We are talking final fours here and Tennessee basketball only. Rick Barnes can have his final four reunions in Austin and Bruce Pearl can have his down on the plains. That doesn’t help Tennessee basketball a bit. Actually just pisses us off even more tbh.
As for your final four question vs losing year…too many variables to give a true answer. Nobody nationally is going to care or remember if Tennessee had one bad year though and a Final Four year would always be remembered. For a school that’s never been to a Final Four and to be able to guarantee one it might be worth the sacrifice. If you told me I had 50 years left on Earth and Tennessee would have 25 bad years and 25 great years vs 30 solid years, 10 bad ones, and 10 good ones but none made a final four then I may also have to choose the 25-25 route. UConn was doing that until they really kicked it in recently and I would surely take UConns basketball results without hesitation. When you play at the highest level of the sport (Final Four) multiple times and even win some, it allows for room to have bad years and not worry as much. When you never get to the the top of mountain, even with your best teams then it just pisses you off and makes you more miserable when those down cycle years come. Barnes is a good coach, he isn’t the greatest. I do appreciate him getting the program on solid ground. We could be far worse off. Am I going to bend down to him like he should get a statue next to Pat….nope. Is he above being criticized…Nope…he needs better success in the big dance to gain that.
