"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Can MU Crush the Carolina Curse?

Throughout Marquette's storied history there has been one state that has proved most hostile to the Warriors....the state of North Carolina. MU has had plenty of success against state teams outside their backyard, including capturing the national championship against the North Carolina Tarheels. Playing inside the Tarheel state has been quite a different matter. One might conclude nothing strange about a lack of success against the North Carolinas, the Dukes, the Wake Forests or the NC States of the world considering their basketball pedigree. Unfortunately it doesn't end there. MU has had trouble beating anyone with a Carolina zip code for decades inside the state. The Carolina Curse like the Bermuda Triangle...in SEARCH OF answers.

The Carolina Curse

Dec 14, 1964 loss at Wake Forest 62-95
Mar 23, 1974 win vs #6 Kansas 64-51 (NCAA Tournament in Greensboro)
Mar 25, 1975 loss vs #1 NC State 64-76 (NCAA Tournament in Greensboro)
Jan 28, 1979 loss at #7 Duke 64-69
Jan 31, 1981 loss at #6 Wake Forest 60-83
Feb 17, 1981 loss at Charlotte 58-61
Feb 6, 1983 loss at Wake Forest 65-78
Feb 15, 1987 loss at #3 North Carolina 74-83
Feb 4, 1989 loss at Wake Forest 67-70
Nov 14, 1990 loss at #6 Duke 74-87
Jan 21, 1991 loss at North Carolina State 76-89
Jan 25, 1996 loss at Charlotte 69-79
Feb 15, 1997 loss at Charlotte 46-66
Mar 14, 1997 loss to Providence 59-81 (NCAA Tournament in Charlotte, NC)
Jan 13, 1998 loss at Charlotte 53-66
Jan 21, 1999 loss at Charlotte 61-67
Jan 29, 2000 loss at Charlotte 54-60
Jan 13, 2001 loss at #9 North Carolina 54-84
Mar 3, 2001 loss at Charlotte 62-85
Dec 29, 2001 loss at #25 Wake Forest 59-64
Jan 5, 2002 loss at Charlotte 68-76
Feb 26, 2002 loss at East Carolina 46-51
Dec 30, 2002 loss at East Carolina 70-73
Jan 18, 2003 win at Charlotte 67-64
Jan 20, 2004 loss at Charlotte 76-84

2-24 in the state of North Carolina!

Perhaps this is payback for beating three North Carolina teams on the way to the National Title in 1977.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

big game for MU tonight..escaping with a win is key. nice blog, btw