This loss is without question the worst loss in the history of the NCAA Tournament. But, is it the worst loss in the history of sports?
Is #1 seed PUke losing to #16 FDU the worst loss in the history of sports?
- Thread starter HoosierJimbo89
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The Colts losing to the Vikings this year is one of them! But both teams werent that good! PU is definitely top 3!
None of these. It is the BEST loss in the history of sports!!!!
Douglas wasn't a bum. FDU only made the NCAAT because 2 teams in their conference didn't qualify after moving up from D-2!
Virginia won the title the next year, and they were missing their best player against the 16 seed.
VanPastorMan
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I would put Georgetown losing to Villanova ahead of it because it was for the National Championship and nobody thought Villanova had a chance. I believe Georgetown had beaten them twice during the season and were considered the best team in college basketball.
First we have to decide how we define worst.
1. The winning team should be bad/a small school/way out of their league.
2. The losing team has to be seen as a juggernaut/invincible.
3. The game itself has to be super important. Championship.
If that is reasonable FDU satisfies #1.
Purdue likely does not quite satisfy #2, tho I admit they won the big ten season and the tourney. Maybe I am grading them too hard but a juggernaut would be the UCLA teams of John Wooden.
The game was important, loser goes home, but was not championship.
So with a yes to number one, but only high rankings to number 2 and 3, maybe not the worst choke ever.
We need more input from others.
Thanks for posting. Great fun to rank PUs choke (s)
The 2016 Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the World Series?https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/revisiting-biggest-collapses-sports-history-article-1.2856719
In comparison, teams that reached a championship game are superior to the PUke loss. I would have said the 1980 USSR/USA Olympic hockey game, but it was still a championship game.
If we consider championships as a category, there is the 1940 Chicago Bears that beat the Washington Redskins 73–0 in the league's championship game.
Championships are fair game. But, I would rank PU above them since it was the Round of 64 and there was such a ranking disparity between PU and FDU.
The more I look, the more crazy examples I find: In the 1916 Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech football game, called "the biggest blowout in football history" by Los Angeles Times columnist Paul Aurandt in 1983, Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland College by a score of 222–0. Georgia Tech rushed for 1,650 yards and did not allow a first down by Cumberland. In a record-setting season of blowouts, the 1901 Michigan Wolverines football team defeated its opponents over the course of the entire season by a combined score of 550–0.
These seem worse even if it is hilarious to see Purdue continue their tradition of epic failures in March.
No, it wasn’t. It was the semifinal. The gold medal game was against Finland.
Jean Van de Velde.
3 stroke lead going into the 72nd hole in the 1999 British Open. Could’ve teed off with a 7 iron and been safe.
Triple bogey. Loses in playoff.
3 stroke lead going into the 72nd hole in the 1999 British Open. Could’ve teed off with a 7 iron and been safe.
Triple bogey. Loses in playoff.
I think the Miracle on ice is the worst loss. Purdue 2, Virginia 3.
The single elinlmination tournaments are usually where these things pop up.
The single elinlmination tournaments are usually where these things pop up.
Muncie central getting beat by Milan
as a life long Cubs fan, it took me years to make peace with the Bartman game.
I heard that FDU is the smallest team in division I. I don't know where Purdue ranks but it has to be one of the tallest front courts with Edey at center.
Easily the worst lost in tourney history. I think every statistical angle points to that. May never be topped. FDU got into the tourney on a fluke. The more I look at it, it’s just an astonishingly bad L.
There have been countless other surprising Ws on technically bigger stages. But you could certainly make a case for it being the biggest “on paper” upset in sports history. FDU was just a monstrous underdog.
There have been countless other surprising Ws on technically bigger stages. But you could certainly make a case for it being the biggest “on paper” upset in sports history. FDU was just a monstrous underdog.
No, not all 16 seeds are equal. FDU comes from the NEC, which of the 32 conferences in college basketball, is ranked 32nd. FDU was ranked 3rd in their conference and was allowed to play in the "play-in" game only because the best two teams in their conference were transitioning from DII and were ineligible. On average, FDU is the smallest team in the NCAA, with an average height of 6'1 and their tallest player is 6'6 (Purdue is the tallest). Out of 363 teams in college basketball, FDU's stength of schedule was 349...and with that easy of a schedule, FDU still had 15 losses. FDU lost to juggernauts like: Queens, Sacred Heart, Stonehill, and Central Connecticut State. Out of 363 teams in college basketball, FDU's defense is ranked 357th, yet they held Purdue to 58 points. Several of FDU's contributors played DII last year.
What is even more shocking than Purdue's loss is that FDU was in control for almost the entire game, out hustling Purdue throughout. Why would Purdue shoot 26 three-pointers (5-26) against the smallest college team when you have the 7'4 player of the year? Why would Edey not take a shot attempt in the last nine minutes of the game?
This loss is SO much worse than Virginia's loss to a UMBC team who couldn't miss a shot. This loss will forever taint Purdue and Matt Painter. Forever.
No, they played twice earlier in the season and I believe Georgetown had to win in OT of one of them. ESPN did a whole show on this and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t that big of an upset. Now, Duke beating UNLV in 1991, when UNLV was stocked with NBA talent and undefeated, was a much bigger upset. People forget that that UNLV team was a shoe in to equal IU’s ‘76 record as being an undefeated champion.
Wasn't that the semi final?? Medal round for sure but not the gold medal game
As a life long Cubbie's fan, too, I feel your pain. We seem to have too many to recall, but the '69 meltdown still haunts me. The Yankees blowing a 3-0 game lead against the Red Sox in the '04 Series. First time that's been done, I believe. And of coursre, poor Bill Buckner allowing the ball to go between his wickets which brought home the winning run in game 6 vs the Mets tying the Series at 3 games each giving life to the Mets who won it in the 7th game. Bartman-like! Whatever happened to Bartman🤔
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I have to disagree with it being the worse loss ever in the NCAA. It was the 2nd worse loss. Virgina was by far the worse loss. Why? They were the overall #1 team in the NCAA that year; Purdue was 3rd or 4th overall.
In the boxing community in 90s-2000s it was common opinion that we considered that loss was kinds overrated as being the upset of all the time. Close, but not THE biggest upset of all time. Just opinions of majority i talked to.
No. You’re living in the present. It’s a terrible loss but there is a ton of parity in college basketball these days. There will be more or these down the road.
Why you so worried about Purdue anyways? We’re about to make a run for the final four and all you do is talk about them.
NO WAY.
But, that’s probably a bigger diss to PU then if it was,
To me it’s a resounding NO, because it’s PU. To be one of the biggest upsets in sports history, you need to be one of the best teams in sports history and then get upset. Think UNLV losing to Duke. I knew someone that took UNLV versus the field that year, what a moron.
But, that’s probably a bigger diss to PU then if it was,
To me it’s a resounding NO, because it’s PU. To be one of the biggest upsets in sports history, you need to be one of the best teams in sports history and then get upset. Think UNLV losing to Duke. I knew someone that took UNLV versus the field that year, what a moron.
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