Why Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes eager as ever for national title chase | Estes

Unwelcome change is coming for every college basketball coach and program. Inevitably, it was going to take a bite out of Rick Barnes’ Tennessee.

The most staunchly successful of the SEC men's basketball stalwarts, Barnes' Vols had often seemed immune to the transfer portal. Seemed like their players tended to stick around forever. Guys like Santiago Vescovi or Josiah-Jordan James or Zakai Zeigler, these were the names that even casual fans got to know.

But now, there's significant roster churn in Knoxville, too.

Of five starters from the Vols’ Elite Eight team, only point guard Zeigler is back next season.

Star Dalton Knecht is bound for the NBA, likely as a lottery pick. Vescovi and James are finally done. The surprising twist was that big men Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka both transferred out.

But there was Barnes on Tuesday at a Big Orange Caravan event in Nashville, having added three transfers himself, looking to next season and coolly telling Vols fans not to fret.

"We've been blessed to add to our team," Barnes told them, "and we think we can be better."

The goal, Barnes added to applause, is for the Vols to be the last team standing on Monday night of the national championship, “and that’ll be our goal again next year.”

As any Tennessee fan who has attended one of these caravan events in recent years would know, these typically stale functions wouldn’t be near as lively without Barnes.

He knows how to make them fun, whether it’s throwing playful jabs at radio host Bob Kesling or telling stories from his past or the way he'll banter with fellow Vols coaches, allowing them to play the straight man (or woman) to his comedic stylings.

So it was again Tuesday at Marathon Music Works. Among a UT group that included athletics director Danny White, new Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell and football coach Josh Heupel, Barnes was by far the most entertaining and at ease on stage in front of fans.

These days, it takes rare self-belief and confidence for any basketball coach to sit there on the final day of April, the transfer portal not yet cool, and tell anyone who’s listening that anything less than the national title game should be viewed as falling short for next season's team.

At the same time, why wouldn’t Tennessee men’s basketball be good against next season?

It always is under Barnes.

The Vols have made six consecutive NCAA Tournaments and were a No. 5 seed or better each time. They’ve won at least 25 games in each of the past three seasons.

In normal times, that’d be impressive. In this chaotic era, it’s astounding. From program-building to roster management to in-game coaching, Barnes is one of the best at what he does, period. With a nod to Bruce Pearl’s tenure having been cut short, Barnes has become Tennessee's best-ever men's basketball coach.

Yet all that Barnes has done as a coach still tends to get overshadowed by what he hasn’t. In a Hall of Fame-caliber career, he has yet to knock it out of the park in March and make it to Monday night.

And you have to wonder how many more pitches he’s going to see.

Dig Deeper:How Rick Barnes reacted to Jonas Aidoo's transfer from Tennessee basketball to Arkansas

When Barnes turns 70 in July, he’ll join a dwindling club. There are 70-somethings still out there coaching, like Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton (75), La Salle’s Fran Dunphy (75), Miami’s Jim Larranaga (74) and St. John’s Rick Pitino (71).

But it isn’t a long list.

This is increasingly becoming a game for younger coaches, those who might be more willing to put up with tirelessly having to recruit everyone – your own players, other teams’ players, maybe a few high school kids if there’s time – just to be able to field a competitive team each season.

Barnes, to his credit, doesn't act or sound anything like an old man in this new world. He has never yelled at clouds or complained about the portal or NIL or other changes.

He just deals with it.

“The whole key to anything – any business or practice you're in or whatever it may be – is you have to be willing to adjust to whatever comes down the pike,” Barnes said. “I think that's where we are right now. I'm not sure where this will all end up and how it will be. … Somewhere along the line, there's going to be something that's going to bring it all back in line someway. I think we're all waiting for that to happen.”

The transfer portal, at least until now, has typically helped the Vols more than hurt, providing for talents like Knecht. Meanwhile, Barnes has usually been able to keep valuable players.

A couple of Tennessee’s losses this time were a surprise. Aidoo went to Arkansas to play for John Calipari. Awaka went to Arizona. And Barnes went to the portal to add three players, all 6-foot-8 or taller, to fill the gaps.

They'll be good again, his Vols. Count on it.

Until next March, at least.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.