The Tennessee Vols were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Saturday after losing 76-68 to the Michigan Wolverines.

After the game, there was immediately a lot of shade thrown at Vols head coach Rick Barnes.

In Barnes' last 10 NCAA Tournament appearances he has failed to make it past the opening weekend 9 times. The lone exception was in 2018-19 when the Vols lost to Purdue in the Sweet 16.

Death. Taxes. Rick Barnes teams choking in March.

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) March 19, 2022

Barnes losing again early in the tournament is the main takeaway for a lot of folks after this loss. And look, I completely get it.

But this loss wasn't on Barnes.

Tennessee was 2-of-18 from three-point range. Santiago Vescovi didn't play well. Josiah-Jordan James was 0-for-6 from beyond the arc.

What is a coach supposed to do about that?

Barnes didn't suddenly make the Vols shoot terribly. And there was nothing he could do to make them shoot better, either.

The Vols were 14-of-24 from three-point range against Longwood on Thursday. If the Vols were just half that good against Michigan, then Tennessee is heading to the Sweet 16.

If this were a random game in January, no one would be criticizing Barnes. They'd be talking about the awful shooting night the Vols had, despite being on fire just two days prior.

Anything can happen in March. Each year is a new story. It's certainly frustrating for fans to see good Tennessee teams coming up short. But I think it's also important to remember that Barnes delivered an SEC Tournament Championship to a program that had gone 43 years without one. That's a big deal.

Barnes, like any coach, shouldn't be immune to criticism. And there have been plenty of times where I thought the criticism of Barnes was legitimate.

But the loss against Michigan on Saturday wasn't one of those times.

Featured image via USA TODAY Sports