Heartbreak...

My Lickliter game was the back to back drubbings at Wisconsin and at Minnesota in his last year. You just knew the program was dead. I watched every second of both of those games and that was as bad as I have seen Iowa get beat in anything.

On the bright side, that probably got the ball in motion to get Lick canned.

Alford era, when we lost to Illinois in Champaign in overtime when they were undefeated in 2004-2005. I remember details about this for some reason. Me and my roommate were going crazy in our apartment in Iowa City during my junior year. It was a great game and they kept showing this fat Illinois student dressed up like a chef in the student section. Musberger and Lavin were blatantly making fun of him. I also remember the endless plugs for the series premiere of "Tilt" which was set to debut right after the game.

Good times.
 


I won't change a game but something that happened during a game. Ronnie Lester doesn't get hurt. That would have an impact on Iowa's next few years success... Because we would have been cutting down the nets.
 


JonDMiller said:
For me it's not close. 87 UNLV
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This was the game that had the most far-reaching implications for today. We were ahead by double digits at halftime- I think it was almost 20 points. If we win the game we are in the final four. That's important enough. Then, we would have played eventual tourney winner Steve Alford's Hoosiers in the final four. We had beaten them twice that year already. It would be a different program today with the win that day vs UNLV in 1987.
 


UncleHawk said:
This was the game that had the most far-reaching implications for today. We were ahead by double digits at halftime- I think it was almost 20 points. If we win the game we are in the final four. That's important enough. Then, we would have played eventual tourney winner Steve Alford's Hoosiers in the final four. We had beaten them twice that year already. It would be a different program today with the win that day vs UNLV in 1987.
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Actually Indiana beat Iowa in Bloomington that year. That being said, Iowa/Indiana/Syracuse/Providence. Iowa may have been tabbed as the odds on favorite had they been there.
 


ILHawk said:
1980 Louisville in Final 4. What could have been.

The OU game in 87 was bad enough, but with a new coach and players that weren't as likeable as the 80 team....that's why I rank 80 over 87. The 87 team was plain out talented with a whole bunch of NBA players on it. 80 was a bunch of over achievers...Lester fighting through injury. Waite playing beyond his ability. Special K the work horse. Boyle...what can you say. Huge over achiever. Brookins fighting through a near fatal wound as a teenager and coming from a tough back ground. The ever likeable KA. Local favorites Mark Gannon, Wait, and Bobby H.. Even Greg Boyle who never hardly played...fighting through his knee injuries.

Not dissing 87, so pls don't accuse. 80 was special.
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I actually liked the OU game in 87.
 




1980 Final 4 Louisville
1987 Final 8 to UNLV

I missed most of Lick era thanks to living in MN and the dawn of BTN! Didn't realize how luck I was at the time.
 




Im going regular season 1987. Iowa ranked #1 and 18-0, coming off a win against #3 Indiana. ******* Ohio State comes to Iowa City and beats Iowa 80-76, Hawks no longer unbeaten. ******* Ohio State.
 


Not following rules, either.

For Alford, I have two. The Northwestern State game for obvious reasons. But the loss to Northwestern in that same season always bugged me, too. Blow an 8-point lead against a team that had won just 1 of its last 7 (while we were riding a 4-game winning streak and had the lead in the conference title race), and see Northwestern take the lead with just 29 seconds to go. That loss cost Iowa a Big Ten title.

Lickliter? Please. The less wins he had, the sooner he'd get the boot. Don't want to take any of those losses back.

Fran, I have to say the Wisconsin game at Carver in his first season. Played them extremely tough, and Cartwright had a look at the same baseline jumper to win the game that he nailed against Indiana, only to see it rim out.
 




1hawkeye1 said:
Campbell.

See what I did there?

They're called rules people, follow 'em.
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The OP didn't even follow his rules. That's because they were so stupidly restrictive. Losses don't keep you up at night (typically) unless they had meaning. Conference and tournament losses tend to carry a lot of that. Non-conference games against crap teams don't.
 


Another from the Lick years was at the beginning of his 2nd year.

We started 5-0. I was super pumped about our young corps of Peterson, Kelly, Tucker, Gatens, Tate and Fuller. I really, really thought that we were on our way.

...and then we played West Virginia in Las Vegas and just got smoked. We were down 19 at half time. I think it was then that the harsh reality that our program was not 'back' set in.

This was about a month prior to the Drake game that was mentioned earlier.
 


If I, or internet, had existed in 1980 or if I was old enough to care in 87 and internet had existed, my meltdown would have been both epic and embarrassing.
 


wundergrape said:
Another from the Lick years was at the beginning of his 2nd year.

We started 5-0. I was super pumped about our young corps of Peterson, Kelly, Tucker, Gatens, Tate and Fuller. I really, really thought that we were on our way.

...and then we played West Virginia in Las Vegas and just got smoked. We were down 19 at half time. I think it was then that the harsh reality that our program was not 'back' set in.

This was about a month prior to the Drake game that was mentioned earlier.
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I remembered this too but I was able to somewhat shrug it off because we had just won an emotional game the night before. Sometimes games like that happen. Ugh, Lickliter.
 




tm3308 said:
The OP didn't even follow his rules. That's because they were so stupidly restrictive. Losses don't keep you up at night (typically) unless they had meaning. Conference and tournament losses tend to carry a lot of that. Non-conference games against crap teams don't.
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The next time a loss in any sporting event keeps me up at night, will be the first.
 




not a game but the 2 biggest losses that had the biggest affect on Iowa BB, the death of Chris Street and the death of Bucky O'Connor shortly after taking Iowa to back to back Final Fours. those 2 events had a bigger impact than any game could have
 


redhawk55 said:
not a game but the 2 biggest losses that had the biggest affect on Iowa BB, the death of Chris Street and the death of Bucky O'Connor shortly after taking Iowa to back to back Final Fours. those 2 events had a bigger impact than any game could have
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No doubt about it. Good post, herby.
 


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