Tennessee basketball: Ranking Vols finish to every season in 2010s decade
1. 2009-2010
28-9 (11-5)
NCAA Tournament Elite Eight; No. 15 AP; No. 9 Coaches
While they ended the decade with a season in which they reached No. 1, Tennessee basketball began the decade in a season at the height of the Bruce Pearl years. And this was one of the best ones they ever had.
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This was the year Scotty Hopson would arrive. His talents combined with the leadership of veterans Wayne Chism, Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince got the Vols off to a 9-2 start, losing by one to the Purdue Boilermakers and on the road to the USC Trojans. Their last game in the previous decade was a win at the Memphis Tigers.
Riding high entering 2010, though, the turmoil hit. Smith, Cameron Tatum, Melvin Goins and Brian Williams all got arrested on a misdemeanor gun charge. UT dismissed Smith and suspended the other three. How did they respond? Completely depleted, they upset the No. 1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks in an insane shocker.
Pearl’s team played way above their heads that day, though, and without Smith, they stumbled through SEC play. The other three guys eventually came back, and they did score huge wins over the Kentucky Wildcats and Florida Gators at home, but they were swept by the Vanderbilt Commodores and blown out by Kentucky in the SEC Tournament.
They earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament and, thanks to upsets, had an easy road to the Sweet Sixteen, where they faced the No. 2 seed Ohio State Buckeyes. It was a back and forth game, and the Vols pulled off the shocker after Prince blocked an attempted game-tying three by Evan Turner. UT then lost by one to the Michigan State Spartans, just missing the Final Four.
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As a result, Tennessee basketball finished this season with its first Elite Eight in history. Now, the 2018-2019 had a better record, but it didn’t go as far, and neither team won any championships. Also, this team played a tougher schedule. That’s why we rank it No. 1 on this list.