Tennessee Vols: Top 10 years men’s basketball was way better than football

1. 2018-2019

Basketball: 31-6 (15-3)

*NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

Football: 5-7 (2-6)

Believe it or not, it was actually difficult to determine if the Tennessee Vols’ 2017-2018 athletic year or their 2018-2019 athletic year would be on this list. After all, 2017-2018 does have some advantages to it.

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Remember, men’s basketball did win a championship that year, something this team failed to do. Meanwhile, the football team in 2017 was the worst in history, so football was slightly better in 2018. That should have narrowed the gap.

But we can’t pretend that the 2018-2019 Vols were not way better in men’s basketball than 2017-2018. So they didn’t win a title technically. What they did do was spend a month at No. 1, the longest period in school history. This was only the second season in which they reached No. 1 and crossed the 30-win threshold.

In addition to their 31-6 record, they also reached the Sweet 16, which the 2017-2018 failed to do. If you want context about the disparity between the two sports, there was a point in time in February in which football had the more recent loss than men’s basketball.

Rick Barnes had clearly shown he built a program with this team, and there is no way possible to ignore that fact. This team is about two games away from having what was easily the greatest season in school history. As it stood, though, it’s the second greatest season.

Still, that’s a far better result than football. In his first year with the Tennessee Vols, Jeremy Pruitt was always going to have a tough road. And he did, as UT went 5-7 on the year and lost six games by 26 or more points.

Despite upset wins over the Auburn Tigers and Kentucky Wildcats, the program was clearly a major step behind. And there was just no way to ignore how much it struggled throughout the year, which is why we put this year at No. 1.

Now, given the attrition in men’s basketball, this year could be completely different. At the same time, it could be relatively the same but just not as dramatic of a difference. However, if it repeats what happened last year, than it could spell trouble for football.