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Tennessee basketball: Five underachieving Rick Barnes teams that resemble 2020-21 Vols

By Caleb Calhoun

WACO, TX - JANUARY 31: Texas Longhorns head coach Rick Barnes has words for his team against the Baylor Bears on January 31, 2015 at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
WACO, TX - JANUARY 31: Texas Longhorns head coach Rick Barnes has words for his team against the Baylor Bears on January 31, 2015 at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) /
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PITTSBURGH, PA – MARCH 19: Myles Turner #52 of the Texas Longhorns plays against the Butler Bulldogs during the second round of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Consol Energy Center on March 19, 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA – MARCH 19: Myles Turner #52 of the Texas Longhorns plays against the Butler Bulldogs during the second round of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Consol Energy Center on March 19, 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Longhorns . 3. team. 467. . 2014-2015.

20-14 (8-10)

Lost in NCAA Tournament Round of 64

This underachieving season is the whole reason Tennessee basketball was able to hire Rick Barnes in the first place. The Texas Longhorns fired him because of the disappointment. In 2013-2014, Barnes led Texas to a 24-11 record and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After missing the Big Dance in 2013 and being on the hot seat, it was a great rebound year for him.

Entering 2014-2015, his team returned all five starters and all eight rotational players from the year before. They also added five-star center Myles Turner and four-star guard Jordan Barnett. Being able to plug Turner into a rotation that already made a run the year before shot expectations through the roof, and Texas entered the year ranked No. 10.

A 7-0 start, including a win over the No. 24 ranked UConn Huskies, got them up to No. 6. They would start 10-1, with their only loss coming on the road to the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats, and eventually 12-2, their only other loss coming in overtime to the Stanford Cardinal. On Jan. 3, they got back Isaiah Taylor, who missed all of December due to an injury.

Despite beating the Texas Tech Red Raiders that day, something never got right with Taylor back. After splitting a four-game trip that included a home loss to the No. 16 ranked Oklahoma Sooners, a road loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, a home win over the No. 16 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers and a road win ver the TCU Horned Frogs, though, nobody was panicking yet.

But then came their test, three straight games against top 25 teams in the Kansas Jayhawks, Iowa State Cyclones and Baylor Bears. They lost all three. A home loss to OSU put them on a four-game losing streak and knocked them out of the top 25. After winning three straight, they went on another four-game losing streak, again to all top 25 teams in OU, ISU, WVU and Kansas.

An overtime home win over Baylor sparked a three-game winning streak, including one Big 12 Tournament win, but they lost again to ISU in the tourney. At 19-12, this team just couldn’t beat elite programs, so it got a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost to the Butler Bulldogs in the first round. Given the talent that year, that was a disappointment, and Barnes was fired.

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