Chomping at Bits: Florida men's basketball begins NIT Tournament tonight

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Florida begins NIT Tournament at North Florida tonight: The Gators are in the NIT for the 10th time in program history, and the first time since the 2009 season. Florida is 11-11 all-time in the NIT. UNF has home-court advantage due to renovations to the O'Connell Center. The Ospreys are no slouch - they average a nation best 12.2 3-pointers per game and shoot 41.1 percent from 3-point range. Kasey Hill is familiar with two of North Florida's starters, including UNF's leading scorer Dallas Moore, having played on an AAU team with them. (Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun; Chris Harry, Florida Gators; Alex Maminakis, Independent Florida Alligator)

Auburn snaps Florida softball's 27 game winning streak: The Tigers took the last game in their series with Florida yesterday, defeating the Gators 5-4. Florida's 27 game winning streak, which dated back to last season, was snapped. (Will Pantages, Florida Gators; Matt Brannon, Independent Florida Alligator)

No. 1 Florida baseball faces No. 11 Florida State tonight: The Gators, on an 11 game win streak, will host the Seminoles tonight. This is the first of three mid-week meetings between the two, the Gators and Seminoles will meet again on March 29th in Jacksonville and April 12th in Tallahassee. (John Hines, Florida Gators; Luis Torres, Independent Florida Alligator)

Gators replacing talent on defense: The defense will have key players to replace this year as Vernon Hargreaves III, Jonathan Bullard, Antonio Morrison, Keanu Neal, and Alex McCalister have all moved on. But key contributors Jarrad Davis, Jalen Tabor, and Marcus Maye return. (Ethan Bauer, Independent Florida Alligator; Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel)

Luke Del Rio is ahead of other quarterbacks in spring: But, as Jim McElwain notes, he should be, as he has the advantage of having been with the Gators for a full year. (Zach Abolverdi, SEC Country; Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel)

Spring practice injury updates: Redshirt freshman wide receiver Kalif Jackson is likely to miss all of spring with a patella injury, defensive lineman Joey Ivie is dealing with a groin injury, safety Duke Dawson has a bruised foot, and tight end Camrin Knight is day-to-day with a leg injury. Defensive tackle Thomas Holley, who had been plagued by a chronic hip injury, lost 60 pounds since the fall and is now playing defensive end. (Robbie Andreu, Gainesville Sun)

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