Fans, media react to Tennessee failing to make Final Four again

Fans and media didn’t hold back one bit on Sunday.

When 2-seed Tennessee folded early and often in a first half of futility that eventually turned into an embarrassing 69-50 loss to 1-seed Houston in the Midwest Region Final in Indianapolis on Sunday, well, the floodgates opened on social media.

This is what happens when a team somehow scores only 15 points in the first half, manages 15 field goals for the entire game and shoots 28.8% with its season on the line and with an elusive first trip to the Final Four in program history hanging in the balance. Once again, that first Final Four will stay elusive, as Rick Barnes’s team shot 5 for 29 from 3-point territory in once again continuing the narrative of good but not good enough for Tennessee basketball.

While the women’s program has been to a bundle of Final Fours and won a slew of national titles, the men’s program remained shut out from college basketball’s grand event. Tennessee’s season ended on Sunday at 30-8, which is a nice record, and the Volunteers had another stellar season. But it all seems so empty now after 2 straight trips to the Elite Eight and 9 trips to the Sweet 16 since 2000.

Once again, there will be no Final Four for Rocky Top.

Here is a sampling of the reaction on social media to yet another Tennessee men’s basketball heartbreak:

Cory Nightingale

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.