Paul Finebaum questions if teams want to win SEC Tournament

All eyes will be on Nashville this week as the SEC Tournament kicks off. However, on Monday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum posed an interesting question about the highly-anticipated event.

“It’s one of the most unusual SEC tournaments ever. It’s the most anticipated. It’s the most publicized,” Finebaum said during an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “You’re very likely to have 13 schools, maybe more, going to the tournament. But I don’t know if there is an urgency to win it … Alabama played poorly [last year] down the stretch, went to the Final Four. Auburn played brilliantly and got nowhere.

“I think coaches just want to — No. 1 — they want to have their players experience the buzz of the tournament. It is valuable to go to a hotel, get on a bus, go into an arena that is packed, that isn’t your home arena, or even the away arena, just to simulate what all these schools will go through the following week.”

“But outside of a handful of schools, there really isn’t much urgency. And those schools, there’s not even the usual, you have to win or get to Saturday to get to the tournament. There’s various where anything is on the line, but I think it’s more just soak it in. Understand it will be much more difficult the following week.”

According to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s latest projections, he expects 13 SEC teams to earn bids in the NCAA Tournament. Finebaum believes this may lead to fewer teams in the SEC Tournament being desperate to win it all.

Instead, they might preserve their energy for the Big Dance. Then again, SEC teams haven’t pulled any punches yet this season. No team escaped SEC play with fewer than three in-conference losses. Even No. 1 Auburn ended the regular season on a two-game losing streak.

The SEC’s strength this season is historically unmatched. Kentucky, which finished the regular season as the No. 6 team in the SEC, has more ranked wins this season than all of the ACC teams combined. Finebaum emphasized that fans need to enjoy the SEC’s rare greatness this year.

“For SEC fans, just to celebrate this moment in time,” Finebaum said. “I live in a city where I had the local news on a minute ago, and they’re talking about, ‘We’ll be there live after the ACC Tournament tomorrow night.’ I’m like going, ‘Why would anyone want to be live after the ACC tournament?’

“It’s so weird to be in the most basketball-crazy state in the country, at least it was when I got here, and watch the sad decline of the ACC, while we’re sitting here, and you guys in Birmingham are celebrating the best conference in college basketball. It’s totally mind-boggling.”