Credit to Rick Barnes

#102
#102
I think the point that was trying to be made is this - At the time UT suffered several losses toward the end of the year, the players were not "hodge-podge", they were NBA caliber.

Barnes lost several games in pressure situations with a large contingent of NBA caliber players. That is a fact and that is what the Texas faithful got tired of seeing. If you disagree with this statement, so be it.
 
#104
#104
Alex10 said:
Hey I’m with you in part. We had a couple of really good regular seasons and I credit Barnes for that. I don’t want Barnes fired or anything, I don’t think he is immune to criticism though. Also best team we may have ever had last year... ranked 1 in the country for a month yet didn’t win the sec regular season champ, didn’t win the sec tournament champ and didn’t make it past the sweet 16 in ncaa.... with that team how they couldn’t accomplish one of those things is beyond me.
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Actually pretty common, how many times does “the best team” win the national championship?
 
#105
#105
calban said:
Hate to beat a dead horse, but speaking of history, that is the Barnes history. That's why he was asked to leave Texas. His history is doing less with more.
If his history remains true there will be even more disjointed fans next season.
Fire him? No, but I do have a feeling he's enjoying the game a lot less with the added pressure he's encountering because of his financial success.
Like it or not performances like the last one are going to produce questions and a lot of groaning. Very few people these days are allowed to live on their laurels.
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It’s pretty funny when he got here our fans said “omg make the tourney just about every year, heck yea we will take that at Tennessee”...now we want to take the mindset of disappointment and potential change if the E8 and F4 don’t start coming?
 
#107
#107
bleedingTNorange said:
Actually pretty common, how many times does “the best team” win the national championship?
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Honestly my expectations weren’t winning the title because I agree with you, especially once you get to the elite 8 most everyone is either really good or really hot so it’s a crap shoot. I still think they should have done better... also if they could have won the sec tournament I would have considered it very successful. I get it, doesn’t always workout in your favor but I can’t help but look at Barnes history in the tournament and think there must be something lacking with his tournament coaching. I don’t know maybe not. Either way I’m good with Barnes. I do think he deserves some criticism for a few things but also deserves praise as well.
 
#108
#108
VolGee4 said:
Losses like one against A&M happen all the time in college basketball. All the time.

You can gloss over wins over UK his first two years as well where he had no business winning. I’m sure UK fans were wondering how a UT roster like that could beat Cal. It happens. A reaction after one game is silly. This team was always going to be up and down.

You expect a FF next year? Seriously, these overreactions are ridiculous. This place is turning into the Football Forum.
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Yup exactly...when he was hired fans were begging to just consistently make the tournament, have a run here and there maybe...now all of a sudden it’s F4 or bust?
 
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#109
#109
Alex10 said:
Honestly my expectations weren’t winning the title because I agree with you, especially once you get to the elite 8 most everyone is either really good or really hot so it’s a crap shoot. I still think they should have done better... also if they could have won the sec tournament I would have considered it very successful. I get it, doesn’t always workout in your favor but I can’t help but look at Barnes history in the tournament and think there must be something lacking with his tournament coaching. I don’t know maybe not. Either way I’m good with Barnes. I do think he deserves some criticism for a few things but also deserves praise as well.
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His resume is that he does indeed typically exit early from the NCAAT, that is accurate, and last year was proof again of that I don’t disagree...but again, when he was hired all anyone wanted was NCAAT appearances most of the time, a run here and there maybe, but now all of a sudden fans are expecting us to consistently be a S16 and E8 or better team?
 
#110
#110
I
bleedingTNorange said:
His resume is that he does indeed typically exit early from the NCAAT, that is accurate, and last year was proof again of that I don’t disagree...but again, when he was hired all anyone wanted was NCAAT appearances most of the time, a run here and there maybe, but now all of a sudden fans are expecting us to consistently be a S16 and E8 or better team?
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I would imagine those expectations come from the fact he is getting blue blood money now. Fair or unfair it kind of comes with the territory. Heck if you paid me 5 million dollars a year I’d be ok with you stringing me up in a stadium and letting people pelt me with rocks all day. It is what it is.
 
#111
#111
All you folks that have a beef with Barnes, be sure to tell Kentucky to fire Calipari because Vandy, with 27 straight SEC losses, was still in the game at the 2-minute mark.

Give Pearl a call because a bad Ole Miss team led Auburn by 19 in the second half before sliding by with a fortunate win. Basketball has been and always will be an ebb-n-flow game, and a game full of momentum shifts and changes.
 
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#112
#112
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Tennessee has been to one Elite Eight and zero Final Fours.

Barnes has been to 3 EEs and one FF.
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I think an EE run and possibly a FF appearance is a reasonable expectation from UT fans. Not every year but certainly in the next 2 or 3 seasons. The salary being paid and talent coming into the program has raised the expectation for Barnes
 
#113
#113
Alex10 said:
I

I would imagine those expectations come from the fact he is getting blue blood money now. Fair or unfair it kind of comes with the territory. Heck if you paid me 5 million dollars a year I’d be ok with you stringing me up in a stadium and letting people pelt me with rocks all day. It is what it is.
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So if he was making $500k everyone would be ok with us being the worst team in the league? Should work both ways.
 
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#114
#114
I just want to see the Volunteers in a FF in my lifetime. That window is getting smaller for me. I don't care who advances the team to the FF, Rick Barnes, Rick Ptino, Rick Rolled, whoever. When you look at some of the great Tennessee teams over the years who came up short and realize teams like Dayton, Penn, George Mason, Vcu etc........have been there, yeah I'm ready.
 
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#115
#115
The whole “he’s making $5m argument is tired”...he’s making that because 2 others schools pursued him and were willing to pay him, Tennessee wanted to retain him and that’s the price they paid. If he was making $500k a year all these “Barnes Bashers” wouldn’t be perfectly fine with him all of a sudden, so it doesn’t go both ways. The expectation at Tennessee should be to make the NCAAT around 75% of the time, hopefully get a deep run in here and there, and if you do that you’re likely a Top 20 program nationally...the last 2 years we achieved that, this year looks like it will be a disappointment, but next year looks much better.

And when discussing this year, while Barnes is ultimately responsible, you also have to look at the situation. If Bone returns which was thought to be the case late last year, and Turner is healthy, Plavsic gets cleared early on that’s a much different look...that’s without mentioning Blackshear who it looked like they were likely to land. Again, it ultimately falls on Barnes and maybe he should’ve had a better plan in place for Bone/Plavsic, but hard to assume season ending injuries to your leader also.
 
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#116
#116
bleedingTNorange said:
So if he was making $500k everyone would be ok with us being the worst team in the league? Should work both ways.
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I don’t know I guess. Expectations certainly wouldn’t be where they are now. Also most understand UT isn’t a traditional blue blood but pretty much every year you get at least 1 team that isn’t a blue blood in the final 4, heck look no further than last year.. Auburn? Texas Tech? They don’t even have the history we do in b-ball yet somehow they were in the final 4, it’s not some impossible feat that many on here try to make it seem.
 
#117
#117
bleedingTNorange said:
Yup exactly...when he was hired fans were begging to just consistently make the tournament, have a run here and there maybe...now all of a sudden it’s F4 or bust?
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Nobody in here said that nor has anybody said that.

BTW, you’re fineconsistently making the tournamen. Assuming they don’t turn it around, we would have missed the tournament more times than not so far with Barnes. Just sayin.
 
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#118
#118
bleedingTNorange said:
The whole “he’s making $5m argument is tired”...he’s making that because 2 others schools pursued him and were willing to pay him, Tennessee wanted to retain him and that’s the price they paid. If he was making $500k a year all these “Barnes Bashers” wouldn’t be perfectly fine with him all of a sudden, so it doesn’t go both ways. The expectation at Tennessee should be to make the NCAAT around 75% of the time, hopefully get a deep run in here and there, and if you do that you’re likely a Top 20 program nationally...the last 2 years we achieved that, this year looks like it will be a disappointment, but next year looks much better.

And when discussing this year, while Barnes is ultimately responsible, you also have to look at the situation. If Bone returns which was thought to be the case late last year, and Turner is healthy, Plavsic gets cleared early on that’s a much different look...that’s without mentioning Blackshear who it looked like they were likely to land. Again, it ultimately falls on Barnes and maybe he should’ve had a better plan in place for Bone/Plavsic, but hard to assume season ending injuries to your leader also.
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BTO, you typically bring solid info to the BB forum & I respect that, but it is almost as if you have apprehensions about Barnes taking UT to that next step. He matched the Schools record for wins last year & just missed out on the elite 8. Last year was a success IMO. I am not a Barnes basher at all, but it is a fair expectation for UT fans to expect more than just making the tournament 75% of the time. We are not a college BBALL blueblood, but neither is Auburn or Texas Tech. More dollars paid & signing highly recruited players raises expectations.
 
#119
#119
orangemadam said:
I think the point that was trying to be made is this - At the time UT suffered several losses toward the end of the year, the players were not "hodge-podge", they were NBA caliber.

Barnes lost several games in pressure situations with a large contingent of NBA caliber players. That is a fact and that is what the Texas faithful got tired of seeing. If you disagree with this statement, so be it.
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I did not think it was lack of coaching that lost any of those big games, games they won the previous season. IMO Barnes had them in a position to win every time. Game plans and plays called after a timeout were awesome, some keys shots didn't drop. I'm not blaming the players either, past a certain point its luck. That kid from Purdue played out his ass that day and that had nothing to do with coaching from either bench. Still, we were in a position to win at the end. This year we simply don't have the horses but I am certain when we do have the horses those horses will be put into a position to win.
 
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#120
#120
zjcvols said:
Nobody in here said that nor has anybody said that.

BTW, you’re fineconsistently making the tournamen. Assuming they don’t turn it around, we would have missed the tournament more times than not so far with Barnes. Just sayin.
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Well that falls in line with UT history. In the 64+ team tournament era, we’ve missed more tournaments than we’ve made. I don’t know where people get the notion that we are supposed to be in it every year. We have no history to support that.
 
#121
#121
orangemadam said:
I think the point that was trying to be made is this - At the time UT suffered several losses toward the end of the year, the players were not "hodge-podge", they were NBA caliber.

Barnes lost several games in pressure situations with a large contingent of NBA caliber players. That is a fact and that is what the Texas faithful got tired of seeing. If you disagree with this statement, so be it.
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Remind me how many tournament games Texas has won since firing Barnes.
 
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#122
#122
SGMVols said:
Well that falls in line with UT history. In the 64+ team tournament era, we’ve missed more tournaments than we’ve made. I don’t know where people get the notion that we are supposed to be in it every year. We have no history to support that.
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What has that got to do with Barnes. His history is at least making the tournament in down years. Not looking good for continuing that trend.
 
#123
#123
calban said:
What has that got to do with Barnes. His history is at least making the tournament in down years. Not looking good for continuing that trend.
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It’s easier to win at Texas than at Tennessee. And to hold the first two years against him is asinine. No one UT could’ve realistically hired after the Donnie debacle was making the tournament with what they would’ve inherited.
 
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#124
#124
SGMVols said:
It’s easier to win at Texas than at Tennessee. And to hold the first two years against him is asinine. No one UT could’ve realistically hired after the Donnie debacle was making the tournament with what they would’ve inherited.
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Easier to win at Texas. Never heard that excuse.
 
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