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GAINESVILLE, Fla. - OK, Tyler Smith, here's your assignment tonight: Steal a Florida pass and make the winning bucket at the buzzer.

Hey, considering some of Smith's late-game heroics this year for Tennessee, it's not that big of a stretch.

The O'Connell Center was the scene of one of the greatest of Dane Bradshaw's several great moments - that steal, spin and game-winning layup on Feb. 22, 2006.

With Bradshaw off in Holland, the man who replaced him in the lineup is closing out a better season than most anyone could have anticipated.

Smith, the transfer from Iowa, has won admirers throughout the SEC and beyond since returning to the school he originally signed with in 2004.

Although an SEC player-of-the-year plaque is not at the top of Smith's agenda, he has played his way into contention for the award that will be announced next week.

"I've always been a believer of guys that impact winning the most,'' said Florida coach Billy Donovan. "I don't know if there's a guy in the league that impacts games more than Tyler Smith.''

Smith's statistics are not overwhelming on their own. Collectively, it's a body of work that impacts winning in so many ways.

When Smith's coach, Bruce Pearl, says the player of the year should be the best player on the best team, he's not being self-serving. He said the same last year when Florida was the best team but UT's Chris Lofton won player of the year.

Tennessee is the best team this year and Pearl makes a case for not only Tyler Smith, but Lofton and JaJuan Smith.

"Will they cancel one another out?" Pearl said. "Florida did last year.''

UT fans shudder to think how different this season might have been had the NCAA not approved Smith's appeal for immediate eligibility based on his father's terminal illness.

Pearl was confident the NCAA would rule in Smith's favor. He also believes the circuitous route Smith took getting to UT - through Hargrave Military Academy and Iowa - was for the best.

"If Tyler came to Tennessee as a freshman, he may not have been as good as he is right now,'' Pearl said. "Because his year at Hargrave was important for him in a lot of ways, on and off the court.''

And there's another reason. The guy who made the game-winning play here two years ago and several others like it.

"If Tyler Smith and Jamont Gordon came to Tennessee as freshmen, we would have never had the Dane Bradshaw story,'' Pearl said.

"Would we have been better? Maybe, but I thought we were pretty good that year. But you would have never had (the success of) Stanley Asumnu and Dane Bradshaw.

"And I don't think our fans would trade one for the other.''

Teamwise, there's a lot of unfinished business in this last week of the regular season.

To review:

The Crown: UT is one win away from a share of the regular-season SEC title. But the Vols (12-2) don't want to share with Mississippi State (11-3) or Kentucky (10-4).

All three will be favored to win at home this weekend. That puts the onus on road games tonight. State is at Vanderbilt, Kentucky at South Carolina.

"I'm going to be a huge Commodores fan this week,'' said Pearl, who then added: "People think I like The Four Tops but I've always been a Commodores guy.''

In Or Out?: Florida and Kentucky are on the NCAA tournament bubble. Their incentive this week is enormous.

Arkansas could still slide into trouble but should win at home Saturday against Auburn. Most bracket projections still include Florida, but the Gators' footing is flimsy if they lose twice this week, perhaps even once.

"This has all been talked about the last three weeks,'' said Donovan, "and you know what, nothing's changed. We're right on the cusp.''

Kentucky is an intriguing case. No team with 10 SEC wins has ever been left out since the league's 1992 expansion and the Wildcats are 10-4 with two to play. Precedents, however, can be ignored and losing at home to San Diego and Gardner-Webb may come back to haunt Kentucky yet.

SEC Seeds: Only two of 12 seeds are settled. Mississippi State and Arkansas are 1 and 2 in the West, respectively.

The Vols are assured of a Thursday bye, the only drama being whether they're the East's 1 or 2 seed.

NCAA Seeds: Tennessee has fought its way to a likely No. 1 seed and should be motivated to protect that exalted status this week.

Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Arkansas are hoping to improve their seeds. Florida and Kentucky are hoping to get one.

Hot Seats: There is ample speculation that Georgia and/or Alabama might join LSU and South Carolina in looking for new coaches.

Mike Gottfried hopes his past success at Alabama and consideration for Ronald Steele's injury will trump the disappointment and waning enthusiasm that engulfs the program. A couple of wins this week would help.

Georgia goes into the final week with the league's worst record (3-10), a definitive step backward for fifth-year coach Dennis Felton.

At LSU, interim coach Butch Pierre is 4-3 in his audition for a promotion since taking over for John Brady.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.