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Most disappointing NCAA tourney losses

Chicago-bound Hoosier

All-American
Mar 14, 2003
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Name your top 3, with the following caveat- don't include 1975 vs Kentucky, 1993 vs Kansas or 2013 vs Syracuse (we've discussed these teams/games in detail within many other threads). Oh, and no Duke IU 1992- we already have several threads on this travesty.

1. 1989 vs Seton Hall- just played like crap the entire game after a great season. Never could get going in this game. Jay Edwards final game.
2. 1986 vs Cleveland State---what the hell, Cleveland State? Great season, ending in blowout lose vs Mich while fighting for share of B1G title, then one-and-out the very next game. End of the Season on the Brink
3. 1984 vs VA...just beat a team loaded with future NBA hall of famers, then choke up a F4 trip

honorable mention- 1991 S16 vs Kansas- KU came out of the gates on fire and buried us in the first half. First of many painful losses to the Jayhawks.
 
Name your top 3, with the following caveat- don't include 1975 vs Kentucky, 1993 vs Kansas or 2013 vs Syracuse (we've discussed these teams/games in detail within many other threads). Oh, and no Duke IU 1992- we already have several threads on this travesty.

1. 1989 vs Seton Hall- just played like crap the entire game after a great season. Never could get going in this game. Jay Edwards final game.
2. 1986 vs Cleveland State---what the hell, Cleveland State? Great season, ending in blowout lose vs Mich while fighting for share of B1G title, then one-and-out the very next game. End of the Season on the Brink
3. 1984 vs VA...just beat a team loaded with future NBA hall of famers, then choke up a F4 trip

honorable mention- 1991 S16 vs Kansas- KU came out of the gates on fire and buried us in the first half. First of many painful losses to the Jayhawks.
1. Versus Purdue 1980
2. Versus UAB 1982
3. Versus UK 1983
4. Versus UVA 1984

Each of those teams had legitimate FF potential, and each loss was a hard hit.
 
Richmond Spiders have to be in there somewhere. Sometimes IU just runs into an opponent that is on fire from the onset and when it happens, there is no tomorrow. 1988 Richmond 72 - IU 69
 
All tough losses mentioned above. I will add the 1992 loss at Purdue that cost us a Big Ten title. Had a great run to the FF but would have liked to get a BT title along the way.
 
All tough losses mentioned above. I will add the 1992 loss at Purdue that cost us a Big Ten title. Had a great run to the FF but would have liked to get a BT title along the way.
yes we lost the B1G and #1 seed (both to OSU) that day in Mackey. We were the MUCH better team- same team that dismantled UCLA 2 weeks later...but showed up and played like shite.
 
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Richmond Spiders have to be in there somewhere. Sometimes IU just runs into an opponent that is on fire from the onset and when it happens, there is no tomorrow. 1988 Richmond 72 - IU 69
our 1987-88 team was jeckel and hyde. I think that was the year we lost on the road to Northwestern for the first time in a couple decades?
 
good list...I thought about the UAB game as well. We really should have hung at least one more banner between 1980-1993. Had several teams that were capable.
Injuries, a missing piece here and there, a widening gap in athleticism, and some damn good opponents. The gap between winning and losing at that level was often very thin.
 
Injuries, a missing piece here and there, a widening gap in athleticism, and some damn good opponents. The gap between winning and losing at that level was often very thin.
true...running the table in the tourney is a combo of talent, health, match ups and a little luck. Donald Perry played in an NCAA championship game for IU. Calbert, Damon, Alan, Grahams....did not. 2002 team had the stars align at the right time, had some friendly luck with facing KSU in the E8 game after catching Duke sleeping in the 2nd half. Meanwhile Calbert and that group ran into the Kansas buzzsaw twice, had Alan's knee blow up, and got screwed over by Ted V and 2 ACC refs. Doesn't matter how good a team is, one off night in the tourney and you're done.
 
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ok good memory..I think the 88 team lost as well....Shon Morris NW team.

I ran into Shon at Ohare before the start of the 2012-13 season. talked Bball, IU season, Zeller and, RMK Keady and ball from the 80s with him. Really good guy.
I know somebody who played at NU then and he’s never let me forget it.
 
VA in ‘84 was a letdown after beating UNC.

Cleveland State does not bother me. We won a title the next season. Had we beaten Cleveland state do we still win it all in’87? No way to know, but it would have changed the whole complexion of the following season.
 
1 - '83 Sweet 16 to UK. Had beaten them in Dec. Won BT and ranked #1 twice during year. Kitchell injury definitely hurt, but team continued to play well after that. Lost by 3. Always wondered about contrast of next game vs UL.

2 - '80 Sweet 16 to PU. Split during the season. Won BT title last day of season vs Osu. Just never got into good flow in first half. RMK gets 2 T's before half (this was when coaches could get 3 before getting kicked out iirc), putting IU down double digits, maybe. Too big of a hole to get out of.

3 - UVA in '84. Such a letdown after Thursday night's monumental upset. Slow paced game. Around 2 minutes left, IU up 1 or tied, Dakich turns his back and gets pick pocketed by Kenton Edelin for an easy lay up. UVA played on the lead the rest of the way.

4 - BC '94. BC Sweet 16. After BC took out UNC in huge upset, this looked promising for IU. IU played very well vs Temple. IU didnt play great, but managed to forge an 8 point lead with about 8 minutes left. Then only scored a few more points the rest of the way.
 
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My bad on the Purdue loss. It was regular season - not NCAA.
Good thread.
I remember this game well even though I missed it on TV. I was at a wedding in Bloomington that weekend, then driving all the way home to NW burbs of Chicago on Sunday. Heard the first couple minutes of the game with Fisch on the radio, then the radio reception started getting fuzzy and had to switch over and listen to Clisby on the Purdue network. Painful drive home. I've met Clisby (story for another post), good dude who's been fighting cancer...but he's such a homer on the radio-bitching about Ed Hightower having it in for Keady....painful drive back home.
 
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1 - '83 Sweet 16 to UK. Had beaten them in Dec. Won BT and ranked #1 twice during year. Kitchell injury definitely hurt, but team continued to play well after that. Lost by 3. Always wondered about contrast of next game vs UL.

2 - '80 Sweet 16 to PU. Split during the season. Won BT title last day of season vs Osu. Just never got into good flow in first half. RMK gets 2 T's before half (this was when coaches could get 3 before getting kicked out iirc), putting IU down double digits, maybe. Too big of a hole to get out of.

3 - UVA in '84. Such a letdown after Thursday night's monumental upset. Slow paced game. Around 2 minutes left, IU up 1 or tied, Dakich turns his back and gets pick pocketed by Kenton Edelin for an easy lay up. UVA played on the lead the rest of the way.

4 - BC '94. BC Sweet 16. After BC took out UNC in huge upset, this looked promising for IU. IU played very well vs Temple. IU didnt play great, but managed to forge an 8 point lead with about 8 minutes left. Then only scored a few more points the rest of the way.
I thought about the BC 94 game as well. I remember Damon getting called for a push off (forearm shiver), maybe on Hurley, while trying to establish position for a lob pass to him in the lane. Got him in foul trouble and had to come out. Game changed at that moment. Last S16 appearance for RMK.

Edit- just watched the last 5 min of this game on youtube. Curley, not Hurley. BC went 10-16 from 3, IU had no FT attempts in the second half, BC really tightened up the defense and we only had one basket the final 4+ min. Let this one slip away.
 
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true...running the table in the tourney is a combo of talent, health, match ups and a little luck. Donald Perry played in an NCAA championship game for IU. Calbert, Damon, Alan, Grahams....did not. 2002 team had the stars align at the right time, had some friendly luck with facing KSU in the E8 game after catching Duke sleeping in the 2nd half. Meanwhile Calbert and that group ran into the Kansas buzzsaw twice, had Alan's knee blow up, and got screwed over by Ted V and 2 ACC refs. Doesn't matter how good a team is, one off night in the tourney and you're done.

The 02 team had no business going to the final game but it wasn't 'luck', no more than 81 and definitely 87.

They got on a roll.

However the reward for getting to play Kent State was they had to go through the best team by far that season in Duke.

Then they had to go through a consistent top 5 team and #2 seed, 31-5 Oklahoma.

Then they had to go through the consensus #2 team in the country Maryland.

That was with Coverdale pretty much out for the final four.

So please stop trying to diminish the run.

In 1981 as a comparison was considered the tournament of upsets which gave Indiana absolutely no resistance to the final four. Once in the final four UNC took out the higher rated 1 seed Virgina.

The only 1 seed 81 played was LSU.

DePaul was the #1 team in the tournament and was beaten by St Joe's I think. UK was a highly ranked team (who I believe beat us earlier that year) and was upset by UAB.

In 81 we played 6 seed Maryland (we like to talk about how great they are but there is a reason we wore white in that game, they were a 6 seed). Then we got TO basically play Kent State twice....AT HOME!! Instead of DePaul and Kentucky.

No doubt that by the end of the season we were rollin but it was by far one of the easiest paths to the final four.

Fast forward to 93. My beef with not going all in on the hypothetical is that unlike 81...93 was pretty loaded.

The final four was Kentucky, who beat us earlier with a full team. Michigan who we beat twice by the skin of our taints. UNC who was considered the best team in the country and was loaded and then finally Kansas, who did beat us, who more importantly beat us in the Hoosier dome with a full team, who beat us two years prior with a worse team.

Knight only beat Roy once and that was at the Hall. Roy was a pain in Knight's asss.

That 93 path was crazy difficult with a potential final four of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and UNC. All I believe were top #5 teams.

Anyway to answer the OP... I was hit hardest by 92 as I thought we had another 81 brewing and 89 because I loved that season so much. It was tough when it was over then to watch Illinois and Michigan get to the F4. The conference deserved to have three big ten teams there as it was that good that year.
 
The 02 team had no business going to the final game but it wasn't 'luck', no more than 81 and definitely 87.

They got on a roll.

However the reward for getting to play Kent State was they had to go through the best team by far that season in Duke.

Then they had to go through a consistent top 5 team and #2 seed, 31-5 Oklahoma.

Then they had to go through the consensus #2 team in the country Maryland.

That was with Coverdale pretty much out for the final four.

So please stop trying to diminish the run.

In 1981 as a comparison was considered the tournament of upsets which gave Indiana absolutely no resistance to the final four. Once in the final four UNC took out the higher rated 1 seed Virgina.

The only 1 seed 81 played was LSU.

DePaul was the #1 team in the tournament and was beaten by St Joe's I think. UK was a highly ranked team (who I believe beat us earlier that year) and was upset by UAB.

In 81 we played 6 seed Maryland (we like to talk about how great they are but there is a reason we wore white in that game, they were a 6 seed). Then we got TO basically play Kent State twice....AT HOME!! Instead of DePaul and Kentucky.

No doubt that by the end of the season we were rollin but it was by far one of the easiest paths to the final four.

Fast forward to 93. My beef with not going all in on the hypothetical is that unlike 81...93 was pretty loaded.

The final four was Kentucky, who beat us earlier with a full team. Michigan who we beat twice by the skin of our taints. UNC who was considered the best team in the country and was loaded and then finally Kansas, who did beat us, who more importantly beat us in the Hoosier dome with a full team, who beat us two years prior with a worse team.

Knight only beat Roy once and that was at the Hall. Roy was a pain in Knight's asss.

That 93 path was crazy difficult with a potential final four of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and UNC. All I believe were top #5 teams.

Anyway to answer the OP... I was hit hardest by 92 as I thought we had another 81 brewing and 89 because I loved that season so much. It was tough when it was over then to watch Illinois and Michigan get to the F4. The conference deserved to have three big ten teams there as it was that good that year.
All great points. Regarding the '81 team, I don't think the upsets would have mattered. That team was so dialed in. Plus the regionals were at AH.
My greatest disappointments were '80, '83, and '16. '80 because it was Purdue and Woody was and is my favorite Hoosier. '83 because of what that team did to win the BIG. They will always have a special place in my heart. Many of you here might be surprised by 2016, but I'll explain. I lived near the Quad Cities for the '89 season, so I missed out on many of the games that year and the general feel of the fans back here. The BIG championship was unexpected just like in '16, so I viewed it as making up for what I missed in '89.
 
I'll also throw in 2000 vs Pepperdine. Especially looking back now and knowing what was going to transpire in the coming weeks...months...years...

That was an embarrassing beat down. The '97 team with Guyton, Neil Reed, Michael Lewis, Andre Patterson, Charlie Miller, Collier got thumped by Colorado (Chaucey Billups). I remember noticing how their quickness ate us up. Couldn't match up with their guards. That may have been a sign a few years before the end of RMK was nearing.
 
That was an embarrassing beat down. The '97 team with Guyton, Neil Reed, Michael Lewis, Andre Patterson, Charlie Miller, Collier got thumped by Colorado (Chaucey Billups). I remember noticing how their quickness ate us up. Couldn't match up with their guards. That may have been a sign a few years before the end of RMK was nearing.
The Pepperdine loss was infuriating in that the Hoosiers looked like they had absolutely no clue how to attack that 1-3-1 half-court trap (which in my opinion is the worst defense in all of basketball against a competent offense). In fact, the entire second half of the 1990's we weren't a real threat in the tournament. I think by that time RMK was mailing it in, in terms of establishing relationships with players. When your coaching style is as intense and confrontational as his was, those personal relationships are critical to getting a lot of kids to play at their peak for you. IMO, this is what precipitated IU's noticeable decline in that time period. By the time March arrived, players played as though they couldn't wait for the season to end and Knight couldn't wait to get away from Bloomington for spring and summer fishing.

I thought the Pepperdine embarrassment was as bad as the Syracuse debacle under Crean in terms of being outcoached and ill-prepared - only to a much worse team.
 
1.) 1993 E8 loss to Kansas
2.) 1988 1st round loss to Richmond
3). 1986 1st round loss to Cleveland St.
4). 1992 F4 loss to Duke (hosed by the refs)
5). 2000 1st round loss to Pepperdine
 
This is before my time but I’ve heard my Uncle on more than one occasion speak of the 1973 Final Four loss to Bill Walton and the UCLA Bruins. Maybe some of the veterans on this board can give their .02 on that loss.
 
For some reason I've never mourned the 2002 MD loss...I always thought that team, while good, overachieved by making it to the final game.
I think they overachieved as well, but sitting in the Crazy Horse watching it happen in what was going to be my last real semester of college was still rough.
 
There was a game against UCONN in the late 90's I believe, Guyton led team. We had that ****ing game won and let it slip in the 2nd half
 
The 02 team had no business going to the final game but it wasn't 'luck', no more than 81 and definitely 87.

They got on a roll.

However the reward for getting to play Kent State was they had to go through the best team by far that season in Duke.

Then they had to go through a consistent top 5 team and #2 seed, 31-5 Oklahoma.

Then they had to go through the consensus #2 team in the country Maryland.

That was with Coverdale pretty much out for the final four.

So please stop trying to diminish the run.

In 1981 as a comparison was considered the tournament of upsets which gave Indiana absolutely no resistance to the final four. Once in the final four UNC took out the higher rated 1 seed Virgina.

The only 1 seed 81 played was LSU.

DePaul was the #1 team in the tournament and was beaten by St Joe's I think. UK was a highly ranked team (who I believe beat us earlier that year) and was upset by UAB.

In 81 we played 6 seed Maryland (we like to talk about how great they are but there is a reason we wore white in that game, they were a 6 seed). Then we got TO basically play Kent State twice....AT HOME!! Instead of DePaul and Kentucky.

No doubt that by the end of the season we were rollin but it was by far one of the easiest paths to the final four.

Fast forward to 93. My beef with not going all in on the hypothetical is that unlike 81...93 was pretty loaded.

The final four was Kentucky, who beat us earlier with a full team. Michigan who we beat twice by the skin of our taints. UNC who was considered the best team in the country and was loaded and then finally Kansas, who did beat us, who more importantly beat us in the Hoosier dome with a full team, who beat us two years prior with a worse team.

Knight only beat Roy once and that was at the Hall. Roy was a pain in Knight's asss.

That 93 path was crazy difficult with a potential final four of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and UNC. All I believe were top #5 teams.

Anyway to answer the OP... I was hit hardest by 92 as I thought we had another 81 brewing and 89 because I loved that season so much. It was tough when it was over then to watch Illinois and Michigan get to the F4. The conference deserved to have three big ten teams there as it was that good that year.
Not trying to diminish 2002 run at all. Just saying, going into the tournament, I had no final 4 expectations, so getting as far as they did felt like an overachievement. yrs later, I still don't have any bitter feelings for losing the final game. Whereas the 1991-1993 yrs, many here have the same feelings that I have, that was a stretch of time where we should have won another banner but the stars didn't align.
The only 'fluky' thing I see with the 02 run was facing Kent State in the E8. No disrespect to KSU, but the tourney is set up so that, in theory and sans upsets, the games get more difficult with each round. Playing KSU after facing Duke almost felt like a gift, and the team was obviously stoked with confidence, as they just blitzkrieged KSU's ass from the get go.

93 path was murderer's row and without a healthy Alan, we knew it was going to be extremely tough. Then you get to Kansas who turned into our boogeyman.

I agree with 92 being the toughest...we were loaded and we were healthy, and were playing invincible basketball, until the refs started blowing the whistles to help Duke.
 
The Pepperdine loss was infuriating in that the Hoosiers looked like they had absolutely no clue how to attack that 1-3-1 half-court trap (which in my opinion is the worst defense in all of basketball against a competent offense). In fact, the entire second half of the 1990's we weren't a real threat in the tournament. I think by that time RMK was mailing it in, in terms of establishing relationships with players. When your coaching style is as intense and confrontational as his was, those personal relationships are critical to getting a lot of kids to play at their peak for you. IMO, this is what precipitated IU's noticeable decline in that time period. By the time March arrived, players played as though they couldn't wait for the season to end and Knight couldn't wait to get away from Bloomington for spring and summer fishing.

I thought the Pepperdine embarrassment was as bad as the Syracuse debacle under Crean in terms of being outcoached and ill-prepared - only to a much worse team.
couldn't agree more....the 1995-2000 stretch is what I refer to as RMK's dark yrs...players wore it on their faces by season's end. Almost relieved to be done. 5 star recruits who get huge playing time still transferring.
 
There was a game against UCONN in the late 90's I believe, Guyton led team. We had that ****ing game won and let it slip in the 2nd half

That was the second rd. in 98 against UCONN, after we had beaten Oklahoma. We were an 8 seed and they were a 1 seed. I think we were up by 5 at the half.
 
1. Duke 92
2. Uva 84
3. Cuse 14

i was only 2 so don’t remember but the 75 lose to UK with Mays injury and the 93 lose to Kansas with Hendersons injury both are up there because those teams were so good but injuries played a toll
 
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