Tennessee basketball had made the Sweet 16 just seven times before Rick Barnes arrived in Knoxville as head coach over a decade ago. In the first seven years of Barnes’ tenure, Tennessee made the Sweet 16 just one time.
But the Vols have improved as Barnes’ tenure has progressed. With its 79-72 win over Virginia on Sunday night, Tennessee punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the fourth straight season.
Tennessee is a stout group of three teams that has made the Sweet 16 each of the last four seasons. That group includes Alabama, Houston and Tennessee. A number of other programs have made the Sweet 16 in three of the last four years. That group includes Duke, Purdue, UConn, Arkansas and Michigan State.
Additional teams to make the Sweet 16 in three of the last four years:
-Duke
-Purdue
-UConn
-Arkansas
-Michigan State— Ryan Schumpert (@ryanschumpert00) March 23, 2026
The Vols’ run of reaching the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament began in 2023 when four-seed Tennessee defeated five-seed Duke in the Round of 32 before losing to eight-seed FAU in the Sweet 16.
In 2024, Tennessee won the SEC Regular-Season Champion and then made a run to the Elite Eight for just the second time in program history. The two-seed Vols defeated seven-seed Texas in the Round of 32 and three-seed Creighton in the Sweet 16 before losing to one-seed Purdue in the Elite Eight.
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Tennessee made it two consecutive trips to the Elite Eight last season. Again a two-seed, Tennessee defeated seven-seed UCLA in the Round of 32 and three-seed Kentucky in the Sweet 16 before falling to one-seed Houston.
Barnes’ 11th Tennessee team is the lowest seeded of the bunch. The six-seed Vols routed 11-seed Miami (Ohio) in their first NCAA Tournament game before winning a tight Round of 32 game against three-seed Virginia.
The struggle for Tennessee, of course, has been its inability to get over the hump and make the first Final Four in program history. Both Houston and Alabama have made a Final Four in the last four years. The same is the case for Duke, UConn and Purdue.
Standing in the way of Tennessee and a third straight Elite Eight performance is two-seed Iowa State who routed 15-seed Tennessee State and seven-seed Kentucky the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. If the Vols get past the Cyclones then they’ll face either one-seed Michigan or four-seed Alabama in the Elite Eight.
Tipoff between Tennessee and Iowa State is at 10:10 p.m. ET on Friday night in Chicago. Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas and Evan Washburn are on the call for both TBS and TruTv. It’s the second of two games in Chicago with Michigan and Alabama facing off at 7:35 p.m. ET.
More to follow: Tennessee sports betting apps
