There is a unique aspect to Southeastern Conference men's basketball this winter with three games remaining in the regular season.
It's called a race.
Kentucky has an 11-4 league record entering this weekend, with South Carolina and Texas A&M right behind with 10-5 conference marks. Vanderbilt is 9-6 in SEC play and on the upswing, while LSU is 9-6 and fading after once heading the 14-team field with an 8-2 record.
"The league is more even than most seasons that I can remember," said Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings, the dean of SEC coaches in his 17th year. "I don't have the best memory, but it certainly seems even in terms of teams at the bottom being able to beat teams at the top."
Jumbled standings have not been the case in recent seasons, as the SEC champion has won by multiple games every year since the league scrapped its two divisions following the 2011 season. Kentucky went 16-0 within the league in 2012, prevailing by a whopping six games over Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Florida.
Florida won the SEC by two games over Kentucky, Ole Miss and Alabama in 2013 before racing to an 18-0 league mark two years ago, whipping Kentucky and Georgia by six games. Kentucky rolled to an 18-0 league mark last season, winning by five games over Arkansas.
Texas A&M jumped out to a 7-0 start in conference play this season, but the Aggies then lost five straight.
It's been tight ever since.
"The league is very balanced this year," Georgia coach Mark Fox said. "There is not as big a difference between the teams, so the advantage that separates them can be the home-court advantage. As we all know, that gives you a couple of points here and there.
"The grind of 18 league games plus that 19th with the SEC-Big 12 challenge (in the middle of conference play) has had somewhat of an impact, too."
Though Kentucky is on top of the standings and was impressive in Tuesday night's 78-53 shellacking of Alabama in Rupp Arena, the Wildcats are by no means free and clear. Their next two games are Saturday afternoon at Vanderbilt and Tuesday night at Florida.
Kentucky is 8-0 in SEC games this season inside Rupp but 3-4 on the road, including losses to Auburn (5-10 within the league) and Tennessee (6-9).
"Every game we've played on the road has been an absolute war," Wildcats coach John Calipari said. "I understand it's us and that it's the Super Bowl for everybody, but I look around the league and see where teams are playing well at home. When you look at the numbers, it's harder to win in this league on the road than in any league in the country."
Vanderbilt will host the Wildats having won nine of 12 league games since its 0-3 SEC start. It could have been 10 of 12 SEC contests had the Commodores not blown a 17-point lead with 14 minutes remaining in a 75-74 loss at the buzzer Feb. 16 at Mississippi State.
The Commodores have bounced back from their loss in Starkville with double-digit wins against Georgia and Florida, stunning the Gators 87-74 Tuesday in Gainesville.
"We obviously didn't close the Mississippi State game like we felt like we should have," Stallings said, "but our play has been pretty solid and has been pretty consistent the last couple of weeks. It does feel like we're turning a corner."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.