Big Blunders: Tourney Brings Generous Dose of Gloom-and-Doom Humility

If looking at tournament glass as half empty, the coronavirus outbreak was culprit bringing postseason competition to a screeching halt. If gazing at glass as half full, the shutdown possibly averted additional tourney stigma.

Remember Northern Iowa's 2016 complete collapse in squandering a 12-point lead in the last 35 seconds of regulation against Texas A&M en route to a 92-88 setback in double overtime. The Panthers' cataclysmic cave-in almost makes you forget about Arizona's fiasco flop when the Wildcats frittered away a 15-point advantage with four minutes remaining in regulation against Illinois in 2005 playoffs.

If you think about gaffes from a human perspective for a moment, having their playoff balloon pop by dull pin is terrible thing to happen to a team. On the other hand, a scorned squad can share the blame-game burden while an individual player could be branded for lifetime. Truth be told, some players probably will live with major miscue in front of God and country for the remainder of their Earthly existence. No one deserves a humiliating label, even after bad blunder on the biggest stage, but spit happens where temperatures rise and afflicted seek a stay-at-home order. Punctuated by fable-like failure, the following chronological list details 10 fatal stumbles at the wrong time since the tourney field expanded to at least 32 teams in 1975:

1975: Louisville reserve guard Terry Howard, after converting all 28 of his previous foul shots during season, missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 20 seconds remaining in overtime and the Cardinals leading by one point. UCLA prevailed in national semifinal, 75-74, when Richard Washington sank short jumper from right baseline in closing seconds.
1982: Georgetown sophomore guard Fred Brown's errant pass, ostensibly seeing a teammate out of the corner of his right eye, went directly to North Carolina forward James Worthy and prevented the Hoyas from attempting a potential game-winning shot in the closing seconds of 63-62 setback against the Tar Heels.
1993: Michigan rallied to trim deficit to 73-71 before two North Carolina players trapped Chris Webber on the right sideline with only 11 seconds remaining after he dribbled downcourt when referees failed to call him for walking after grabbing rebound of missed free-throw attempt. The Wolverines' consensus first-team All-American called a fateful timeout his team did not have. Donald Williams wrapped up the game with four consecutive free throws to give Carolina a 77-71 triumph. "Sometimes winning a basketball game is just plain luck," UNC coach Dean Smith said. Meanwhile, Webber's family took mental lapse in stride and showed time heals all wounds when his father, Mayce, acquired a vanity license plate proclaiming "Timeout," a reference to his son's excruciating blunder.
1994: The score was tied when Connecticut All-American Donyell Marshall, who hit 77% of his foul shots during three-year college career, missed two free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining in regulation in East Regional semifinals. UConn wound up losing to Florida, 69-60, in overtime.
1995: Upon making splendid steal off baseline in-bounds pass by Arkansas, Lucious Jackson called an unnecessary timeout while prone in right corner with 4.3 seconds remaining in regulation although Syracuse was out of them and had possession arrow pointing in direction of the Orange. The Razorbacks made one-of-two technical foul charity tosses to knot score, 82-82, and won second-round game in overtime, 96-94.
2006: In the last 20 seconds, Gonzaga's Jose Bautista committed a foul going for rebound following teammate's missed field-goal attempt and subsequently had ball stolen from him after receiving in-bounds pass triggering go-ahead basket for UCLA, giving the Bruins their first lead of game en route to 73-71 come-from-behind victory. The reversal left national player of the year Adam Morrison of the Zags weeping prostrate at mid-court.
2008: Given multiple chances to put away Kansas in national final including leading by nine points with fewer than two minutes remaining in regulation, Memphis All-Americans Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts combined to convert only one of five foul shots in the final 1:12 of regulation (including one front end of a one-and-one). They were 1-of-4 in the last 16 seconds. Rose and Douglas-Roberts had collaborated to sink 20-of-23 in a semifinal rout of UCLA. The Tigers hit only 59% from the line for the season after losing to KU, 75-68.
2014: Virginia Commonwealth's JeQuan Lewis ran into Stephen F. Austin player (Desmond Haymon) as lefthander made three-point field goal with 3.6 seconds remaining in regulation in second round of South Regional. After Haymon converted free throw to complete four-point play, VCU went on to lose in overtime, 77-75.
2019: New Mexico State's Terrell Brown missed two of three free throws with 1.1 seconds remaining in a 78-77 opening-round setback against Auburn after getting fouled by Bryce Brown beyond the three-point arc.Terrell Brown made a team-leading 77.6% of his charity tosses during the entire season.
2019: Auburn's Samir Doughty fouled Virginia's Kyle Guy at buzzer when sharpshooter launched a three-point attempt from the left corner. Guy sank all three free throws to give the Cavaliers a 63-62 win in national semifinals.