Ohio State Buckeyes: Worst 10 NCAA Heartbreaks

1999 National Semifinal: Connecticut 64, Ohio State 58

Losing to the 1999 UConn squad is nothing to hang your head over, but when you get that close to the title, the heart just seems to break a little more.

That Buckeye team had two really exciting players in guards Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd.

Redd would go on to an NBA All-Star career, but before that, he averaged 19.5 points per game as a sophomore for the 1998-1999 Buckeyes. Scoonie was right on his tail with 16.9 points, in addition to 4.3 assists.

Yet UConn had some weapons of their own in Rip Hamilton and Khalid El-Amin.  Hamilton went on to enjoy a long, productive NBA career and won and NBA Championship with the Detroit Pistons. El-Amin didn’t do much in the pros, but if you’ll recall, he was one of the best point guards in college basketball, especially that season.

Connecticut, coached by Jim Calhoun, entered the tourney ranked No. 1 in the coaches’ poll, and No. 3 in the AP poll. The end result proved that coaches know best, as the Huskies won the National Championship with a 77-74 win over Duke–the AP No. 1.

The loss hurt for Buckeyes fans, but that season marked the farthest OSU had advanced in the tourney since the 1992 team, led by Jimmy Jackson.

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