Rick Barnes thread

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

Barnes has one more shot at Tenn to get it right imo. His team should mostly all come back, right?  They should be really good. If he flames out again it will likely go into the death spiral he had here. I’m rooting for him to do it while betting against it happening and appreciating him for what he is. 

[crash_davis 23101]

2 minutes ago, Lonestar88 said:

Rick Barnes was really good here until 08, no one is denying that.

But it was 7 years of mediocrity by the time he left, which is almost as long as he was good here, and yes, I think Shaka being worse made people forget that.

as shittastic as skaka was, it wasn't much that much worse than barnes' last 7 years. barnes last years were the definition of mediocre.

 

[shadow_operative 15932]

17 minutes ago, TommyGufano said:

Not quite.

I could buy a Marvin Lewis comp. Andy Reid occupied a higher rung of success pre-SB than Barnes ever sniffed.

basically what Wulaw already said. Texas was a top 10 national program for the decade of the aughts. we went to the tourney 16 straight years, which at the time was only equaled by (i believe) only two other programs, and they were Kentucky and Arizona or something like that. He won three Big XII titles, and again, went to 5 Sweet 16's in six years. no other coach in the country could say that at the time, and i'd imagine that the list of coaches who've replicated that feat since then is a very very short one. people have long since forgotten it, but Rick Barnes was considered a top coach nationally at one time. if he sucked half as bad as people act like he does then programs like Kentucky and UCLA wouldn't have offered him their HC job. 

[Firemans4Horn 18034]

26 minutes ago, Fletch said:

 

Last 20 years? So staring in 2002? A final 4, sweet 16 and two elite 8s and he’s the worst of the last 20 years? Last 10 years? Sure. Last 20? Unreal 

 

compared to where he was seeded? 
 

yes. Happy to make that bet all day. Rick with 1 final 4, 2 sweet elite 8’s and 2 sweet 16’s has underperformed more than any coach in the last 20 years. 

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

2 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

as shittastic as skaka was, it wasn't much that much worse than barnes' last 7 years. barnes last years were the definition of mediocre.

 

And that’s probably fair. I’d say Shaka squandered more talent than Barnes (comparing Rick’s last 6 years to shaka’s 6 years) but it was t radically better (what- 2 more tourney wins for Rick?) 

[crash_davis 23101]

1 minute ago, shadow_operative said:

basically what Wulaw already said. Texas was a top 10 national program for the decade of the aughts. we went to the tourney 16 straight years, which at the time was only equaled by (i believe) only two other programs, and they were Kentucky and Arizona or something like that. He won three Big XII titles, and again, went to 5 Sweet 16's in six years. no other coach in the country could say that at the time, and i'd imagine that the list of coaches who've replicated that feat since then is a very very short one. people have long since forgotten it, but Rick Barnes was considered a top coach nationally at one time. if he sucked half as bad as people act like he does then programs like Kentucky and UCLA wouldn't have offered him their HC job. 

i think you are only focusing on his early years. there's a reason he got fired. no amount of reminiscing is going to change that he sucked the last half of his tenure here. his continuing to shit the bed in the tourney with tennessee isn't helping his cause at all.

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

2 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

 

compared to where he was seeded? 
 

yes. Happy to make that bet all day. Rick with 1 final 4, 2 sweet elite 8’s and 2 sweet 16’s has underperformed more than any coach in the last 20 years. 

You are acting like he shouldn’t get credit for having good teams going into the tournament. That’s an odd take to penalize someone for being good. There was nothing wrong with Ricks tournament record for most of the aughts. I don’t penalize Bill Self for constantly wearing white. 

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

2 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

i think you are only focusing on his early years. there's a reason he got fired. no amount of reminiscing is going to change that he sucked the last half of his tenure here. his continuing to shit the bed in the tourney with tennessee isn't helping his cause at all.

Derka was onboard with his firing. We all were. He’s only arguing the first half of Barnes tenure because people act like he was a joke that didn’t accomplish anything. That’s not true. He was really really good here for about 10 years. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

1 hour ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Damn.  That 538 article that has been referenced on here several times was released 3 years ago.  It had Barnes as the 2nd worst tourney coach - 558 out of 559 coaches.  Since then, TN has:

Lost as a 2 v. a 3.

Lost as a 5 v. a 12.

Lost as a 3 v. 11.

Barnes' stats have actually gotten worse since the article.

That's all I'm going to say about this on here because I'm not here to pile on Derka.  

 

well first off that article named Shaka as a good tourney coach, so that says a lot about its methodology and the conclusions that they came to. but aside from that:

•losing in a 2 vs 3 game is nothing to be ashamed about. they lost on a last second shot to that red hot Carsen Edwards team. iirc  that Purdue team had the eventual champion UVA about dead to rights before blowing it in the next round. they lost a great game to a great team.

•the Oregon State loss was bad

•the loss to Loyola was another one where they lost on a last second jumper, and that Loyola team went to the FF

•the Michigan loss today was a well played game where they just could not hit open shots down the stretch.

 

does he lose earlier than he should, with regularity? yes. absolutely. 

do his teams regularly play tight and then choke and then lose to shitty teams in embarrassing fashion? no, they don't. 

Rick Barnes is not a good tourney coach anymore, but he is far, far from the worst. 

[Michael Knight 12977]

Barnes did the same thing Mack did, he recruited very well and coached very poorly. But one thing that exacerbated his downfall was buying his players from Ro Russell and as we've all learned Canadians suck dick at basketball.

[LTtxfan 49144]

23 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

rick went to the sweet 16 five times in six years at texas, and the one year he didn't make it was when he lost LA and PJ in January. it's so crazy how Barnes went from being considered one of the absolute best tourney coaches out there, to now being considered one of the worst by a majority of (admittedly uninformed) people. but right or wrong, that's the party line, and everyone is going to stick to it. 

 

• Think it's 5 Sweet 16's in 7 years.  (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008)
• Followed by 7 years of Zero Sweet 16's for Rick at Texas

Glad Rick was hired by Tennessee -- hopefully he makes it to Sweet 16 Rd or higher next year.  He definitely had a successful stretch early at Texas.

 

Stats for Sweet 16's at Texas

Spoiler

2001–02	Texas	22–12	10–6	T–3rd	NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2002–03	Texas	26–7	13–3	2nd	NCAA Division I Final Four
2003–04	Texas	25–8	12–4	T–2nd	NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2004–05	Texas	20–11	9–7	T–5th	NCAA Division I Round of 64
2005–06	Texas	30–7	13–3	T–1st	NCAA Division I Elite Eight
2006–07	Texas	25–10	12–4	3rd	NCAA Division I Round of 32
2007–08	Texas	31–7	13–3	T–1st	NCAA Division I Elite Eight
2008–09	Texas	23–12	9–7	T–4th	NCAA Division I Round of 32
2009–10	Texas	24–10	9–7	T–6th	NCAA Division I Round of 64
2010–11	Texas	28–8	13–3	2nd	NCAA Division I Round of 32
2011–12	Texas	20–14	9–9	5th	NCAA Division I Round of 64
2012–13	Texas	16–18	7–11	7th	CBI First Round
2013–14	Texas	24–11	11–7	T–3rd	NCAA Division I Round of 32
2014–15	Texas	20–14	8–10	T–6th	NCAA Division I Round of 64

 

[Michael Knight 12977]

Just now, shadow_operative said:

well first off that article named Shaka as a good tourney coach, so that says a lot about its methodology and the conclusions that they came to. but aside from that:

•losing in a 2 vs 3 game is nothing to be ashamed about. they lost on a last second shot to that red hot Carsen Edwards team. iirc  that Purdue team had the eventual champion UVA about dead to rights before blowing it in the next round. they lost a great game to a great team.

•the Oregon State loss was bad

•the loss to Loyola was another one where they lost on a last second jumper, and that Loyola team went to the FF

•the Michigan loss today was a well played game where they just could not hit open shots down the stretch.

 

does he lose earlier than he should, with regularity? yes. absolutely. 

do his teams regularly play tight and then choke and then lose to shitty teams in embarrassing fashion? no, they don't. 

Rick Barnes is not a good tourney coach anymore, but he is far, far from the worst. 

All the worse ones are fired, Barnes survives because he wins games that don't matter

[shadow_operative 15932]

10 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

 

compared to where he was seeded? 
 

yes. Happy to make that bet all day. Rick with 1 final 4, 2 sweet elite 8’s and 2 sweet 16’s has underperformed more than any coach in the last 20 years. 

unless i missed something and rick barnes was the head coach for Texas against Abilene Christian last year, then uh, you're wrong. 

[Firemans4Horn 18034]

5 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

You are acting like he shouldn’t get credit for having good teams going into the tournament. That’s an odd take to penalize someone for being good. There was nothing wrong with Ricks tournament record for most of the aughts. I don’t penalize Bill Self for constantly wearing white. 

“Penalized for being good”

 

lol, the reward is a top seed. If you lose to WORSE teams in the tournament 16 out of 20 years than you are in contention for “worst tournament coach of the last 20 years”

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

3 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

“Penalized for being good”

 

lol, the reward is a top seed. If you lose to WORSE teams in the tournament 16 out of 20 years than you are in contention for “worst tournament coach of the last 20 years”

No, your record is your record. If you go 5-1 at Gonzaga last year does that make you a bad tournament coach or an underachiever because you lost to a lower ranked team in the title game, or are you a good tournament coach for winning more games than 66 other coaches. Arguing the former is lunacy. 
rick was 18-13 in the tournament at texas for his 15 or so years here. I bet that’s more tournament wins than all but about 10 or 15 coaches during that time. 
Parsing out seeding is stupid. Good tournament coaches win more games than they lose. Rick did that. At a program that was historically probably 35 or 40 or so when he got here. 

[StrippersAndNobelPrizes 844]

52 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

people like you are hilarious...ly stupid and uninformed, and all too excited to run in here and announce to the bird that you don't know shit about college basketball. you show up here once a year to pound your chest how much Rick Barnes sucks because he's never won a title, which only goes to show petty and uninformed you are. let's go to the numbers:

Tom Izzo- 22 tourneys, 1 title

Bill Self- 22 tourneys, 1 title

John Calipari- 22 tourneys, 1 title

Jim Boeheim- 29 tourneys, 1 title

Mark Few- 22 tourneys, 0 titles

Bob Huggins- 25 tourneys, 0 titles 

Eddie Sutton- 26 tourneys, 0 titles 

 

That's a list of some of the all time great college basketball coaches, hall of famers, top 5 and 10 guys in terms of all time wins, and between them they've gone to the tourney 168 times, with a total of FOUR, count 'em, FOUR combined national titles. That's a 2.3% success rate for some of the best to ever do it. but yeah, keep on creaming yourselves over the insane disappointment that is the fact that Barnes has never won the most difficult championship to win in all of sports. yeah, that's the ticket. 👌🏼 

No dumbass! Rick Barnes has 0 titles and that is a direct quote from a man paid literally millions of dollars to win titles. Please let me know which of the above are incorrect. I’m waiting….

[shadow_operative 15932]

3 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

“Penalized for being good”

 

lol, the reward is a top seed. If you lose to WORSE teams in the tournament 16 out of 20 years than you are in contention for “worst tournament coach of the last 20 years”

that's a super broad brush you're painting with there, and if you check the actual stats then no, he does not come close to being the worst tourney coach of the last 20 years. Rick lost a whole bunch of 8 vs 9 and 4 vs 5 matchups. he lost a bunch of games where the spread was Texas -2. hell, we beat UNC in a game where Texas was the higher seed but UNC was the favored team. hell, Bill Self has as many of not more bad upset losses in the tourney than Rick does. this idea that he's as bad as it gets is not based in fact. 

That's worse than Barnes. And they've had some talent there over that time. I mean they had Luka Garza for four of those years. Again, Rick Barnes is no longer a good tourney coach, but he is far from the worst. 

[Michael Knight 12977]

4 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

that's a super broad brush you're painting with there, and if you check the actual stats then no, he does not come close to being the worst tourney coach of the last 20 years. Rick lost a whole bunch of 8 vs 9 and 4 vs 5 matchups. he lost a bunch of games where the spread was Texas -2. hell, we beat UNC in a game where Texas was the higher seed but UNC was the favored team. hell, Bill Self has as many of not more bad upset losses in the tourney than Rick does. this idea that he's as bad as it gets is not based in fact. 

That's worse than Barnes. And they've had some talent there over that time. I mean they had Luka Garza for four of those years. Again, Rick Barnes is no longer a good tourney coach, but he is far from the worst. 

At least Iowa gets those losses at a discount

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

Agree with a lot of the analysis on here.  One thing to note, though.  There are very, VERY few coaches who have had the talent Barnes has had.   

You can't point out all the recruiting wins, all the NBA players Texas has, all the single digit seeds Barnes has had going into the tourney, then discount the fact that he has shit the bed in almost every tourney.  

The fact that Barnes flaming out in the tourney was a meme several years ago BEFORE losing to a much lower seed 3 of the last 4 years is very telling.

Edited March 20, 2022 by Knoxtnhorn

[shadow_operative 15932]

ok but damn everything else- that running hook shot at the end there? how in the fuck does that shit keep happening to Barnes? the most retarded, hopeless, bullshit gets thrown up and then just swishes right in. god damn that shit has happened to more Barnes' coached teams than i care to remember. 

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

7 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

ok but damn everything else- that running hook shot at the end there? how in the fuck does that shit keep happening to Barnes? the most retarded, hopeless, bullshit gets thrown up and then just swishes right in. god damn that shit has happened to more Barnes' coached teams than i care to remember. 

Agree.  I didn't realize how lucky that shot was until I saw the replay.

[LTtxfan 49144]

16 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

ok but damn everything else- that running hook shot at the end there? how in the fuck does that shit keep happening to Barnes? the most retarded, hopeless, bullshit gets thrown up and then just swishes right in. god damn that shit has happened to more Barnes' coached teams than i care to remember. 

Seems like Mark Few is definitely snake-bit in the NCAA Tournament a lot too

[Knoxtnhorn 5971]

31 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Agree with a lot of the analysis on here.  One thing to note, though.  There are very, VERY few coaches who have had the talent Barnes has had.   

We've discussed some of the talent Barnes had a Texas, but TN has had talent as well.  TN had 3 NBA draft picks in 2019 and 2 last year.  (I have no idea if anyone on this current team will get drafted.)  That's 5 NBA draft picks on teams that lost as a 2 to a 3, a 5 to a 12, and a 3 to an 11... and then this year as a 3 to an 11.

Edited March 20, 2022 by Knoxtnhorn

[GringoSalado 1651]

1 hour ago, crash_davis said:

as shittastic as skaka was, it wasn't much that much worse than barnes' last 7 years. barnes last years were the definition of mediocre.

 

At least it was basketball. I couldn't even watch Shaka's Texas teams.

[Fletch 5800]

1 hour ago, Lonestar88 said:

Rick Barnes was really good here until 08, no one is denying that.

But it was 7 years of mediocrity by the time he left, which is almost as long as he was good here, and yes, I think Shaka being worse made people forget that.

 

1 hour ago, Firemans4Horn said:

 

compared to where he was seeded? 
 

yes. Happy to make that bet all day. Rick with 1 final 4, 2 sweet elite 8’s and 2 sweet 16’s has underperformed more than any coach in the last 20 years. 

Sigh. I’m not denying any of that. He’s pretty much basketball Mack which is exactly what I’ve been saying except Rick kept it going a tad bit longer. Avery Bradley collapse was terrible. J’Covan team got completely railed in every way. Shit even 2014 after all those douchebags left was pretty god damn fun then we ran into a Michigan team that shot like 80% that day. Then next year he was stubborn about Myles Turner and that did him in. Sucks but the “if we don’t get the 5 second call against Arizona” is sort of like “if Colt didn’t go down against bama”. If neither of those events happen then the over time hatred of Barnes and Mack(I’m guilty as well) most likely doesn’t exist. But that shit happened and here we are. Sucks but is what it is. Same with 06 LSU. Aldridge, Gibson, Buckman and PJ had one of, if not, the worst games of their lives. I mean, as a coach, what do you do with this? Especially when Big Baby was allowed to do whatever the fuck he wanted all game 

[Firemans4Horn 18034]

 

[Fletch 5800]

1 minute ago, Firemans4Horn said:

 

Hahahahhahahah oh god that was a good one. 
I don’t recall TJ being on the 04, 06 or 08 teams. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

ok. i'm about to end all talk of Rick Barnes being *even remotely close* to being the biggest choke artist in the NCAA tourney. because i'm going to give you the biggest choke artist in the NCAA tourney in the last 20 years, and i won't even have to make any kind of written argument, because the results speak for themselves. you want a guy whose teams fail to live up to their talent/seed year after year after year? meet national title winner, and otherwise epic tournament failure, Tony Bennett:

(as you're reading this, just imagine that these results belonged to Rick Barnes at UT)

 

Tony Bennett at UVA:

 

2009-10: no postseason

 

2010-11: no postseason

 

2011-12: lost as a 10 seed vs 7 seed florida, 71-45

 

2012-13: NIT

 

2013-14: lost as a 1 seed to 4 seed MSU, 61-59

 

2014-15: lost as a 2 seed to 7 seed MSU, 60-54

 

2015-16: lost as a 1 seed to 10 seed Syracuse, 68-62

 

2016-17: lost as a 5 seed to 4 seed Florida, 65-39 (yes you read that correctly)

 

2017-18: lost as a 1 seed to 16 seed The University of Maryland at Baltimore County, 74-54

 

2018-19: beat 3 seed TTU as a 1 seed, 85-77 for the national title (and i won the shaggy bracket challenge on that game, athankyou). 

 

2019-20: thankfully for Tony Bennett, the Tourney was canceled 

 

2020-21: lost as a 4 seed to 13 seed Ohio, 62-58

 

2021-22: NIT 

 

like i said, those results speak for themselves. Barnes certainly does not have the one title that Bennett has, but other than that one single year he makes Tony Bennett look like Shaka Smart. 

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

2 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

ok. i'm about to end all talk of Rick Barnes being *even remotely close* to being the biggest choke artist in the NCAA tourney. because i'm going to give you the biggest choke artist in the NCAA tourney in the last 20 years, and i won't even have to make any kind of written argument, because the results speak for themselves. you want a guy whose teams fail to live up to their talent/seed year after year after year? meet national title winner, and otherwise epic tournament failure, Tony Bennett:

(as you're reading this, just imagine that these results belonged to Rick Barnes at UT)

 

Tony Bennett at UVA:

 

2009-10: no postseason

 

2010-11: no postseason

 

2011-12: lost as a 10 seed vs 7 seed florida, 71-45

 

2012-13: NIT

 

2013-14: lost as a 1 seed to 4 seed MSU, 61-59

 

2014-15: lost as a 2 seed to 7 seed MSU, 60-54

 

2015-16: lost as a 1 seed to 10 seed Syracuse, 68-62

 

2016-17: lost as a 5 seed to 4 seed Florida, 65-39 (yes you read that correctly)

 

2017-18: lost as a 1 seed to 16 seed The University of Maryland at Baltimore County, 74-54

 

2018-19: beat 3 seed TTU as a 1 seed, 85-77 for the national title (and i won the shaggy bracket challenge on that game, athankyou). 

 

2019-20: thankfully for Tony Bennett, the Tourney was canceled 

 

2020-21: lost as a 4 seed to 13 seed Ohio, 62-58

 

2021-22: NIT 

 

like i said, those results speak for themselves. Barnes certainly does not have the one title that Bennett has, but other than that one single year he makes Tony Bennett look like Shaka Smart. 

I mean- he won it all as a 1 seed and only beat a 3 seed. According to some on here they doesn’t even count because it was just “performing up to seed line”. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

1 hour ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

We've discussed some of the talent Barnes had a Texas, but TN has had talent as well.  TN had 3 NBA draft picks in 2019 and 2 last year.  (I have no idea if anyone on this current team will get drafted.)  That's 5 NBA draft picks on teams that lost as a 2 to a 3, a 5 to a 12, and a 3 to an 11... and then this year as a 3 to an 11.

this all comes back to Rick Barnes being one of the absolute best developers of talent in college basketball. ive written probably 1,000+ words in this site about what he did with guys like Admiral Schofield, Grant Williams, Jordan Bone, and others. JJJ has developed tremendously as well under Barnes for an example on this current team (although he is more of a damion james comp- he was very highly rated in HS, but he ended up being a 3-4 year player who really developed year on year). the only guy from the current team who was supposed to be awesome coming out of HS (besides JJJ) is Chandler. everyone else has been developed and elevated by Barnes, Garrett Medenwald, and staff. look at where ZZ was rated when the season started vs today. it's night and day.

Rick's teams regularly exceed regular season expectations, and then they fail to live up to their lofty seed in the tournament. unfortunately that's just who he is. doubly unfortunate is that 4/5 college hoops fans will only ever think of him as this terrible squanderer of talent, instead of appreciating what a great coach he's been, tourney results notwithstanding.

Edited March 20, 2022 by shadow_operative

[Wulaw Horn 19068]

2 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

this all comes back to Rick Barnes being one of the absolute best developers of talent in college basketball. ive written probably 1,000+ words in this site about what he did with guys like Admiral Schofield, Grant Williams, Jordan Bone, and others. JJJ has developed tremendously as well under Barnes for an example on this current team (although he is more of a damion james comp- he was very highly rated in HS, but he ended up being a 3-4 year player who really developed year on year). the only guy from the current team who was supposed to be awesome coming out of HS (besides JJJ) is Chandler. everyone else has been developed and elevated by Barnes, Garrett Medenwald, and staff). his teams exceed regular season expectations, and then they fail to live up to their lofty seed. unfortunately that's just who he is. 

1,000 words?  More like 1,000 posts. But yeah, spot on. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

2 hours ago, TommyGufano said:

 

You did it for me. 

andy reid is one of 32 NFL coaches. Barnes is one of 358 D-1 coaches, and in reality he's probably closer to being a top 15 current coach than top 20. the list of guys who've been better than Barnes since he took over at Texas is not a long one. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by shadow_operative

[Michael Knight 12977]

1 hour ago, Fletch said:

 

Sigh. I’m not denying any of that. He’s pretty much basketball Mack which is exactly what I’ve been saying except Rick kept it going a tad bit longer. Avery Bradley collapse was terrible. J’Covan team got completely railed in every way. Shit even 2014 after all those douchebags left was pretty god damn fun then we ran into a Michigan team that shot like 80% that day. Then next year he was stubborn about Myles Turner and that did him in. Sucks but the “if we don’t get the 5 second call against Arizona” is sort of like “if Colt didn’t go down against bama”. If neither of those events happen then the over time hatred of Barnes and Mack(I’m guilty as well) most likely doesn’t exist. But that shit happened and here we are. Sucks but is what it is. Same with 06 LSU. Aldridge, Gibson, Buckman and PJ had one of, if not, the worst games of their lives. I mean, as a coach, what do you do with this? Especially when Big Baby was allowed to do whatever the fuck he wanted all game 

Players having the worst games of their lives is coaching, its preparation and its the ability to make adjustments. Barnes processed none of those qualities

[Michael Knight 12977]

Rick Barnes couldn't get to the sweet 16 with Kevin Durant on his team, end of fucking discussion

[Firemans4Horn 18034]

29 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

2018-19: beat 3 seed TTU as a 1 seed, 85-77 for the national title (and i won the shaggy bracket challenge on that game, athankyou). 

literally the only thing that matters in this sport. 
 

a title is 30x better than a final four appearance. 

 

[Revolution512 1487]

3 hours ago, Fletch said:

This site was sooooo much better when you were hardly posting. Please return to that. I mean you’re MajorHarsin level stupid 

Mirrors and what not

[shadow_operative 15932]

55 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

literally the only thing that matters in this sport. 
 

a title is 30x better than a final four appearance. 

 

who's arguing? what does that change about Bennett's unbelievable knack for losing to teams seeded 7, 8, 9, 10+ spots below his team? winning 30 games and then going out the first weekend? struggling to score 50-55 points in upset losses? literally, if this one freak play doesn't happen:

...then UVA never comes close to reaching a title, and again, Bennett has flamed out of the tourney as a largely favored seed like he's done every single other year he's even made the tourney at UVA. i don't need to tell you how many ridiculous bad bounces have gone against Rick Barnes (that hook shot today- wtf even was that?!?!). don't you even for one second sit there and tell me that this ^^^^ unbelievable, all time amazing, insane stroke of luck play just erases who Tony Bennett is, or somehow erases the fact that Barnes >>>> Bennett in the tourney every year except for the one year where that ^^^ ridiculous shit happened. if you have any memory of that tourney then you'll remember that that was far from the only lucky bounce that UVA got.

you're wrong here. that's just a fact. Tony Bennett's tourney struggles are factually far worse than those of Rick Barnes. period. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by shadow_operative

[shadow_operative 15932]

i'm 380 lbs, been away from the job that i love for 7 years, on disability, in pain all of the time, and i usually wish i was dead/had never been born, and yet i 100% seriously feel sad for the 5, 6, 7+ posters in this thread who've been absent from the basketball board all season, only to run in here gloating about Rick Barnes losing in the tourney. seriously, talk about a sad, pathetic existence. to get your jollies off because a man far greater than you lost a basketball game is fucking pathetic. but uh, hey, at least you're in the same company with esteemed gentlemen like detroit horn, right? right.

[Helobious 9450]

I mean to me the sadder thing is obsessing over a thoroughly mediocre coach after he left your favorite school, but who am I to judge. I don’t follow basketball much, but when March comes around I fucking love watching Barnes choke in the tourney. It’s funny to me. I know I can 100% look forward to it happening every year. He was bounced in the 2nd round with KD on the team, he wasted so much talent at UT I’m happy to see him fail now. He’s in a great situation in an utterly terrible basketball conference, of course he gets exposed in the tourney every year but he can rack up those regular season wins. 
 

The fact that you think Barnes is “greater” than anyone on here because he coaches basketball says a lot. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

6 minutes ago, Helobious said:

I mean to me the sadder thing is obsessing over a thoroughly mediocre coach after he left your favorite school, but who am I to judge. 

who here, aside from detroit horn, obsesses over rick barnes? i mean i agree with you that being a grown man who is obsessed with a college basketball coach is super super sad, but again, nobody here aside from detroit horn even approaches that. we have a thread for barnes exactly the same as we do for smart, herman, strong, and mack. that's not obsessive, that's SOP. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by shadow_operative

[ERhine 1894]

who here, aside from detroit horn, obsesses over rick barnes?

You.

[shadow_operative 15932]

7 minutes ago, ERhine said:

 

You.

 

oh shit! it's EHrine! what a blast from the past. did i just wake up from a coma to find that it's 2008? wait- are we a 2 seed?! did we avoid the region where Memphis is the no.1? is DJ Augustin our starting PG?!?! 

[C-Man 27192]

3 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

Rick Barnes couldn't get to the sweet 16 with Kevin Durant on his team, end of fucking discussion

This pretty much sums it up for me. I still scratch my head thinking about that.

[justhookit 4191]

Our basketball “fans” suck. Y’all are on here shitting on a coach that was far and away the best we’ve ever had here. It’s not even close. Did the end of his tenure suck? Sure it did. But he put us on the map in a way we’ve never been before and got us in a position to hire Shakablah. Utter failure but he was turning down teams with way better pedigree than we have. And then we got Beard. A bunch of us really, really like what we are seeing. But sure let’s go back to Penders and Weltlich and Lemons and Black and Bradley.

the vitriol for the best coach we’ve ever had, by far, is amazing. We’ve had 36 NCAA tournament berths since WW2. 16 were under Barnes.

 

[shadow_operative 15932]

3 hours ago, Firemans4Horn said:

literally the only thing that matters in this sport. 
 

a title is 30x better than a final four appearance. 

 

also, since the subject is "biggest tourney underachievers of the last 20 years":

ncaa title winning coaches all time: i dunno, dozens

ncaa coches to lose as a 1 seed to a 16 seed: one guy. ever. tony bennet. and again, that wasn't some one-off. 

he lost 71-45 in a 7 vs 10 matchup when his team was the 7; two years later he lost in the S16 as a 30-win 1 seed; the next year he lost a 2 vs 7 game with another 30-win team; the year after that he had yet another 30-win team lose in a 1 vs 10 matchup; the year after that his team scored 39 total fucking points in a 4 vs 5 loss vs florida; and the year after that his team became the first 1 seed to ever lose to a 16 seed, and they lost by TWENTY fucking points. go ahead and explain to me again how Rick Barnes is a bigger choke artist in the tourney than that guy. 🙄 

give me a fucking break. 

[shadow_operative 15932]

43 minutes ago, C-Man said:

This pretty much sums it up for me. I still scratch my head thinking about that.

i'm just letting you know, with zero malice or ill will, that parroting this take ("Rick Barnes couldn't get to the S16 with Kevin Durant!!) is a telltale sign that you're a super casual fan who truly has no clue what they're talking about. i could expound for paragraphs on end, but for now, i'll leave it at this: 2008 Texas was the same team as 2007 Texas, - KD, + Gary Johnson. 2008 Texas won 30 games, DJ Augustin was an All American and won the Cousy award over Derrick Rose, and Texas beat the fucking shit out of the Lopez Twins' Stanford team in the Sweet 16 before losing in a godawful matchup vs 1 seed Memphis and their gargantuan back court in the E8.

fun fact: literally 100% of the people who crush Barnes for not going further in the 2007 tourney have *no idea* that a)2007 Texas was the youngest starting lineup in tourney history (with a very small back court to boot) and b)that the 2008 team was the exact same team as 2007, -KD, +Gary Johnson, with the 30 wins and the Elite 8 run, and the All Americans, etc. the KD tourney argument is a slanted, lazy, uninformed take. anyone who doesn't know better by now just simply doesn't know better, period.

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by shadow_operative

[justhookit 4191]

40 minutes ago, C-Man said:

This pretty much sums it up for me. I still scratch my head thinking about that.

You may want to look at a list of number 1 draft picks, which Kevin wasnt, and see how they did in the tournament. 

[justhookit 4191]

4 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

i'm just letting you know, with zero malice or i'll will, that parroting this take ("Rick Barnes couldn't get to the S16 with Kevin Durant!!) is a telltale sign that you're a super casual fan who truly has no clue what they're talking about. i could expound for paragraphs on end, but for now, i'll leave it at this: 2008 Texas was the same team as 2007 Texas, - KD, + Gary Johnson. 2008 Texas won 30 games, DJ Augustin was an All American and won the Cousy award over Derrick Rose, and Texas beat the fucking shit out of the Lopez Twins' Stanford team before losing in a godawful matchup vs 1 seed Memphis in the E8.

fun fact: literally 100% of the people who crush Barnes for not going further in the 2007 tourney have no idea that a)that was the youngest starting lineup in tourney history, and b)that the 2008 team was the exact same team -KD, Gary Johnson, with the 30 wins and the Elite 8 run, etc. the KD tourney argument is a slanted, lazy, uninformed take. anyone who doesn't know better by now just simply doesn't know better, period.

 

Ugh, I was at that Memphis game in Houston staying in a downtown hotel with a bunch of Memphis fans. They made me appreciate how “nice” the Syracuse fans were at the Final4 in New Orleans. Memphis fans suck.

[Fletch 5800]

3 hours ago, Revolution512 said:

Mirrors and what not

Ha. Coming from yet another moron. Of course you’re defending that shit bag. Not saying his username. Tommy deserves better than his name being used on that shitbag

[shadow_operative 15932]

Just now, justhookit said:

Ugh, I was at that Memphis game in Houston staying in a downtown hotel with a bunch of Memphis fans. They made me appreciate how “nice” the Syracuse fans were at the Final4 in New Orleans. Memphis fans suck.

that is a fact. super entitled fanbase for zero reason. real ornery and aggressive too. but got damn if they didn't have the biggest, most athletic back court that i've maybe ever seen. we had DJ, AJ, and Justin Mason trying to stop 6'3" freak of nature Derrick Rose, 6'6" Antonio Anderson, and 6'7" Chris Douglas-Roberts. just the absolute worst possible E8 matchup between any 1 vs 2 ever.

 now, i dont know if this next part will make you feel better or worse, but just for posterity: the Texas vs Abilene Christian game was just as big of a mismatch as 2008 Memphis vs Texas, if not bigger. And ACU played their worst game of the year!! shit, just after typing that out, all i can think/feel is: anyone here who is more focused on Rick Barnes losing than where Chris Beard is taking Texas is 100% on Team BitterWhiteGuy, and should feel bad about themselves and their life choices.