Tennessee basketball: Remember the 2009-2010 Texas Longhorns
Fans of the Tennessee basketball Volunteers should be wary of Rick Barnes teams having hype.
On paper, Tennessee basketball gives fans every reason to believe in them. Coming off a 17-14 season with a top five strength of schedule, the Vols have all the fundamentals in place that usually dictate whether a team enters a season with preseason hype.
Returning talent? Check. UT returns everybody, including leading scorer John Fulkerson and reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year Yves Pons, except guard Jordan Bowden. Experience? Rocky Top has three seniors this year, including Fulkerson and Pons.
What about newcomers? Tennessee basketball has a top five recruiting class with two five-star guards, adds a graduate transfer who averaged a double-double last year and has another transfer who redshirted last year and will be eligible this year.
Finally, the Vols have a veteran coach in Rick Barnes. However, Barnes’ history is why fans should exercise caution when getting behind this team. This isn’t the first time Barnes had a team with all the fundamentals to be successful.
In 2009, Barnes was entering his 12th year with the Texas Longhorns. He only had to replace one player from a 2008-2009 team that won 23 games and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament: His top scoring guard in A.J. Abrams. That’s eerily similar to Tennessee basketball replacing Bowden this year.
Related Story. Rick Barnes 10th Vols basketball coach to last five years. light
Texas was returning future NBA players Damion James and Dexter Pittman. It also had a top five recruiting class with two five-star guards, just like the 2020 Vols’ class, that time in future NBA players Avery Bradley and Jordan Hamilton. Oh, and just like this class with Corey Walker Jr., that class had a four-star forward in Shawn Williams.
More from All for Tennessee
- How to Win a GUARANTEED $200 Bonus Betting Just $5 on the Vols vs. Florida!
- Tennessee Football at Florida: Five Keys to a Vols Victory
- Week 3 SEC Power Rankings: Did Tennessee Football’s Win Help At All?
- Week 3 AP Polls: Why Did Tennessee Football Drop in the Polls?
- Tennessee Football: Top Five Performers in 30-13 Win vs. Austin Peay
Simply put, the fundamentals were almost exactly the same that year as they are this year. So what happened? Well, Texas started the year ranked No. 3 in the nation and rolled out to a 17-0 start. They reached No. 1 on Jan. 11, ironically thanks to the Vols upsetting the Kansas Jayhawks one day earlier.
However, they couldn’t sustain the success. Similar to what happened to Tennessee basketball during Jerry Green’s final year in 2000-2001, a red-hot start turned into a dramatic downward slide. On Jan. 18, the Longhorns suffered an upset loss to the No. 10 ranked Kansas State Wildcats on the road. That wasn’t a bad loss, but five days later, they lost to the UConn Huskies on the road.
Still, two road losses, one to a top 10 team, didn’t eliminate Texas from anything. They returned home to beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders but were then upset by the No. 24 ranked Baylor Bears at home. The inconsistency began to take off from there.
After losing to Baylor, 17-1 was 18-3, and they had gone from No. 1 to No. 10. They then beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the road but lost at the Oklahoma Sooners and then at home to Kansas. After beating the Nebraska Cornhuskers, they were 20-5 when the Feb. 8 poll came out, and they were down to No. 14. It got worse.
Losses at the Missouri Tigers, Texas A&M Aggies and to Baylor again were part of the downward slide at the end of the season, and Texas finished the regular season 23-8, losing eight of its final 14 games. Following a win over the Iowa State Cyclones in the Big 12 Tournament, they lost in the next round to Baylor for the third time that year.
By the time the NCAA Tournament came along, Texas was outside of the top 25, and they lost to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the first round. Texas made it to 17-0 and No. 1, and they finished 24-10 with a first round exit from the Big Dance.
Next. Ranking Vols likeliest to leave early for NBA Draft in 2021. dark
What does this mean for Tennessee basketball this year? The Vols entering the season almost mirror Texas from that year, and you have to wonder if it will suffer the same results. Managing expectations and dealing with success are two concerns when you look at Barnes’ history. What happened to the Vols in 2018-2019 was the exception. UT fans should beware of that this year.