Lofton gets one more shot at Cards

Chris Lofton insists it's all water under the bridge now.

It's been well-documented, perhaps even beaten to death, about how the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville let the Mason County product and 2004 Mr. Basketball get away to Tennessee, where he's become the Southeastern Conference's leading three-point shooter.

Lofton made UK pay numerous times for the slight. The 6-foot-2 sharpshooter led the Vols to three wins over the Wildcats during his UT career, including a 31-point performance as a sophomore at Rupp Arena and a 23-point outing last year.

Now Lofton will have a chance to end the Cards' season in tonight's East Regional semifinal at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Lofton was a freshman the last time the Vols faced U of L during the 2004-05 season and scored a team-high 15 points in an 85-62 loss at Freedom Hall.

Lofton admitted to being jacked up to play the Cards then, but said it's not that big of an issue anymore.

"When we played them my freshman year, it meant a lot to me to try and get back at them for not recruiting me so hard, but it's all over now," he said. "It's four years later, and we're trying to go to the Elite Eight."

Lofton grew up in Maysville, smack dab in the middle of Wildcat country. But Lofton took more of a liking to Louisville late in his high school career. Cards Coach Rick Pitino told the Knoxville News-Sentinel that Lofton wanted to commit to U of L as a junior but he opted to wait before ultimately signing with former Vols coach Buzz Peterson.

"I think he chose the right school," Pitino said Wednesday. "They were rebuilding; he got the opportunity to play right away. I don't think anybody missed on him; it's just that Tennessee knew what they wanted. Certainly, he's a great fit for Tennessee, and it's a great fit for Chris."

Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl said a fanatic basketball following in Mason County makes players like Lofton a must-get for the in-state schools, particularly. But he defended U of L and UK over Lofton's recruitment, saying they simply recruited players who were better than Lofton at the time.

"Chris has a following in Tennessee that came right out of Kentucky, and that town (Maysville) was in orange for four years because they love their Mr. Basketball," Pearl said. "But I don't think you can blame Kentucky and Louisville for signing better players, and I don't think you can blame Chris Lofton for becoming the player that he became."

While the Cards will definitely have their eye on Lofton (15.5 ppg, 116 three-pointers, .392 three-point percentage), Tennessee has much more talent surrounding Lofton than it did the last time the two teams played. Sophomore forward Tyler Smith averages nearly 14 points a game and leads the team in rebounds and assists, and senior guard JaJuan Smith is nearly as deadly a three-point shooter as Lofton (91 made threes, .382 three-point percentage). Also, the Vols are similar to Louisville in that they can go 10 or 11 deep and get big-time contributions from complementary players such as guards Ramar Smith and J.P. Prince and forward Wayne Chism.

"If you worry about just Chris, you're going to get beat at other positions," Pitino said. "They're all outstanding and deep and talented."

The game sets up as a shootout on paper, as both teams like to play up-tempo and apply full-court pressure. But Pearl hinted that he might pull in the reins a little bit.

"I don't want a track meet because I think we've got no chance to win a track meet," he said. "But I think we're going to run, and when there are times to be patient, we'll be patient."