Rick Barnes is a victory away from taking Tennessee to its first Final Four

INDIANAPOLIS — It seems hard to believe, especially for a men’s basketball program with a solid pedigree. However, believe it or not, the Tennessee men’s basketball program has never been to the Final Four. That could finally change with a victory on Sunday.

The No.2 seed Volunteers (30-7) took a major step forward by vanquishing their SEC rival Kentucky in a dominating performance on Friday.

It wasn’t surprising that they won. It was surprising how easy Tennessee made it look, controlling almost the entire game in a 78-65 triumph. Kentucky had swept the regular-season series and enjoyed a considerable homecourt advantage at Lucas Oil Stadium, where Wildcat fans were roughly 60% of the crowd.

“We really wanted to set the tone and show them who we were,” said senior guard Zakai Zeigler, who had 18 points, 10 assists, and only two turnovers in 35 minutes. “The first two times we played them at their place and our place. 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.”

Tennessee played like it had a Rocky Top-sized chip on its shoulder. The program is in the Elite Eight for the second straight season, but this is just its third appearance overall. Last year, the Volunteers were edged by Purdue 72-66. Could this be the year for a Final Four breakthrough?

The man leading the way is the underappreciated Rick Barnes. He’s on the short list of best coaches without a national championship. While Tennessee hasn’t been to a Final Four, Barnes has. The last time Texas was routinely nationally relevant, Barnes was in charge. He guided the Longhorns to the 2003 Final Four. It speaks volumes that Texas hasn’t had any sustained success since.

The magic ran out on Barnes. So did the patience of the Texas administration. He was fired in 2015 even though his team was ranked as high as No. 6 in the country and reached the round of 32. Not good enough, he was told. Texas’ loss was Tennessee’s gain as he was immediately swooped up. His task was to revive a program reeling after it ousted Donnie Tyndall because of NCAA violations that occurred while Tyndall was at Southern Mississippi.

Barnes has slowly built Tennessee into one of the best programs in the toughest conference in America. There’s no shame in finishing fourth in the rugged SEC. The league prepared the Volunteers for the tournament, and they were ready to redeem themselves vs. Kentucky. They led 43-28 at halftime. After allowing 24 3-point baskets in two previous games against the Wildcats, they kept them to 6-of-15 shooting from beyond the arc.

“I don’t ever want to take anything away,” Barnes said. “They beat us. Whether we did or didn’t do our job, the fact is they beat us, but we knew we had to defend the three-point line better.”

There has been speculation that Barnes might be nearing the end. The 70-year-old has dismissed retirement talk. He was asked about sticking around while many of his peers have quit, citing the rapidly changing world of college sports. 

If you want me to be totally transparent, I have been praying and thanking God for the opportunity to be here because I think all things come from him, and it’s a blessing,” he said.