What's your worst Gator basketball memory?

[diamondted13]

Last year's Louisville game is in a separate category altogether. It is too fresh and I still can't talk about it. In part because I have completely blocked out the last 6 minutes. I am sure it will still be #1 years from now.

Butler (11) and Creighton (02) are the angriest I have ever been watching Gator basketball. Watching the refs very obviously take over the Butler game when we got up double digits had me ready to kill someone. Not to mention my wife was so pist at the scene I made (we were at her niece's wedding....not good). The 2002 team drove me crazy all year. Orien Greene's mental lapse on the 5 second call is probably the angriest I've ever been at an individual player.

If I had to pick a singular moment...Brent Wright picking up his dribble in the backcourt vs. Gonzaga (99). He was my favorite player on that team and I felt so bad for him. We were on the brink of making history (Elite 8). Damn you Casey Calvary!

[Shnicker]

Originally Posted by regurgigator

We held Korver in check. It was the bench player (I think his name was something like Michael Jordan...or he was a big fan of Jordan or something) who killed us. One of the greatest shooting exhibitions I've ever seen in the Tournament (just short of Goose Givens and Bill Walton's shooting exhibitions) and he didn't even have the decency to do any of it in the 1st half so that we could have tried to come up with some half-time adjustments. It was all in the 2nd half. And, it wasn't just 3-pointers: the guy was driving to the hoop, hitting runners, and hitting pull-up mid-range jump shots as well

You're right, it wasn't Korver (but I still hate him). That was a really tough game. It seems like that's what made Orien Greene transfer - when he didn't inbound the ball in time and we turned it over.

[your_perfect_enemy]

the 2 years after the 04's left were 2 of the least enjoyable seasons I remember watching. Those teams played with no heart whatsoever and just weren't fun to watch. That second team probably only needed to win one game in the SEC tournament against Bama to make the dance, they were finishing the season right as I was moving back to Gainesville and I remember making a run to goodwill right before tip-off thinking I wouldn't miss much, I got back less than 8 minutes into the game and we were already down like 15 points after not bothering to show up.

[gatordd]

Being in Atlanta when we won our first SEC Championship with David, Anthony, Matt, and '04 as Freshmen... I cried

TIED

Winning our first championship in Indy! Being lower level and hugging Joakim after!

[jcp]

Originally Posted by diamondted13

Not to mention my wife was so pist at the scene I made (we were at her niece's wedding....not good).

That's her niece's fault, not yours!

[diamondted13]

Originally Posted by jcp

That's her niece's fault, not yours!

Agreed. My wife doesn't see it the same, however. It was a nice wedding at Haille Plantation. They were nice enough to put it on at the bar for me and a couple other diehards. I was quite antisocial after the game. I was in the doghouse that night and the next morning. The old "why does everything we do have to revolve around a frickin' game" treatment. Same as when I went to cool off in the garage after the Louisville game. I was there for 5 hours.

[jcp]

Originally Posted by diamondted13

Agreed. My wife doesn't see it the same, however. It was a nice wedding at Haille Plantation. They were nice enough to put it on at the bar for me and a couple other diehards. I was quite antisocial after the game. I was in the doghouse that night and the next morning. The old "why does everything we do have to revolve around a frickin' game" treatment. Same as when I went to cool off in the garage after the Louisville game. I was there for 5 hours.

Hehe, I've had that issue with my girlfriend myself. She is a Gator but still doesn't understand it.

[diamondted13]

Originally Posted by jcp

Hehe, I've had that issue with my girlfriend myself. She is a Gator but still doesn't understand it.

Yeah, my wife's become a pretty good sport about it since we met. Sporting events were pretty foreign to her until she met me. She's become a fan, but still isn't at that crazed level (unless Tebow's involved). We have a "30 minute rule" after tough losses. As in, please don't say dumb things like "what's your problem," "It's just a stupid football/basketball/baseball game," "I wish you cared that much about our marriage," etc. When she violates that 30 minute window is when we run into trouble

[PhinGator]

Originally Posted by regurgigator

We held Korver in check. It was the bench player (I think his name was something like Michael Jordan...or he was a big fan of Jordan or something) who killed us. One of the greatest shooting exhibitions I've ever seen in the Tournament (just short of Goose Givens and Bill Walton's shooting exhibitions) and he didn't even have the decency to do any of it in the 1st half so that we could have tried to come up with some half-time adjustments. It was all in the 2nd half. And, it wasn't just 3-pointers: the guy was driving to the hoop, hitting runners, and hitting pull-up mid-range jump shots as well

But, that guy still wouldn't have had the chance for that final winning shot if the refs had called the foul on Creighton when their guy held Hamilton to keep him from getting to the ball when Hamilton knocked it away from the dribbler with about 3 seconds left And, one of our players (I want to say David Lee, but not sure if he was even on the team) came a hair-breadth away from grabbing that loose ball before it went out of bounds. EXCRUCIATING!!!!!

I am pretty sure his name was Terrel Taylor. That was excrutiating. Billy D said in the postgame that day that David Lee saved the ball from going out, but the call went against us. Taylor was throwing up garbage left and right and everything went in.

If you have the stones, here is the video

[PhinGator]

Here is another one, although less meaningful because it was in the regular season.

[GatorAvatar]

Losing to Butler.

[patsyruth2008]

Originally Posted by HotlantaGator

That was mine too, I think we had a 7 point lead with 2 minutes left, got beat by Rony Siekaly...

Man, this is a great topic..............

Hotlanta;

That was the 3M Company team (Maxwell, Moten and Montgomery). Dwayne S. started at Center as a freshman and Joe Lawrence at Power Forward and his brother Pat was first off the bench.

If memory serves we had a five point lead with 2+ minutes left, which was amazing in itself because Syracuse was killing us in the first half. We had just regained possession of the ball on some type of out of bounds on Syracuse. Billy Packer was doing the game (I hated him), but I remember him saying:

Para-phrasing here:

"Look at the Syracuse players........... They are gassed.......... All of them, they have their hands on their kness and they are done. Florida is going to win this game"!!!!

And you looked at the television screen and he was right and you started to go OMG we are going to the Elite Eight..............

We had the ball, ran our offense to perfection and one of the 3M boys (I think is was Moten) drove the lane wide open for a lay-up that was going to put us up by 7. When all of sudden out of nowhere someone from Syracuse (Derrick Coleman?????) came flying across the lane and blocked the shot. Syracuse came down on a fast break and one of their players hit a three pointer..... It was a seven point lead (dagger) to two in like five seconds and took the momemtum completly away from us.

And to make matters worse, that Syracuse team, which we were better than, lost in the finals to Indiana on a last second shot by Keith Smart........Sorry for this being so long, but that game really hurt.

[patsyruth2008]

Originally Posted by gatorsfa

Being excited as an undergrad to get within 20 points of UK at the Alley. And realizing that was as good as it was going to be. Nice players--Cesare, Hannah and Clarson. But facing Macy, Phillips and Bowie.

That was my freshman year. I actually got to practice with/against those guys. We had:

Richard Glaspar: PG (he could sky!!!!!!)
Al Bonner: SG
Reggie Hannah: SF
* he was my key to work out with them. I played against Reggie three times our Senior year and Coach Lotz was always there. My Dad would go up at halftime and schmooze with him about his son and I always had good games against Titusville and he noticed.
Malcome Cesare: PF
I can not remember our Center's first name (dang it), but his last name was Brewster.
And Rick Clarson was first off the bench.


We were good that year, 17-9 if memory serves, but everyone but Reggie was a senior on that team and Reggie could not make grades and had to transfer to South Alabama the next year.

Gatorsfa;

I do not think Sam Bowie was on that team though......... They won the national championship (over Duke) that year, but their front line was Philips and Robey along with Goose Givens....... Thanks for the trip down memory lane though.....

[patsyruth2008]

If I had to pick a singular moment...Brent Wright picking up his dribble in the backcourt vs. Gonzaga (99). He was my favorite player on that team and I felt so bad for him. We were on the brink of making history (Elite 8). Damn you Casey Calvary!
Read more: http://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas...#ixzz2JPOix53v

Diamond;

The Gonzaga game gets my vote for the worst, but I wanted to comment on this quote because it really hit home.

Brent Wright was one of my favorites too and he had had one of his best games, if not his best that night. He scored something like 25-27 points and literally brought us back by himself it the first half after we got down by double didgits.
Second, it still bugs the crap out of me that Casey Calvary was not called for over the back on that play. I thought it was blatant............

What I will always remember about that game is the fact we did not get the game in Atlanta, we got St. Johns and Ohio State. So the entire family went down to our basement, got our computer radio the WRUF and listened to Mic do the game while watching the TV game with no sound. Well, Ohio State started blowing out St. Johns in the second half so they went to our game. But, by that time we had gotten a second half lead and I am SOOOOOO superstitous that we kept the sound down on the TV and stayed with Mic even though there was like a 10-15 second delay on radio.

I can still remember when Greg Stolt hit that three pointer late to put us up three thinking we were going to pull it out. Then Brent traveled and Casey's no call killed us........ And because of my stupid strategy I got to see the plays live with no sound and then 10-15 seconds latter hear Mic recount them. The basement took quite a beating that night.............

[msa3]

Just for personal reasons, the 2000 Championship loss to Michigan State. My dad was a Gator alum and a huge college basketball fan -- it was all he watched during the season. We'd make a weekend of the first tournament weekend -- he'd pull me out of school, or i'd ditch classes (and later work) and we'd sit around all day and watch games. Great memories. Anyway, he was sick with cancer and we watched the tourney together, like we had when I was a kid. That night he was weak but we watched the whole thing, us bantering back and forth like we always did. He died about two weeks later at 54. That was the last game he ever watched; it would have been nice for him to see a win.

[g8wayg8r]

Originally Posted by gatorsfa

Being excited as an undergrad to get within 20 points of UK at the Alley. And realizing that was as good as it was going to be. Nice players--Cesare, Hannah and Clarson. But facing Macy, Phillips and Bowie.

That's a down game moment too. Watching Dan Cross getting hacked by a Duke defender with a few seconds on the clock in their first final four hurt the worst.

I was always very disappointed to find out that Andrew Moten and Vernon Maxwell we not the best role models.

[WarDamnGator]

Mateen Cleaves ... had to watch that game with my wife's family who were down from Michigan and big time MSU fans.

[phatGator]

Originally Posted by WarDamnGator

Mateen Cleaves ... had to watch that game with my wife's family who were down from Michigan and big time MSU fans.

His hurt puppy dog act scooting across the floor, the way the announcers blamed Dupay for Cleeves tripping himself, the way the camera followed him down the hallway instead of showing the game, and the announcers fawning all over him were all barfmatic. And then dancing his little jig as the game was winding down topped it off. Definitely the worst for me as a Gator fan.

[regurgigator]

Originally Posted by phatGator

His hurt puppy dog act scooting across the floor, the way the announcers blamed Dupay for Cleeves tripping himself, the way the camera followed him down the hallway instead of showing the game, and the announcers fawning all over him were all barfmatic. And then dancing his little jig as the game was winding down topped it off. Definitely the worst for me as a Gator fan.

Yes, it was very aggravating when Packer called Dupay a thug (if I recall correctly) when all Dupay tried to do was a standard wrap-up on Cleeves on the fast break (well away from the basket) so that Cleeves couldn't hit the layup and get a 3-point play opportunity. Cleeves refused to quit trying to get to the bucket and elbowed Dupay in the face in the attempt to get by him. Dupay correctly continued to hang on to Cleeves, their feet got tangled, and poor baby Cleeves turned his ankle.

I got pissed the next day when my co-worker said she and her husband (Gonzaga fans out here in Washington St) decided to pull for MSU after that play because our player had made such a dirty play. BS!!!! (but I held my tongue)

[gatorbogey]

yeah, i hated that play too. really had alot of disdain for packer after that, if not already.

you could see dupay was just attempting to make a good basketball play. it was unfortunate that cleeves was trying to make one himself by continuing to get the ball in the bucket and the foul....legs tangled accidently. thought dupay tried to catch cleeves too and prevent him from falling, if memory serves.