As will be the case throughout this SEC season, you are not going to have any real stretch of easy games for the next two months. Yes, an LSU or South Carolina (or Arkansas) might give you a slight breather, but Kentucky is facing the hardest gauntlet of conference games in its history — and potentially college basketball history.

But after digging through the record books, I was somewhat surprised that the game against Alabama will mark just the seventh time in the last 25 seasons in which Kentucky has faced three consecutive ranked opponents. And Kentucky has actually played five in a row as Georgia is now ranked, although the Bulldogs were not when they played Mark Pope’s team on Jan. 7.

So my question is this: simply based on ranking alone, is this the toughest three-game stretch in modern UK history?

THE 7 INSTANCES

2024-25 (COMBINED RANKING: 25)
at #14 Mississippi St: WIN
#11 Texas A&M: WIN
#4 Alabama: ?????

2020-21 (COMBINED RANKING: 38)
at #9 Alabama: LOSS
at #18 Missouri: LOSS
#11 Tennessee: LOSS

2000-01 (BEST COMBINED RANKING: 43)
#25 Notre Dame: WIN
#4 Tennessee: WIN
at #21 Ole Miss: LOSS
at #18 Alabama: LOSS

2018-19 (COMBINED RANKING: 49)
at #18 Auburn: WIN
#22 Mississippi St: WIN
#9 Kansas: WIN

2003-04 (COMBINED RANKING: 49)
#9 North Carolina: WIN
#20 Vanderbilt: WIN
at #20 Mississippi St: WIN

2002-03 (COMBINED RANKING: 49)
#10 Notre Dame: WIN
#24 Auburn: WIN
at #15 Alabama: WIN

2005-06 (COMBINED RANKING: 52)
at #24 LSU: LOSS
at #11 Tennessee: WIN
#17 Florida: LOSS

I don’t think there is any way around it. This is, at least based on ranking, the hardest three-game regular-season stretch we have faced in the last quarter century. And the fact Kentucky could potentially sweep those games shows this team has elite potential. It seems as if this team faces the hardest challenges the best. Which is good, because basically every game is hard.