Most PAINFUL Duke loss

[Dopeshop]

This has been visited in the past , but the lock-in and so many YOUTubes and replays have shuffled my list .

THE MIAMI LAST PLAY KICKOFF RETURN alway ranked high but I have now moved it below the 2019 Semi Final Lacrosse lost to UVA .

Up by two ---under two minutes --WITH THE BALL - and lose . TURNS OUT , Duke was still up by two with UNDER a minute. So hard to watch . Mercifully ,I've forgotten the name of #7 who threw away the ball on the throw-in.

Another punch to the gut --2006 loss to Maryland in NCAA women's Bball Championship game. Duke up by THREE ,clocking counting down the last few seconds and Tolliver of the Terps throws up a long dagger over the fingertips of Duke s tallest player .2 OT's later ,TERPS are champs .

Oh well .lots of time on my hands these days . Which ones hurt for you ?

[Kdogg]

1986 vs Louisville. Broke a young boys heart.

[Phredd3]

It's the women's national championship game, for sure. All it took was an adequate closeout on the opponent's best shooter, and the women are champs. The program is still feeling the repercussions to this day.

[Rich]

1986 vs Louisville. Broke a young boys heart.

For me too. Not. Even. Close.

[OldPhiKap]

‘86 Louisville. I was on the quad.

[burnspbesq]

Back-to-back (well, sort of—2005 and 2007) one-goal losses to Hopkins in the championship game. Coach Pressler’s last season and Coach Danowski’s forst.

[Oh no, not Petway!]

‘86. I was on the baseline. Longest drive back to Durham ever.

[richardjackson199]

99 vs UConn was difficult. I was at Duke with my best friends at the game.

[Billy Dat]

99 vs UConn was difficult. I was at Duke with my best friends at the game.

This is the worst for me, by some measure. 1994 was bad, too, because we'd been up 10, but that would have really been an unexpected championship. Win in 99 and that squad is in the all time greatest discussion.

[sagegrouse]

1986 vs. Louisville was awful, awful, awful, awful.

1999 in St. Pete vs UConn was awful, awful, awful.

2004 in San Antonio vs. UConn was awful, awful.

I was present at the last two.

[Natty_B]

1986 vs. Louisville was awful, awful, awful, awful.

1999 in St. Pete vs UConn was awful, awful, awful.

2004 in San Antonio vs. UConn was awful, awful.

I was present at the last two.

Agree with 1 and 2 easily and I would put the 2002 sweet 16 loss to Indiana at no. 3 (and no. 1 in terms of dumbfounding).

[SoCalDukeFan]

1986 vs. Louisville was awful, awful, awful, awful.

1999 in St. Pete vs UConn was awful, awful, awful.

2004 in San Antonio vs. UConn was awful, awful.

I was present at the last two.

To me 2004 was probably the most painful. We deserved to win. Refs were awful, UConn fans a nightmare. While 1999 was certainly painful, we had no one to blame but ourselves. 1986 would have been a great win but somehow was less painful to me as the season exceeded expectations.

I too was at 1999 and 2004.

SoCal

[Wander]

2019 is especially painful because of Zion not taking a shot in the last minute. In fact, in the 2 games Duke lost while healthy that year, Zion took 0 shots in the last minute of either game, while RJ got 1 point on 7 shots. That is far more painful to me than bad reffing or something else out of our control. And I agree with those who say it will feel worse as Zion rises through the ranks of all-time NBA greats.

[Duke79UNLV77]

2019 is especially painful because of Zion not taking a shot in the last minute. In fact, in the 2 games Duke lost while healthy that year, Zion took 0 shots in the last minute of either game, while RJ got 1 point on 7 shots. That is far more painful to me than bad reffing or something else out of our control. And I agree with those who say it will feel worse as Zion rises through the ranks of all-time NBA greats.

And that 1 point was on a FT he tried to miss! I agree with putting the 2019 loss on the list for the same reasons, plus the fact that Zion was one of the most fun Duke players every to watch. He could have put on a show for the ages in the Final Four.

I would add the 2002 loss to Indiana. The team had NBA all-star Boozer, NBA 19 ppg scorer Dunleavy, long-time NBA players Dahntay Jones and Duhon, and but-for NBA great JWill as veterans, went out to a big lead, and then lost to a so-so Indiana team. It's also in my view as imbalanced reffed game against Duke as I remember. Thank you, Bruce Benedict. While just in the Sweet 16, that team could have won it all, especially after seeing a very poorly played national title game that year.

1999 and 1986 also are on my list for reasons others have mentioned.

For regular season games, the senior night Redick loss to Hansblabla was pretty bad.

[TKG]

Most painful Duke loss? The next one.

[fisheyes]

In no particular order:

1999 vs uConvicts. Living in CT made it even more painful.

2002 vs Indiana Boozer was fouled. HE WAS FOULED!

1978 vs Ohio State and St. Johns MSG Holiday Tourney. Ranked #1 and s*** the bed.

1979 vs Pitt at Cameron. Sam Clancy. OMG Stunning.

1990 vs UNLV I was in Hawaii on my honeymoon. Game on tape delay out there. Went to BBQ a nice steak and watch the game. Guy next to me told me Duke lost by 30. That steak sucked.

[Jedweb]

i think most of us who were Duke fans at the time would have to go with the 1986 title game loss to Louisville and Pervis (Never Nervous) Ellison who as a frosh had the game of his career (college or pro). The Duke team had four starters, all seniors and part of K's breakout recruiting class: Johnny D, Bilas, Alarie, and David Henderson, plus junior Tommy Amaker. We had watched those guys play together and improve together for years as a team, and vault ahead of The Schnozz and the Baby Blue Smurfs as The ACC program. There was a lot of ink about how they were all well behaved and articulate. Henderson was a script writer's dream - a poor kid from NC who got his shot at Duke when the more highly publicized player, Curtis Hunter, opted for the wrong shade of blue down the road. It was not Duke's first trip to the Final Four, but it was K's first. It has seemed to me, in retrospect, that the stars just aligned against Duke in 1986. Not as badly as in 1966 when Bob Verga was sick and Kentucky upset us in the finals, but still - it just wasn't meant to be. Our semi-final game was Kansas, but it should have been Michigan State - a good team, led by Scott Skiles, but not as talented as Kansas. Michigan State had Kansas all but beaten when, in the second half and Kansas trying to catch up, the clock operator in the Midwest Regional gave the trailing Jayhawks a break by not starting the clock for fifteen or twenty seconds well into the second half. And, within the last 25 seconds or so, leading, Michigan State missed the front end of two one-and-ones, and Kansas tied. Kansas won in overtime. They gave Duke a very tough game in the semi finals the following week, while Louisville had a (relative) cruise against LSU. Duke led Louisville in the first half, but to me looked like we were a little gassed by halftime. I recall (Memory - have not watched since) that right at the end of the first half Duke got a breakaway, and Johnny D either missed or was stuffed on a layup. That kind of thing just did not happen to Dawkins. Anyway, we lost, and it was the end of a fairy tale dream with five guys who were an excellent team and played, learned and grew together. The fact that Bilas and Alarie at 6 - 8 were the tallest starters led a lot of the national press to underestimate how good a team we had.

One or two folks have mentioned the 1988 Regional loss to Kentucky. 17 point lead gone in nine and a half minutes at the end of the game. That one was tough, but we ran into a lot of Kentucky fans at the restaurant after the game. They were complimentary and gracious. An anomaly? I don't know. What does stick in my mind is a young guy, probably college student, lying on the concrete outside of the arena in St. Petersburg, face up with a beer in one hand, and many more in his gut, screaming, "Now i know there's a God!" This was six years after The Laettner Shot.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

i think most of us who were Duke fans at the time would have to go with the 1986 title game loss to Louisville and Pervis (Never Nervous) Ellison who as a frosh had the game of his career (college or pro). The Duke team had four starters, all seniors and part of K's breakout recruiting class: Johnny D, Bilas, Alarie, and David Henderson, plus junior Tommy Amaker. We had watched those guys play together and improve together for years as a team, and vault ahead of The Schnozz and the Baby Blue Smurfs as The ACC program. There was a lot of ink about how they were all well behaved and articulate. Henderson was a script writer's dream - a poor kid from NC who got his shot at Duke when the more highly publicized player, Curtis Hunter, opted for the wrong shade of blue down the road. It was not Duke's first trip to the Final Four, but it was K's first. It has seemed to me, in retrospect, that the stars just aligned against Duke in 1986. Not as badly as in 1966 when Bob Verga was sick and Kentucky upset us in the finals, but still - it just wasn't meant to be. Our semi-final game was Kansas, but it should have been Michigan State - a good team, led by Scott Skiles, but not as talented as Kansas. Michigan State had Kansas all but beaten when, in the second half and Kansas trying to catch up, the clock operator in the Midwest Regional gave the trailing Jayhawks a break by not starting the clock for fifteen or twenty seconds well into the second half. And, within the last 25 seconds or so, leading, Michigan State missed the front end of two one-and-ones, and Kansas tied. Kansas won in overtime. They gave Duke a very tough game in the semi finals the following week, while Louisville had a (relative) cruise against LSU. Duke led Louisville in the first half, but to me looked like we were a little gassed by halftime. I recall (Memory - have not watched since) that right at the end of the first half Duke got a breakaway, and Johnny D either missed or was stuffed on a layup. That kind of thing just did not happen to Dawkins. Anyway, we lost, and it was the end of a fairy tale dream with five guys who were an excellent team and played, learned and grew together. The fact that Bilas and Alarie at 6 - 8 were the tallest starters led a lot of the national press to underestimate how good a team we had.

One or two folks have mentioned the 1988 Regional loss to Kentucky. 17 point lead gone in nine and a half minutes at the end of the game. That one was tough, but we ran into a lot of Kentucky fans at the restaurant after the game. They were complimentary and gracious. An anomaly? I don't know. What does stick in my mind is a young guy, probably college student, lying on the concrete outside of the arena in St. Petersburg, face up with a beer in one hand, and many more in his gut, screaming, "Now i know there's a God!" This was six years after The Laettner Shot.

1966 Verga team lost to KY in the semi-final.

Regionals loss to KY was 1998.

[Jedweb]

Yes, of course. Should have proof read before submitting.

[Kdogg]

99 vs UConn was difficult. I was at Duke with my best friends at the game.

Man, I remember those crappy seats they gave to the students...