GBO!!! This team overachieved!

[cardvolfan]

Good thread. If you would have told me that in TYAK (The Year After Knecht) we would finish Top 5, I would have assumed you were a little crazy. Great year in light of all things considered.

 

[EasternVol]

Don’t be bitter and sad. The Barnes years have been the best 10 years in Vols basketball history. Being a regular national player in basketball is a very recent experience in Knoxville.

As for Pearl reaching 2 Final Fours in his 11 seasons at Auburn, his FF success must be compared to the facts that Barnes has exceeded Pearl’s NCAAT appearances by 7 in 10 years to Bruce’s 6 in 11 years at Auburn. Barnes has also reached the Sweet Sixteen 5 times in 10 years (50% of the opportunities). Pearl has reached the second weekend of the NCAAT only twice in 11 years at Auburn (18%)! Both have 2 Elite Eights.

I’d love for UT to reach the Final Four, but Barnes has been the more successful coach over the last 10 years and he has conducted his program in a manner we can be proud of compared to Bruce’s chaos. Don’t be bitter! GBO!

Well said.

 

[gainesvol82]

Maybe I'm just still bitter over the Houston game. Maybe I'm bitter over Pearl reaching 2 Final Fours in the same amount of time as Barnes has been here. But after 10 years, I'm kind of tired of us being in the position of the "groveling mutt" who should be forever thankful to Rick Barnes that he has us in a place where we might not outright suck, but we are stuck being perennially "good" with no real hope of even getting to a Final Four, let alone winning it all. I feel like we are just spinning our wheels now, staying in the same place, going nowhere. Maybe this is who we are and we need to accept it. But it's a great big fat bitter pill to swallow!

Programs that make a habit of going to S16 and E8 have a habit of eventually breaking through one year, or sometimes multiple years. We are swimming in the right waters with our competition. We have a potentially high level PG in a mold that Barnes loves. The front court is set with rebounding, rim protection and Carrey/Cade/Estrella provide enough offensive post presence.

We need 1-2 wings with length out of the portal that are shot makers and can attack the rim as well. Ideally, we get lucky and can bring Gainey back as he is a perfect 6th man who is really a starter off the bench on offense and defense.