Paul Finebaum takes shot at Danny Kanell in defense of 14 SEC teams making NCAA Tournament

Paul Finebaum has heard and seen the vitriol being directed at the SEC after the conference received a March Madness-record 14 bids to the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday.

That included self-styled SEC hater and CBS Sports analyst Danny Kanell describing the historic feat as “absurd” while criticizing “SEC fan boys” that he suggested were unhappy with the inclusion of 11th-seeded North Carolina as the official “Last Team In.” This came nearly two weeks after Kanell cited a column from renown college basketball data analyst Kem Pomeroy suggesting the SEC could be “overrated.”

And in his role as ESPN’s Mouth of the South, Finebaum went on the defensive while celebrating the SEC’s record accomplishment.

“It’s really sad, and I’ll go and mention his name even though that will only enhance his struggling career, but the fact that somebody like Danny Kanell — Greg (McElroy)’s old partner — would actually go make a fool out of himself by doubting the SEC is one of the more remarkable aspects of this season,” Finebaum said Monday on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “And I compliment the commissioner, Greg Sankey, for just going ahead and smacking him down like an ant at a Fourth of July picnic. It was just comical to watch.

“There’s just a lot of resentment toward the SEC — and we know that in everything — but the idea that the most famous football league of all-time has done something that no one thought was even possible because there’s such an elitist attitude about certain parts of basketball, especially with the Big East, the ACC and even the Big 12 in the past, that the SEC couldn’t do anything right. And look at the SEC today.”

Beginning at the top with No. 1 overall seed Auburn, the SEC accounted for two No. 1 seeds with Florida; two No. 2 seeds in Alabama and Tennessee; No. 3-seeded Kentucky; fourth-seeded Texas A&M; No. 6 seeds Ole Miss and Missouri; eighth-seeded Mississippi State; No. 9 seeds Georgia and Oklahoma; No. 10 seeds Arkansas and Vanderbilt; and finally No. 11-seeded Texas, which plays Xavier in Wednesday night’s final First Four play-in game from Dayton.

The SEC feat completely obliterated the previous record when the Big East sent 11 teams to the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

“For starters, it’s just an absolutely gobsmacking moment to think … when I saw that run across the screen last night, to think back 10 years or less than that when only three (SEC teams) got in … it’s a moment in time,” Finebaum added. “Doesn’t matter how many more times or whether if it’ll ever happen (again). And quite frankly, it really doesn’t matter whether the naysayers didn’t buy into it, because I think everybody on this panel and who listens and follows the SEC knew how good it was.”

For his part, show co-host and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy reveled in the SEC’s achievement, as well as the bitter venom coming from Kanell and others outside the league.

“It does bring me great joy, I must admit. I think I’m more proud of the SEC’s advancement in basketball than I am of the SEC’s dominance in football,” McElroy said. “We should have dominance in football, we’re in the South, we have better players. But to be dominant in basketball is hilarious, and it makes me very, very happy.”