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?
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?