Well, that sucked.
After all the talk of “America’s Darlings,” the Butler Bulldogs played horri-awfully (Thanks Shaq) and shot a blistering 19 percent from the field. To top things off, the Bulldogs only made three two-point shots the entire game.
The Connecticut Huskies were just as poor as the team from Indiana. Somehow, it took the team a half to realize that Butler had exactly zero people on the roster who could guard Jeremy Lamb. The freakish athlete could have easily topped twenty points in this one.
Instead, the Huskies set the NCAA record for ill-advised drives that ended in missed off-balance shots, with 37. Kemba Walker finished with 36.
An accurate description of the game should state that the Connecticut Huskies lost last night, defeating the Butler Bulldogs 53-41.
In fact, in terms of strict apathy there’s almost no NCAA title game that can top this one. Almost.
Because even though those teams played horrendous basketball, they still didn’t have one of the five most anti-climactic games in the NCAA tournament.
5. 1992 Duke 71–Michigan 51
This tournament is best remembered for the following shot, as reenacted by Chris Farley.
But it’s the game after that earns Michigan a place on this list. In fact, it’s not so much the game itself as it is the second half.
Amazingly, Duke was trailing by one heading into halftime. But with Michigan shooting just 29 percent in the second half, Duke was able to put itself in the driver seat and hand the Fab Five the first of its disappointing losses.
4. 1960 Ohio State 75–California 55
Granted, Ohio State only played four games in the tournament that year. But what a group of games they were, as the closest any team ever came to them was a seventeen-point beating handed to Georgia Tech. So it stands to reason that California never really stood a chance in this one.
The absence of a shot clock didn’t matter in this one, especially since Ohio State had four players enshrined in the Hall of Fame on the squad. Sure, two were head coach Fred Taylor and a substitute forward who’s now revered in the state of Indiana, Bob Knight.
The other two were Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek. And unless you could match the talent on the court–which Cal couldn’t–then even Pete Newhall couldn’t help you.
Newhall couldn’t find the matchups and the Buckeyes ran away with it in one of the biggest pre-shot clock blowouts in the NCAA finals.
3. 1969 UCLA 92–Purdue 72
This narrowly edges out the Buckeyes victory for three reasons.
1) This was in the middle of the ridiculous winning streak for John Wooden, so every rational person would have come to the conclusion that UCLA was going to win it all before the game even started.
2) UCLA happened to have a player named Lew Alcindor playing on the team. Mr. Alcindor finished with 37 points, 20 rebounds and a movie role to be named later.
3) Purdue had three players go a combined 18-67, which means that the three biggest shooters averaged a scalding 27 percent from the field.
Put it all together, and it adds up to one of the biggest blowouts in NCAA Championship history.
2. 2009. North Carolina 89–Michigan State 72
This was the most predictable game in tournament history. Coming into this one, one of the teams beat every opponent by at least twelve points and defeated one team by 53.
Unfortunately for Spartan fans, that team was not Michigan State. However, with the game in Detroit, the crowd could certainly drag the hometown team through the game, right?
Wrong.
In fact, this one was over before Jim Nantz sent it back to Greg Gumbel in the studio.
24 point lead with about five minutes left in the first half? Check. Largest halftime lead in NCAA Final history? Check. More Michigan State turnovers than field goals? Check.
CBS should have put on NCIS before the second half even started.
1. 1990. UNLV 103–Duke 73
If you don’t like Duke, this is the game for you.
The Runnin’ Rebels, who featured three future NBA players in Stacey Augmon, Larry Johnson and Greg Anthony, dominated the Blue Devils up and down the court. It was so bad that Duke only had three less turnovers than field goals the entire game.
The Blue Devils were never in this one, as they fell behind by twelve in the first half, before forgetting to mount a comeback in the second. Just listen to the commentary in the video below, as Brent Musberger describes the beating that UNLV is handing out to the Blue Devils
The separation in talent level makes this game what it is…the worst game in NCAA Finals history.
–Peter Gegick
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