[Cactus Jack]

What part of where Barnes has UT today and where Cal has UK today isn't apples to apples?
I don't care what Cal did a decade ago.

Cal has shown that he's capable of getting to the Final Four and winning it all. Barnes hasn't. Cal has taken an 8 seed further than Barnes has ever been.

Technically, in the past 10 seasons, Cal actually has a Final and a Final Four-- one of those 10 tournaments was also canceled due to COVID and another wrecked entirely.

If we're just using the past three to five years, a Round of 32 loss to Kansas St., an upset by 15-seed St. Peter's, failing to qualify for the tournament, and a narrow Elite Eight loss to Auburn isn't the greatest.

I don't know how you can conclusively say how they would have ended the 2020 season that was canceled, but they were #29 in KenPom's rankings, the #1 overall seed in the SEC Tournament, and had lost 6 games when everything was shut down. Even assumimg a loss in the first game of the SEC Tournament, there's no way that they're worse than an eight seed (more likely at least a #4 considering they'd beaten Michigan State, Louisville, & Texas Tech, and lost to Ohio State in OT-- all teams ranked ahead of them). Assuming the worst case (a loss in the round of 64) leaves them with 8 losses total. Barnes' Tennessee team was 17-14 and 68 overall in KenPom's rankings that season, btw.

I said before the season started that Cal should have a chance with the class that he had coming in. Not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater because we had a really rough time during COVID (which disproportionately effected young teams and teams with great home court advantages) and some mediocre finishes, but I don't like how this season is trending either. Another finish outside of the Elite Eight might not be enough to pull the plug, but it probably is enough to warrant some very tough conversations.