With Tennessee knocking off Gonzaga in another great non-conference matchup on Sunday, it’s time to recognize the coaching career Rick Barnes has had. When you think about what he’s done in Knoxville as his latest stop, it’s quite impressive.
The facile response to that is to say that he’s won everywhere he has been. While true, it understates what he has done, because he’s won at stops where doing so is far from easy and/or has not been part of the tradition. He will likely hit 700 career wins next season, but that number alone doesn’t tell the whole story.
His first stop was George Mason. While the Patriots had the memorable Final Four run of 2006 and by that time became a signature program in the CAA before leaving for the Atlantic 10, when Barnes was there in 1987-88, they were far from that. They had only made a single NIT appearance as far as postseason history goes at the time. They went 20-10 in his lone season there, and today a season like that would probably net them a postseason bid of some sort; at that time they were done after the CAA Tournament. The Patriots would win the CAA a year later, then struggle until Jim Larranaga came along in 1997.
Barnes then headed north to Providence after the Friars followed up their Final Four appearance in 1987 with a disaster in Gordon Chiesa’s one season. Providence is one of the most storied basketball programs in New England, a fact easily missed given what UConn did starting when Jim Calhoun turned them into a powerhouse, and Barnes did his part in the tradition with three NCAA Tournament appearances and two more NIT appearances in six seasons.
Clemson was the next stop, and it’s a school that has some history, but not nearly what some other ACC schools have and certainly not what the football program is now developing. All he did there was become the first coach to bring them to the NCAA Tournament three years in a row, and that came after an NIT appearance in his first season.
His run at Texas is the most well-known, as the Longhorns made the NCAA Tournament all but once in his 17 years in Austin. He recruited plenty of elite talent, the likes of which you were more likely to see the football program recruit instead, from T.J. Ford and D.J. Augustin to Kevin Durant, Avery Bradley, Jordan Hamilton and Tristan Thompson.
With Texas running him out of town as the program continued to get into the NCAA Tournament but was trending downward, he then headed to another football school in Tennessee. In short order, he has turned them into an SEC power as the SEC has risen as a whole. They entered the season ranked in most people’s top ten for good reason, and they got the big breakthrough win on Sunday despite the reigning SEC Player of the Year fouling out with 2:30 left.
The Volunteers, fortunately, had Admiral Schofield to take over, and he finished a 30-point outing with the game-winning three-pointer in the final minute as they won 76-73. Interestingly, this is the first time Barnes has knocked off a team ranked in the top spot, something you would think he had done during his illustrious career.
Tennessee had a couple of close calls, but finally broke through in a big matchup. There’s reason to believe they will get another big win or two as part of the latest big success Rick Barnes has had.
Side Dishes
In the other game played in Phoenix as part of the Air Force Reserve Jerry Colangelo Classic, Nevada closed out Grand Canyon 74-66 to go to 10-0, getting a big game from Jordan Caroline (22 points, 14 rebounds).
Texas snapped a three-game losing streak with a 72-68 win over Purdue, although Carsen Edwards did all he could to carry the Boilermakers to a win with 40 points on 15-26 shooting. Some numbers that together are probably not a coincidence: Purdue had just six assists on 27 made baskets and shot 41.5 percent from the field, including 9-32 from long range, while Texas had 17 assists on 23 made baskets and shot nearly 49 percent from the field, including 11-25 from long range.
It was not a good day for the Pac-12, which has happened all too often of late, as all three teams in action went down. Alabama edged Arizona 76-73 in Tuscaloosa, while Saint Louis edged Oregon State 65-61 and Washington State lost 95-90 to Montana State, who came into the game 2-6.
Tonight’s Menu
The time has come for many schools to take time off from basketball for final exams, so as can be expected, the slate is light with just seven Division I games on tap.
- Sacred Heart heads north to visit Dartmouth, while Marshall hosts Morehead State, Hofstra makes the trip up to take on local rival Manhattan and Maine takes on Division III Maine-Machias, all tipping at 7 p.m.
- Arkansas-Pine Bluff hosts ACCA member Champion Christian College, coached by former UTRGV (at that time, Texas-Pan American) head coach Tom Schuberth (8:30 p.m.)
- Closing out the night are two games out west as Long Beach State heads north to take on former Big West rival Pacific, while Saint Mary’s hosts Cal State Fullerton, both with a 10 p.m. tip.
