I think it has to be. The tournament mentioned in a post above (I only remembered Montana specifically and not who the other two schools were) was awful and especially frustrating since Monson should have already been fired (like Pitino) and it just confirmed we were going to see a pointless lame duck season. At least that happened at the beginning of the year and confirmed what everyone already believed. After Monson was fired a short while after, you could check in or out on the season and not need to be invested in anything.
This year the Gophers were like a 5 or 6 seed in most brackets before the home loss to Maryland. While I personally didn't believe they would stay there, it seemed impossible to fall completely out of the tournament. So we all spent so much more time invested in the season.
Fast forward to this week and what makes it the worst. The Illinois game was broadcast on Fox. We've had very few network TV games in recent years and this was a huge game for the Gophers tourney hopes. Not only did they lose the game, but they suffered the 3rd biggest home blowout in the history of the program! With the sad state of the bubble and the results from Sunday through Wednesday, the Gophers still controlled their own destiny going in to a cakewalk against Northwestern. Northwestern had nothing to play for! They hadn't won a game in 2021! The Gophers lead 17-3...at home! Northwestern didn't even play well by their own standards and they still won going away. Again, many more hoops fans were watching this game or aware of the Gophers terrible loss because of their status on the bubble as opposed to many of the other periods mentioned above. Finally Nebraska. Losers of 31 of 32 Big Ten games with nothing to play for and the Gophers STILL were a first four or next four out team depending on your preferred bracketologist. Nebraska turns it over the entire first half, Fred only plays his best player 10 minutes because he's sending a message/creating his culture... and they still beat the Gophers for their first home win over a high major opponent in 2 years.
TL;DR A historic beatdown at home on network television and two losses to teams on historic losing streaks while still playing for a sport in the NCAA tournament in late February is absolutely the worst week Gopher Basketball has experienced that doesn't involve the word "Gangelhoff".