Having suffered many devastating losses over a lifetime of being a fan, you learn to deal with them. It’s not easy to do, and each finds a unique way to create a new callus. At this point, I feel like some ranch hand who hasn’t taken a shower in 14 years. Hands beat up. Back crooked. Think Lloyd from Yellowstone. You ask me some question, and I stare off into the distance muttering about Ryan Cline never missing a three, Clayton Custer hitting a game winner that hit every inch of the rim, or in this most recent instance, Eli Brooks doing a running hook shot like a 12 year old on an 8 foot hoop and somehow getting it to fall.
This Tennessee loss was particularly brutal. You can google Rick Barnes tournament failures and read them for yourself. It’s honestly shocking. Has not made it out of the first weekend in nine out of his last ten appearances. That’s what you’d expect from a 12 seed. The one exception was the year Purdue beat them in the Sweet 16, which was a gut-wrenching loss. I’ve always been a Barnes defender, and will begrudgingly continue to be, but I’m losing hope. He keeps Tennessee consistently in the tournament. He recruits well, the players are likable, and the team is competitive. Even this year, they won the SEC Tournament for the first time since 1979. It’s objectively a good season, but it still feels like failure. The problem is that you can do everything right up until the tournament, but that’s where it matters. I could point out questionable coaching decisions, like not putting Josiah Jordan James on Hunter Dickinson, or not finding ways to get Santiago Vescovi any easy look, but the game was still there for the taking. Tennessee’s best players just sucked, outside of Kennedy Chandler. Barnes cannot go out there and knock down open shots. You often hear about players and teams taking on the identity of their coach in March. I can’t help but think Tennessee does that with all the wrong attributes. Playing afraid to fail. Not wanting to choke. Nervous. These are all things that jump out in any big game in March in the Barnes era.
I’m not going to pretend that I’m the only guy to suffer tough losses. They happen to everyone. That’s March Madness for you. Such a chaotic and completely unpredictable beast that is so enjoyable just because of how shocking it is. Keep holding out hope that one day you’ll be on the winning end of the chaos, but it’s easier to hope for something to happen than for it to happen. I really thought this would be the year Tennessee would break through like those Virginia teams from a few years ago who were always losing to Michigan State, then UMBC, then it finally happened. Obviously, I was wrong. You don’t have to remind me. I always give myself 24 hours after a loss to feel sorry about it. I am still in that window so deal with it. I’ve spent the first 16 of those hours being upset about yesterday. Replaying everything in my head like it was a formative experience in my young adulthood. Staring jealously at every other fanbase that gets to enjoy this cold bitch of a tournament. I’ll be over it by tomorrow. Back on message boards by Tuesday. And back in the cycle that will most likely lead to similar pain next March. But as they say: you don’t choose the life of being a guy that cares way too much about college basketball despite never playing. That life chooses you. Go Vols.
