You are totally wrong! Barnes may be one of the best X and O coaches we have ever had. I think Barnes analyzes recruits abilities and develops them better than any coach we have ever had!!! Hubbs isn't that great of an example. I think Hubbs was very overrated and didn't give Barnes a chance to develop him the last two years. Hubbs should have easily averaged more than 20ppg this season and was on track to do it until the last half of the season. Had he kept playing up to his potential. We may have made the NCAA this year. What did Barnes do with Punter last year and the FRESHMEN THIS YEAR?
Had we not lost Detrick Mostella and John Fulkerson and not had many FRESHMAN players that weren't use to the GRIND of so many games. I think this years team easily makes the NCAA and finishes in the top 5 in the league with several freshmen and sophomores getting a ton of playing time. We gave UNC and Oregon a run for their money. We were in the game at times and didn't get beat badly by Gonzaga and Wisconsin either. We did this with a ton of freshmen and sophomore play that aren't all four and five star players like most other top programs. How did these four teams do in the NCAA Tournament? How about UK that we beat???
We aren't UK and UF with a boat load of talent. We also didn't have the veteran leadership that SC has with 3 seniors who combined for half of their points. Instead, we have Hubbs and Evans who combined for 16 pts, not 32 pts like USC seniors. We had FIVE FRESHMAN that accounted for 40.6 ppg of our 74.5 ppg with Fulkerson leading the team in FG% before he got hurt!!!
Why don't you do some FACT FINDING before you call out a future Hall of Fame coach that is still a GREAT COACH??? Barnes just needs to do a better job of recruiting. Hopefully, that will come soon!!! You go ahead and make your case why other coaches UT has had were better than Barnes with the exception of Mears. Pearl had much more talent when he was here and inherited a good roster. Look at what Barnes inherited.
Barnes will prove you wrong next year. He isn't ever going to be a top ten coach in the country. But, you saying he isn't a great coach is asinine. You do know he took his teams to the NCAA Tournament 17 years in a row. How many coaches have went 17 years in a row???
Several say his time has past. I don't think so. I still think he has several more productive years ahead of him, especially IF he recruits the TALENT. The freshmen we had this year weren't a bunch of 4-5 star players. But, Barnes developed them well and they are talented!!! We just need a few ELITE sprinkled in with them to be GREAT!!!