The SEC is loaded this year in college basketball as the Kentucky Wildcats look to continue their hot start to the season.

With a huge win over Florida, the Cats now have three top-10 wins in the first 14 games of the season. A pretty stellar resume, right?

Well, it will only get tougher from here. That’s why you are starting to see the Cats get some love around the national media for their impressive start to the year.

With mid-season predictions now on the way, ESPN is one of the first outlets to update their Final Four picks with around 17 games left in the regular season. This time around, UK is getting some love.

Myron Medcalf is the one writer in the article who selected the Cats to make it to San Antonio alongside Tennessee, Auburn, and Duke. His preseason picks were Alabama, Kansas, Duke, and Houston.

Despite the Cats only getting one pick, seeing Medcalf add three SEC teams to the Final Four should speak volumes to the strength of the conference.

Along Medcalf, Joe Lunardi picked Auburn and Florida to make it, and Jeff Borzello sees the Auburn Tigers making a run as well.

Conference play has just begun, but we are going to see plenty of tests for the Cats moving forward. Let’s see if they can continue to respond when the ball gets tipped off against more and more quality opponents, especially on the road.

Be sure to read the full ESPN article here.