LEXINGTON, Kent. (WTVF) — Rick Barnes has taken four different schools to NCAA tournaments and Thursday night’s first round game against no. 15 seed Wofford will mark his seventh straight appearance with Tennessee.
Barnes is one of the best coaches in college basketball and will some day be enshrined in the sport’s Hall of Fame. But he has only coached a team in the Final Four one time, 22 years ago at Texas.
As he gets set to begin his 29th tournament, the 70-year-old Barnes is as determined as ever to make this March run a special one for his team.
“It’s the players,” Barnes said Wednesday. “Just because of how hard the work and I still love being around them at practice each day. I love watching these guys wake up every day chasing a dream, not only to play in this tournament but also a dream to one day play in the NBA. If I ever lose that I’ll know it’s time to walk away from it.”
Barnes’ Vols have advanced a round further in each of the last four tournaments. After losing in the first round in 2021, the Vols made the second round the next season and then the Sweet 16 in 2023 before reaching the Elite Eight last season.
If the trend continues this year and Tennessee takes another step it would reach its first Final Four in school history.
“We felt like last year we had a really good chance and came up short,” Tennessee Guard Jordan Gainey said. “We all have that chip on our shoulder this year, we’re prepared and we all know what it takes to get where we want to get to.”
The Vols are certainly battle tested. They’ve played 24 games against tournament teams this season, winning 17, which is tied for the second most in the field.
After reaching the final of a grueling SEC Tournament Tennessee should be ready for anything it will face in the tournament.
“This is the moment we’ve waiting for, man,” Tennessee forward Jahmai Mashack said. “I think it’s the opposite of pressure. I think it’s relief knowing that all that work you put in prior to this moment, we’ve done that, and now that we’re here we finally get to play.”
Tennessee is a heavy favorite against a Wofford team that finished sixth during the SoCon’s regular season but caught fire, winning three games in three days in the conference tournament to earn the automatic bid to the Big Dance.
But the Vols are determined to set the tone for what they hope is a long tournament run and say they aren’t taking anything for granted.
“We’re not taking them lightly at all,” Gainey said. “We know what they’re capable of. We know they’re a way better team than they were last year, because that’s when we played them. We’re going out there for a war.”
