Forgetting can be a gift--the MU basketball moments you'd most like to forget

[MUSF]

Mike Deane's final season.

Mike Bargen was our best athlete.  How far we have come.

[PE8983]

1986 loss to #1 North Carolina at home after holding a big lead late in the game.

[willie warrior]

1986 loss to #1 North Carolina at home after holding a big lead late in the game.

I remember that game--we were at it. Thought we had it only to blow it in last few minutes. Joe Wolf was on that carolina team--wanted to whup them so bad. What a bleeping disappointment.

I do recall that the atmosphere was electric---a hell of an atmosphere for a college basketball game.

[Avenue Commons]

94 Duke game
96 Arkansas

2002 Tulsa

Last 4 NCAA tourney exit games.

[MUDPT]

The start of the '08 conference road season:  West Virgina, UConn, and Louisville.  Thought we had a chance to win all three and got smoked in all of them.  And also I will add the Pitt game from the BET semis when we got Higginsed, especially Jerel.

[QPSS70]

Jim Chones turning pro in the middle of the 71-72 season when we were a top 5 team.

The Bob Dukiet era - including losing to Austin Peay at the Bradlley Center and other "buy" game losses.

[Goose]

Indiana in 76
Miami Ohio in 78
Ohio State when Dean followed out
Anytime during Dukiet Era
When Joe Wolf announced NC
The day Al announced he was going to retire in Dec '76 (still not over that day)

[Nukem2]

Indiana in 76
Miami Ohio in 78
Ohio State when Dean followed out
Anytime during Dukiet Era
When Joe Wolf announced NC
The day Al announced he was going to retire in Dec '76 (still not over that day)

I was driving back from LaCrosse listening to the radio that December day when the announcement came that Al had announced his retirement.  That was a long ride home....

[tower912]

I remember that game--we were at it. Thought we had it only to blow it in last few minutes. Joe Wolf was on that carolina team--wanted to whup them so bad. What a bleeping disappointment.

I do recall that the atmosphere was electric---a hell of an atmosphere for a college basketball game.

At that game, too.   I wish our fans hadn't thrown the pennies at the UNC guard.  Pop Sims greatest game.   Huge heartbreak

Any of the close ND losses.   David Rivers....I can still see him rolling on the floor after hitting that shot.
The Louisville game and the WMU NIT game without Diener.

Indiana NIT game on St Patrick's day, 1985....finishing with 4 players including the legendary Willie Hines on the floor because everybody else fouled out.  

[willie warrior]

That Indiana game was great--we did only have 4 guys on the floor at the end.

Didn't that go into about double OT?

I remember that after the game was done, Knight was on the PA system praising Majerus and the team for their guts. Classy act by Knight (mixed in with a number of classless ones throughout the years)

[brewcity77]

-- The Tulsa loss, ugh.
-- The Reece Gaines Louisville game at the BC. Was there that night, and that was a crushing loss.
-- Final Four loss to Kansas, went to the Annex for that, and by halftime, you could have heard a pindrop, simply heartbreaking.
-- Wade declaring early for the draft. We all knew it was coming, but I'd have loved him to be back for one more run at it during my senior year (or 2...he still had 2 years of eligibility).
-- When Dominic got injured against UConn. My roommate and I were watching the game, and when he went down I really felt like we went from being a Final Four contender to just another tourney team. Our results proved that.
-- Might sound odd, but the FSU and NC State losses this past year. We went from having sizable leads to losing both games, at the time I felt like we were on the verge of breaking into the top 25 but never quite got there.
-- The three losses to start this Big East season, by the end of it my entire feeling was "Oh jeez, not again".
-- Stanford, Missouri, Washington.

[dgies9156]

OK, now that I have an appointment with my psychiatrist to deal with this trauma, here's some thoughts on the most forgettable moments in MU basketball history:

1) The Miami of Ohio nightmare -- That game featured a poised, senior Marquette team that lost it. If MU played Miami 100 times, they'd win 99.5 of them. This game was a heads-up that Hank wasn't going to work as a head coach. The game was a pure case of a coach's and a senior leadership that was unable to settle a team down.
2) Al's retirement. Al was and honestly, still is Marquette basketball. He's like Hank Aaron to the Braves or Stan Musial to the Cardinals. Someday maybe Buzz will be on the same plain with Al, but he will never replace Al.
3) Changing our Name -- Once a Warrior, always a Warrior. This gold and Golden Eagle crap is, well crap. It has no connection to who we are. We're Warriors, like the folks that assisted Father Marquette in his explorations.
4) Anything to do with Bob Dukiet or Mike Deane -- This goes without saying.
5) Ric Cobb's Missed Ft -- That still hurts.
6) The "double technicals" -- Damnation Al, would you please sit down????? We probably would not have won -- David Thompson was incredible, but really, Al, did you have to????

[dgies9156]

How could I have missed the Chones thing? Oh my, age is setting in. That hurt because with what Chones had left and what was coming, Marquette had at least one and maybe two more legitimate national championship shots.

Maurice Lucas leaving before 1974-1975 also hurt big time, as he would have gotten us to the sweet 16 that year. We made the NCAA that year, but didn't last long without Maurice. He was grrreeeaaattttt!

[brewcity77]

Didn't even think of the name change fiasco. I think the Gold crap was worse for me. Golden Eagles just felt like an extension of what was going on throughout sports, I didn't like the change, but everyone was doing it so it made a bit of sense. But the ambush with Gold (seriously?), then putting it to a vote with a bunch of jabroni type names and leaving out the heavyweight Warriors...still leaves a sour taste.

[tower912]

That Indiana game was great--we did only have 4 guys on the floor at the end.

Didn't that go into about double OT?

I remember that after the game was done, Knight was on the PA system praising Majerus and the team for their guts. Classy act by Knight (mixed in with a number of classless ones throughout the years)

Your memory is accurate as far as this game goes.   Knight was classy in victory, everybody freakin fouled out.     

[Ari Gold]

James' injury against UConn... devastating.
The Lopez Brothers
Dom fouling on the 3point attempt
Jerry Fucking Smith's homecoming.
DePaul last year (I was at that game... bad memories on and off the court)

[Sheriff]

D Wade's missed layup at the buzzer against Tulsa in first round of 2002 NCAA tourney in St. Louis.

[Nukem2]

Other than losses to Maine, South Alabama and NDSU,, the most forgettable moment in MU BB history was Amoroso's ridiculous extended foul in the lane against Louisville (uggghhhh).  As far as those NCAA losses, they all hurt; but, we were there nonetheless.

[dgies9156]

Other than losses to Maine, South Alabama and NDSU,, the most forgettable moment in MU BB history was Amoroso's ridiculous extended foul in the lane against Louisville (uggghhhh).  As far as those NCAA losses, they all hurt; but, we were there nonetheless.


Nukem: Many of us come from a day when Marquette's "being there" was no big deal. It was what you did once you got there that mattered. Getting an invite to the dance is and will continue to be no big deal... it's coming home with the prettiest girl that really matters!

We did that once, in 1977. There are those of us my age and a bit older who think that the Elite 8 and Final Four is, well, a birthright of being a Warrior. That we would be among the best teams in the country.

[77ncaachamps]

Hard to forget them when some Louisville douche has immortalized them on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5PH6RowI1A

[Buchec18]

- Stanford loss in NCAA Tourney
- Mizzou loss with the Lazar over the line (just disappointing as McNeal had a clear path and a decent shot at buzzer)
- Kansas loss in 2003 Final Four (I know we were the underdog, but by god, losing by 30 points?)
- Losing to Duke in the Maui tourney a few years back (Again, were the underdog... but we had so many opportunities, I know you cannot blame it on the refs, but they had a hand in it as well)
- Crean and Treason (Crean leaving for IU)
- I think it was Diener's last year if I'm not mistaken... made it only to the NIT only to get smashed by Central Michigan at the BC
- All those damn Louisville buzzer beaters... effin Reece Gain's I still cannot get that outta my head
- The Florida State loss this year... such a big lead only to lose on a buzzer beater

[mikem91288]

DJ fouling Wallace while shooting the 3. Still get pissed about that.

The Mizzou loss two years ago .

[Dr. Blackheart]

>>The Crean PG Experiment
>>DJ's injury
>>Jay Whitehead's elbow
>>The bewilderment of the 2010 DePaul game
>>Watching Majerus fritter away the UNC game
>>The apathy of the Dukiet years
>>Marotta vs. Rivers drama
>>KO-never wanting to be here
>>TC-you need another raise, really?
>>Anything Burr, Higgins, Hightower

The close losses to good teams are tough, but it is part of the game.  If we were not good, they would not have hurt...so I have solace in those. 

[MedicineHatSpanker]

MU had spanked Adolph Rupp and Kentucky in the semis on Thursday. We were prepared to take over a Madison bar after the game. Instead we got an eighty mile car ride back to Milwaukee during which very little (other than an occasional s**t, f**k, c*********r or m**********r) was said. That one still hurts.

You eat with that mouth, Lenny??

[Lennys Tap]

You eat with that mouth, Lenny??

At that point in my life most of my nourishment was of the liquid variety.