Heading in to tonight's Tennessee-Florida game, the Southeastern Conference standings and the league's NCAA Tournament picture are even more of a jumbled mess than they were just 24 hours ago, thanks to Ole Miss beating Missouri and Mississppi State beating Texas A&M on Tuesday night.
The longest winning streak by any team in the league right now is a whopping two games.
What's clear, however, is that Alabama and Florida have a chance tonight to stay one step ahead of the middling pack with big road games against the top two teams in the league.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 3/17/17. David Cobb is the Chattanooga Times Free Press's new Tennessee beat reporter. Taken on March 16, 2017.The Crimson Tide plays at No. 12 and league-leading Auburn at 8:30 while Florida plays at 9:00 in Knoxville against No. 19 Tennessee, which is second in the league standings.
A win for Alabama (17-10, 8-6) or Florida (17-10, 8-6) tonight would provide an exclamation point on their postseason resume and some separation from the middle of the SEC standings.
Or another way to look at it is like this: if Tennessee and Auburn take care of business in home games they are favored to win tonight, there will be a six-way tie for third in the league standings with three regular season games remaining.
Here's the primer of this season's only scheduled meeting between Tennessee and Florida:
' NO. 19 TENNESSEE vs. FLORIDA
' THOMPSON-BOLING ARENA, KNOXVILLE
' TONIGHT AT 9
' TV/RADIO: ESPN2/102.3 FM
Tennessee (19-7, 9-5 SEC)
Projected starters: Ht. Pts.
G Jordan Bone 6-3 6.8
G Jordan Bowden 6-5 10.0
F Admiral Schofield 6-5 12.1
F Grant Williams 6-7 15.7
C Kyle Alexander 6-11 5.9
Key reserves:
G James Daniel 6-0 6.4
G Lamonte Turner 6-1 10.7
Florida (17-10, 8-6)
Projected starters: Ht. Pts.
G Chris Chiozza 6-0 11.4
G KeVaughn Allen 6-2 11.1
G Egor Loulechov 6-5 14.2
F Keith Stone 6-8 8.6
C Kevarrius Hayes 6-9 5.2
Key reserves:
G Jalen Hudson 6-6 14.9
G Mike Okaru 6-3 4.0
Vols report
Williams was on the receiving end of coach Rick Barnes' most pointed critiques after Tennessee's loss to Georgia on Saturday. Williams had just five points and four rebounds and fouled out in that contest, which was the Vols' second loss in three games.
Gators report
Florida remains a mystery. The Gators had nine assists and 14 turnovers in a 24-point win over South Carolina on Feb. 10. Then on Saturday, Florida had 14 assists and just three turnovers but lost 71-68 at Vanderbilt. A bad finish to the regular season could leave the Gators needing a strong performance in the SEC tournament to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Key matchup
Some of Williams' struggles against Georgia could be attributable to the fact that he was up against SEC player-of-the-year candidate Yante Maten. The Gators have no such force on their roster. This could be a chance for the Vols to ride their star player back into the win column.