Paul Finebaum reveals if he'd rather face Kentucky or Tennessee in the SEC Tournament

After 18 games, Tennessee and Kentucky find themselves atop the Southeastern Conference as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds respectively. Now, as all the teams head into Nashville for the league tournament, the question is would you rather be facing the Volunteers in the upper part of the bracket or facing the Wildcats in the bottom half?

Paul Finebaum shared his answer to that in his appearance on ‘McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning’ on Monday. In his opinion, both teams are fairly close in regards to their level of difficulty to face.

“I mean I think it’s pretty even,” said Finebaum.

Tennessee finished the regular season at 24-7 and as the best team in the SEC by one game at 14-4. As for Kentucky, they had a strong close to set their record at 23-8 and 13-5 in the conference to tie with three other teams for second place.

On February 3rd, the Volunteers went to Lexington in the first of two matchups. They completely manhandled Kentucky by scoring 103 in an 11-point, wire-to-wire win. Then, this past weekend in the season finale, the Wildcats returned the favor on Rocky Top. They left Knoxville with an 85-81 victory where they led for the final three quarters of the contest.

This was probably a simpler question around a month or so ago. Tennessee was still playing as well as they have been while Kentucky hadn’t found their footing in conference play. However, with their current trajectory after a 7-1 finish, Finebaum can’t deny what the Wildcats have done as of late.

“I mean Kentucky has just played remarkably well considering, what was it, four weeks ago, I read a column in USA Today saying that John Calipari should be fired,” Finebaum recalled. “You can never count him out. He’s one of the cagiest coaches in college basketball history.”

Either Tennessee or Kentucky is going to be a significant challenge for anyone that they face in the postseason. We know what the Volunteers always are with their identity that’s now paired with a force like Dalton Knecht. We also have seen what the best of the Wildcats has looked like at their very peak this season.

Still, if he had to pick one, Finebaum is leaning towards UK as the more threatening team between the two as everyone heads to Music City.

“I would answer, after thinking about it for a second? I would probably say Kentucky would be the most dangerous team,” said Finebaum.