or the game. My friends were devastated at Carolina's loss and were openly crying. Most patrons in the bar did not get it.

Regenman
03-28-2011, 03:39 AM
2004. Don't ask why but I always thought that Nick Horvath was a good Duke guy and then he was in Coach K's doghouse. Asked to guard Okafor in that game after not getting PT for months was not pretty.

Sorry, I live in SF and UNC fans crying is a good thing.

UrinalCake
03-28-2011, 11:22 AM
I don't know about everyone else, but for me seeing none of the #1 seeds make the Final Four, combined with UNC losing, somehow makes this year's loss a little more palatable. The fact that we're not playing any more still stinks just as bad, but at least we're not hearing as much about how we choked or didn't deserve our seed, and I don't have to spend another week seeing UNC flags everywhere. Instead the story of the tournament is how anyone can win it, and how the format lends itself to a high degree of randomness.

The more I reflect on the season, the more I feel like people underestimated how hard it was to reintegrate Kyrie back into the lineup. The guy practiced for the first time right before the tournament started. Considering how we lost him early in the season, then had the uncertainty of whether he'd be back for so long, then tried to mesh him back into the lineup at the very end, I guess I'm sort of chalking up this year as being lost to an unfortunate injury. Not to discount what the rest of the team did, because they gave us plenty of great memories, but in the end we were limited in how far we could go.

1 24 90
03-28-2011, 12:47 PM
I don't know about everyone else, but for me seeing none of the #1 seeds make the Final Four, combined with UNC losing, somehow makes this year's loss a little more palatable. The fact that we're not playing any more still stinks just as bad, but at least we're not hearing as much about how we choked or didn't deserve our seed, and I don't have to spend another week seeing UNC flags everywhere. Instead the story of the tournament is how anyone can win it, and how the format lends itself to a high degree of randomness.

The more I reflect on the season, the more I feel like people underestimated how hard it was to reintegrate Kyrie back into the lineup. The guy practiced for the first time right before the tournament started. Considering how we lost him early in the season, then had the uncertainty of whether he'd be back for so long, then tried to mesh him back into the lineup at the very end, I guess I'm sort of chalking up this year as being lost to an unfortunate injury. Not to discount what the rest of the team did, because they gave us plenty of great memories, but in the end we were limited in how far we could go.

I agree that the season probably became irreparably damaged on December 4th. With Kyrie, I doubt we lose at FSU & Va Tech and that probably gets us the #1 overall seed or at least keeps us out of the West regional, etc. etc. We'll never know. The basketball "gods" weren't great to us this year but they sure were wonderful last year.

Pomona
03-28-2011, 01:50 PM
This was the first championship game since 1978 with a senior dominated team. The loss seeemed to linger since it could have been a long time before we returned to the final four. This was before Coach K was Coach K. Can't forget "Never Nervous" Pervis Ellison.

I was at the 1999 game and it ended so quickly. All of us in the Duke Section were staring at each other in disbelief that the game was over. This was the most talented Duke team ever. Rumors that the players were out late partying are still on my mind. All of those going pro early may have been distracted.

1978: Jack "Goose Givins". How was he so open all game long?

ForkFondler
03-28-2011, 02:49 PM
1986, By far

1990 and 1999 are the next two.

Neither is in my top 5, but Arizona 2011 = Satan Hall 1989