My most frustrating season as a fan what was yours?

[EASTFLA]

I have been around UConn basketball for a long time. My most frustrating season goes way back. It was the 1980-81 season. Yes, the decade of the 80s that saw UConn not make an NCAA Tournament appearance. Here is what happened:

8 man rotation:

Corny Thompson
Chuck Alexsinus
Mike Mckay
Vernon Giscombe
Karl Hobbs
Norman Bailey
Bruce Kuczenski
Glenn Miller

This team had a lot of potential for the time period. We had the size, the shooters, the athleticism. Perhaps what held us back was our starting guards were both freshmen. The season started with grand expectations, and the team delivered. UConn was 11-0 which included a blowout win vs Syracuse. The stage was set for what looked like an NCAA Tournament bid, and perhaps a bit of a run.

The losses were so painful. The regular season saw us at 19-5 and 8-4 in the Big East. The 5 losses?

BC by 1
Vill by 4
URI by 3
BC by 5
St.J by 7


All 5 losses were painfully close. We had 2 games left and the finish was even more painful. We lost to Villanova by 1 and Georgetown by 2!

That left us at 19-7 and 8-6 in the Big East, needing to do some damage in the Big East Tournament. Those 7 losses saw 5 occur by 4 points or fewer. In a perfect world what if we won them all and went 24-2? What if we won just 3 of them we could have been 22-4. there was such a fine line to the way that season played out. Ultimately we lost the first game of the Big East Tournament and went 1-1 in the NIT to finish 20-9. The team shot 51.6% for the season and was arguably our best shooting team in my memory. The top 6 scorers all shot 77.5% or better from the line, and as a team, we shot 78.2%. I went to most if not all the home games split between Storrs, New Haven, and Hartford. For me, it was by far my most frustrating season as a UConn fan, because we were very good, but ultimately a pair of freshmen guards, who performed admirably didn't have the experience to close games.

What was your most frustrating season?

 

[aburks41]

Frustrating would be 2009. Pain would be 2017

 

[zls44]

2006. Y'all know.

 

[phillionaire]

2012 was pretty frustrating. I remember stretches of games where we struggled to break 50

 

[Dove]

KO's first season knowing we weren't making a tourney. The postseason ban was brutal.

KO's final season knowing we weren't making the tourney again. KO mailing it in every night.

 

[Rico444]

2012 was pretty frustrating. I remember stretches of games where we struggled to break 50

Yeah 2012 was the worst for me. That team had so much talent and yet they looked terrible for stretches. At least 2009 and 2006 went on deep tournament runs, in 2012 we got our doors blown off in the first game.

 

[McLovin]

2012 team might have been the biggest disappointment based on the team on paper (especially looking back now) and how they performed on the court. 2010 team underperformed too. Both frustrating.

But the final 2 years of the Ollie tenure would fall into a whole other class of frustrating.

 

[Huskygrad88]

March 1994. Donyell’s free throws. That team was stacked.

 

[Chin Diesel]

March 1994. Donyell’s free throws. That team was stacked.

I think for me it was Donyell's Junior season or Ray's season with the UCLA loss. It's Saturday morning and I'm not Googling the seasons.

I'm kinda a championships are hard to get and when you have a chance to win, you need to capitalize. Those teams were great and a blast to watch.

I don't get too upset when a team which should get to the sweet 16 gets bumped in the first round. That happens to every program. I want to see UConn up there with massive national championship totals.

 

[tcf15]

2012 for me.

Heading into the season: Defending champs, Andre Drummond late commit making it 3-5 incoming recruiting class, Preseason #4 team.

What followed: Ryan Boatright’s NCAA troubles, Jim Calhoun’s health issues, Mumu debacle, started 12-1 but then went 8-13 once the calendar flipped to 2012. Then following that, APR ban for the next season, mass transfers, Jim Calhoun retirement.

blech.

 

[Vuce]

2012 is it for me too. Loaded with talent and never came close to living up to it. More minor was 1988-89. Won the NIT in 1988 and had everyone back led by Cliffy and Gamble and added Chris Smith and Rod Sellers. Thought we were a 5 Big East team and headed to NCAA. Instead we finished 7th, lost 1st round BET and went back to the NIT. It’s also what ended up happening the next season even more amazing

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

2016-17

This was my first year living on the Storrs campus. I have been a huge fan for a while and they were absolute dogsh** the moment I stepped on campus, and were finally good again the second I graduated.

 

[Travelman6]

1994 - Those two FTs. First season I really recall cheering for the team. I don't think anything could top that as far as how much of a bummer it was.

1998- If I recall UConn missed a 3 down 59-58 vs UNC and they never got closer, losing by 11. This was so tough. Could they have won if that 3 went down?

2003 - vs Texas, they played their hearts out as an underdog and nearly pulled it out. Really hard to watch them come so close and lose.

2005 - Julius Hodge, ugh, 10 seed beat a strong 2 seeded UConn.

2006 - No words. 2nd most painful for me.

2008 - AJ Price getting injured. This was at least a s16 team, missed a chance to face W. Kentucky (12 seed) in round 2. 3rd hardest loss to deal with.

I think for me it was Donyell's Junior season or Ray's season with the UCLA loss. It's Saturday morning and I'm not Googling the seasons.

I'm kinda a championships are hard to get and when you have a chance to win, you need to capitalize. Those teams were great and a blast to watch.

I don't get too upset when a team which should get to the sweet 16 gets bumped in the first round. That happens to every program. I want to see UConn up there with massive national championship totals.

1996. That UConn team could run! I think UCLA was the only team that could outrun that team (final score was 102-96 but UCLA always seemed to keep Uconn just at arm's length with UConn facing constant deficits of 3-12 points, UConn got within a few points a few times but could never quite get over the hump, kind of like UNC 1998.)

I missed the Ole Miss game, was just 11, but reading about it years later, sounds like a real tough loss. 5 seed downing a 1 in the S16.

Frustrating would be 2009. Pain would be 2017

I can't blame 2009 because they made the FF despite a major injury and I think they could not have beaten UNC honestly.

 

[USNavyDog]

I would say the 1991/92 season because that year Uconn had a stacked and deep bench with a great combination of experience and talent. We had Chris Smith a big time scoring shooting huard (and still last I card the all time scoring leader) and a solid forward Scott Burrell from that dream season.

We had a talent grid rookie Donyell Marshall, and strong freshman guards Kevin Ollie and Brian Fair and Donny Marshall.

We were doing so good early...started 16-1...until it went downhill fast....starting with a nasty blowout loss to St. John's 90-57...which turned into a 5 game losing streak.

We end up being a 9 seed that barely made the ncaa tournament...and get pummelled by Jimmy Jackson led Ohio State Buckeye team by 24 points.

That season closely resembled another disappointing season....in 2011/12...when we lost to Iowa Sate Cyclones.

 

[6xChamps]

KO's first season knowing we weren't making a tourney. The postseason ban was brutal.

KO's final season knowing we weren't making the tourney again. KO mailing it in every night.

I actually ended up enjoying KOs first season way more than I thought I would. Some great games like Cuse, MSU, PC at home to end the year, and even the Georgetown loss was one of the craziest games I’ve been to.
With that being said I remember being at First Night that year coming off a disappointing season and it was half full and they had this dude Bobby Valentino perform to a lifeless crowd and I just remember thinking man this season is going to blow.

 

[Kenny11]

2012 for me. Hurley’s first season was actually very frustrating too. Akok on campus but not able to play. Horrible injury luck with Adams and then Gilbert. A bunch of close losses, crazy buzzer beater loss vs Wichita state. The team was trying so hard and just coming up short but a few nice breaks and it wouldve been a 20 win season

 

[Ts5034]

Theres a difference between most frustrating losses to end the season, and most frustrating seasons in general. 2006 was actually a dominant season outside of the George Mason Game. I would love it if we can have a season where we go 27-2 in the regular season like that team did, but obviously with a better outcome. 2007 was frustrating because that was the first time in a long time where we were simply not good, and missed both the NCAA and NIT. I know better things came of it, but It still wasn’t fun going through it. 2012 is up there as well because we never lived up to the talent end expectations of that roster.

 

[navery12]

2015-16. In hindsight it all makes sense now but was so frustrating at the time seeing that team waste all the talent

 

[SubbaBub]

1. 2006
2. 1995
3. 1994
4. 1996
5. 2009
6. 2003

 

[ZenConn]

There have been disappointing endings. But as far as seasons go, I'd say 2012. Then the last 2 years of KO's debacle - losing close games or getting blown out in the first 5 minutes of almost every game.

 

[August_West]

2012 team might have been the biggest disappointment based on the team on paper (especially looking back now) and how they performed on the court. 2010 team underperformed too. Both frustrating.

But the final 2 years of the Ollie tenure would fall into a whole other class of frustrating.

2010 is a good sleeper call I believe tgat team was top 5 ( could be wrong but it’s close)during ooc before Bigeast season in January and wheels fell off.

 

[bendm]

'17-18

i had just moved back to CT that summer after grad school and was living in hartford, so i was miserable to begin with. i thought the silver lining would be living 2 blocks from XL and going to every game but noooo. the combination of KO, the aac, a losing record, and the ncaa investigation, just made everything so much worse. dark times.

thankfully, after the season they finally fired KO and there was reason for hope again. about a week after he got fired i was passing by the elevator bay at the law firm i was working at and off gets KO. i obviously had to be gracious and welcoming so i politely escorted him to the front desk. before i could stop myself i told him i was "a big fan, coach" and sorry about what had transpired.

full disclosure- the firm i was at did not end up representing him as UConn was a client.

 

[gampelcrazies]

I'm a younger fan so I'm going to go with more recent teams. However I just don't think teams like 06 team can be frustrating. I was more devastated when that they lost to George Mason then frustrated.

Teams I think that were the most frustrating would be 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2021. All those teams had talent but never won big games or got over the hump.

 

[husky1bags]

I have been around UConn basketball for a long time. My most frustrating season goes way back. It was the 1980-81 season. Yes, the decade of the 80s that saw UConn not make an NCAA Tournament appearance. Here is what happened:

8 man rotation:

Corny Thompson
Chuck Alexsinus
Mike Mckay
Vernon Giscombe
Karl Hobbs
Norman Bailey
Bruce Kuczenski
Glenn Miller

This team had a lot of potential for the time period. We had the size, the shooters, the athleticism. Perhaps what held us back was our starting guards were both freshmen. The season started with grand expectations, and the team delivered. UConn was 11-0 which included a blowout win vs Syracuse. The stage was set for what looked like an NCAA Tournament bid, and perhaps a bit of a run.

The losses were so painful. The regular season saw us at 19-5 and 8-4 in the Big East. The 5 losses?

BC by 1
Vill by 4
URI by 3
BC by 5
St.J by 7


All 5 losses were painfully close. We had 2 games left and the finish was even more painful. We lost to Villanova by 1 and Georgetown by 2!

That left us at 19-7 and 8-6 in the Big East, needing to do some damage in the Big East Tournament. Those 7 losses saw 5 occur by 4 points or fewer. In a perfect world what if we won them all and went 24-2? What if we won just 3 of them we could have been 22-4. there was such a fine line to the way that season played out. Ultimately we lost the first game of the Big East Tournament and went 1-1 in the NIT to finish 20-9. The team shot 51.6% for the season and was arguably our best shooting team in my memory. The top 6 scorers all shot 77.5% or better from the line, and as a team, we shot 78.2%. I went to most if not all the home games split between Storrs, New Haven, and Hartford. For me, it was by far my most frustrating season as a UConn fan, because we were very good, but ultimately a pair of freshmen guards, who performed admirably didn't have the experience to close games.

What was your most frustrating season?

Well Glenn Miller doesn't stand out. But I remember scoring the games while listening to WTIC with my Dad; keeping track of fouls points rebounds. Only three of those names stand out to me.

 

[NowInStorrs]

Is 2018 the year we got blown out by Auburn, Arkansas, and any other team with a pulse? That year was the most frustrating.