Just two days after dismantling Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen, No. 2 Tennessee was, itself, dismantled by No. 1 Houston in the Elite Eight.
“It’s tough because, as badly as we all want it, it always hurts if you don’t get it all,” UT Head Coach Rick Barnes said. “I do know this: This team gave us every possible thing they could. Every day in practice, they represented the University of Tennessee the way we want it represented.”
With the loss, Tennessee tied the record — set by Xavier — as the winningest NCAA Tournament program to never reach the Final Four with 31 wins.
The Volunteers program has consistently been a high-level team with Barnes in recent years, being a major piece in the growth of basketball in the SEC, a conference historically better known for football.
It’s no secret that, for much of the conference’s existence, basketball has taken a backseat to the gridiron, with things coming to a head in 2013 when the conference got just three teams into the NCAA Tournament, including automatic bid winner Ole Miss, which would not have otherwise made the big dance.
Missouri and Florida were the only two other SEC representatives with then Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari passionately pleading with the conference to increase its influence in basketball after the Wildcats were narrowly left out of the field due to a weak resume, in big part thanks to the weakness of the conference.
Fast forward to 2025 and the conference set a record with 14 teams in the SEC (only two didn’t make it) making March Madness with two earning No. 1 seeds. The accomplishment came after most programs in the conference heavily boosted their basketball programs with schools like Auburn and Alabama making their first ever Final Fours within the last six years.
“There’s so many teams in our league that would win conferences,” Barnes said during the SEC Tournament. “I think we should have 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament is what I think.”
One school that has been unable to get over that hump, however, despite being one of the earlier ones to jump on the basketball bandwagon is Tennessee.
Hiring Barnes in 2015, fresh off his firing from Texas, which he led to the Final Four in 2003, the Vols had only ever been to one NCAA Tournament Elite Eight (2010) and were coming off a seventh Sweet Sixteen in 2014.
In his first two seasons in Knoxville, Barnes failed to reach the NCAA Tournament, but, since 2018, has never failed to make it to the big dance (excluding the canceled 2020 season), only going out in the first round once.
2023 saw Barnes make his second Sweet Sixteen with the Vols before losing to FAU in upset fashion, but the 2024 season felt like a breakthrough for the program, which went to its second ever Elite Eight.
In that 2024 Elite Eight, Tennessee fell just six points short of its first ever Final Four, losing to eventual runner-up No. 1 Purdue with National Player of the Year Zach Edey.
One year later, in 2025, the Vols felt they had what it took to take that next step, being ranked as the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 poll in December and January and being firmly in contention for the last No. 1 seed until the final weeks of the season.
With many feeling as though this year’s Volunteer squad was better than last year’s, the biggest question left for Barnes and Co. was whether or not that elusive Final Four would finally be secured.
It wouldn’t.
After being the runner-up in the SEC Tournament, Tennessee rolled past No. 15 Wofford (77-62) and took care of business versus No. 7 UCLA (67-58) to set up a rematch with Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen after the Cats swept the Vols in the regular season.
Looking like a team on a mission, Tennessee had no issues whatsoever with the Wildcats, leading by as many as 19 in what would be a 78-65 victory to set up an Elite Eight date with Houston, which narrowly scraped by Purdue. UT led for nearly 38 of the 40 minutes against UK.
“We really wanted to set the tone and show them who we were,” star guard Zakai Zeigler said. “We knew regardless of what happened, we were going to go out and play Tennessee basketball on the offensive and defensive end, and I feel like we did that great tonight.”
Coming out to face the Cougars, it was immediately evident that it would not be the year of the Volunteer, with Houston jumping out to a 34-15 advantage at the half and winning 69-50.
The loss ensured that Tennessee remained one of five teams in the 16-team SEC to never make the Final Four alongside Missouri, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M, though Missouri does claim two pre-tournament Premo-Porretta championships.
Despite this little asterisk, it must be noted that the Tigers are second to only Xavier and Tennessee as one of the winningest programs to never make an actual Final Four with 23 wins. Tennessee’s 31 makes it, by far, the best SEC program that has never accomplished the feat, with 31 big dance wins trumping the totals of multiple conference teams that HAVE made the Final Four.
While the Vols seem like they’re here to stay, anxiety has to be rising in Knoxville as, already this year, Barnes had to put to bed retirement rumors ahead of the game against Kentucky at 70 years of age.
“No, I haven’t thought about it (retirement),” Barnes said. “I truly believe that God brought me to Knoxville for a reason. And everything that I do I want to live on that platform. It’s the most important thing to me. It’s more important than winning that game tomorrow. And I think God will make it perfectly clear when he wants me to step down and my time will be up. But it’s not now. If it is, I don’t feel that.”
Just two wins behind Don DeVoe as the second winningest coach in Volunteer history (Ray Mears is first with 278), Barnes surely doesn’t have much time left in Knoxville to get over the hump and make his second ever Final Four.
“(The) University of Tennessee hasn’t made one (Final Four) and it would be a great honor for us to do that,” Barnes had said before the loss to Houston. “Something that, again, I think most teams start every year with a goal of getting to this tournament and know that you get here. As much as we want it, other teams want it. We realize that and we hope we can be at our best.”
Regardless, the 2024-25 Volunteer season is done and Houston dances on, leaving Barnes to pick up the pieces and build his 2025-26 roster with the same mission: making UT’s first trip to the Final Four.
“We’re already planning to have a team next year,” Barnes said in Indianapolis. “I fully plan to be a part of it. I’ve put it all in God’s hands. I’ll know because he’ll make it clear to me.”
