Chuck
January 29th, 2007, 06:46 PM
LEXINGTON, Ky. - For a day, anyway, the University of Kentucky got lucky. Thanks to a poetically challenged right ankle, the University of Tennessee's best player, who is also, according to many, the best shooting guard in the nation - if not that, certainly the most clutch and courageous - spent Sunday afternoon in a crisp black shirt and dark green suit, which might have spared the home team an ugly black eye and a lot of dark green envy.
That's not to say that the Volunteers would have beaten UK if Chris Lofton, the junior gem from Maysville, Ky., had made his much-anticipated annual homecoming; but to know anything about Lofton is to not dismiss the possibility, in spite of the fact that, on this occasion, the Wildcats were 19 points the better team.
In the same game last year, Lofton lit up Rupp Arena with 31 points, 21 of them on long-range, ruthlessly timed rainbows, and seven of them in a row when the 'Cats were still clinging to something unlikely. Without Lofton, whom Tennessee rides like a walking horse when it needs a lift, there was no way for the Vols to match the second-half spate of 3-pointers by Ramel Bradley and assorted Kentucky comrades.
"The key for us in the second half," said UT coach Bruce Pearl, who, if you're wondering (having seen the pictures from the recent Tennessee women's game), was wearing a shirt, "was when Kentucky started to make shots. Because losing Chris Lofton, we're not going to be the leading offensive team in the league, which we are with him. Without him, our offense is somewhat compromised."
So, under those circumstances, is Tennessee's chance to succeed in an environment such as Rupp, which Pearl, we might add, voluntarily described as "just different than almost any other place in the country." But Kentucky is where Lofton - playing alongside University of Cincinnati quarterback Dustin Grutza - led Mason County to a high school state basketball championship. And Rupp is where, a year ago, he had a full house bemoaning the fact that the Wildcats never recruited him.
Tubby Smith hasn't really lived that one down yet; and for sure, it would have taken a good while longer if Lofton had reprised last season's performance. It's hard to say what Kentucky folks love best - homegrown 'Cats or cold-blooded shooters. Adolph Rupp, the guy who inspired the arena, made his historic place by finding both in his bluegrass recruiting trips; by finding Loftons.
"We know we were fortunate to catch them without Chris," Smith said Sunday, after his team had recovered from a two-game losing snap. "Chris is a gifted athlete with unbelievable range, and he's a clutch player who takes difficult shots for them. We know what he did to us here, and what he does anytime he's on the court."
The real fortune, though, was in staving off another frame of Lofton-based, green-glossed, Blue-accented angst. Woe would be the Wildcats if the magical man from Maysville had extended the Kentucky losing streak. Nothing casts a fury upon the commonwealth like a UK booster scorned.
The ill feeling was further averted by Bradley, whose Lofton imitation was not dead-on, but darn good. He scored 19 points even while taking a few shots he shouldn't have. Pearl, for one, could appreciate the net effect. "You're asking Chris Lofton's coach whether you can put up with bad shots," he observed.
Pearl's predicament was dramatized by the fact that Lofton's replacement in the starting lineup, freshman Josh Tabb - who played last year at Cincinnati's Harmony Community School - has earned his time through dogged defense. Actually, he and center Ryan Childress of Moeller High School - a banging big man who styles himself after Bill Laimbeer - combined for exactly 40 minutes Sunday. And eight points and six rebounds.
Obviously, neither of the above was about to set off the Kentucky patrons in a jealous rage. (On the other hand, either could do it to a suffering University of Cincinnati fan - particularly Childress, who stands 6 feet 9 and over the summer increased his vertical leap by seven inches.) When the sellout crowd was dispersed Sunday, anxiety tramped out with it.
But it didn't go far. The Kentucky schedule turns brutal from here out, starting next Saturday at Arkansas. It includes a home game with NCAA champion and top-ranked Florida, and another one away. It brings in Georgia, which beat the Wildcats last week, and nationally ranked LSU. It takes Smith's team to Vanderbilt, which also owns a victory over UK, and No. 12 Alabama. And to Tennessee.
That game pops up in two weeks, by which time Lofton may or may not be back on the floor. In the meantime, Bradley, for one, didn't miss him.
"Not at all," he said with a smile. "If he's not out there, I'm happy with that."
He and the 24,311 satisfied friends who spent Sunday together.
Source (http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070129/SPT0202/701290340/1035/SPT)
That's not to say that the Volunteers would have beaten UK if Chris Lofton, the junior gem from Maysville, Ky., had made his much-anticipated annual homecoming; but to know anything about Lofton is to not dismiss the possibility, in spite of the fact that, on this occasion, the Wildcats were 19 points the better team.
In the same game last year, Lofton lit up Rupp Arena with 31 points, 21 of them on long-range, ruthlessly timed rainbows, and seven of them in a row when the 'Cats were still clinging to something unlikely. Without Lofton, whom Tennessee rides like a walking horse when it needs a lift, there was no way for the Vols to match the second-half spate of 3-pointers by Ramel Bradley and assorted Kentucky comrades.
"The key for us in the second half," said UT coach Bruce Pearl, who, if you're wondering (having seen the pictures from the recent Tennessee women's game), was wearing a shirt, "was when Kentucky started to make shots. Because losing Chris Lofton, we're not going to be the leading offensive team in the league, which we are with him. Without him, our offense is somewhat compromised."
So, under those circumstances, is Tennessee's chance to succeed in an environment such as Rupp, which Pearl, we might add, voluntarily described as "just different than almost any other place in the country." But Kentucky is where Lofton - playing alongside University of Cincinnati quarterback Dustin Grutza - led Mason County to a high school state basketball championship. And Rupp is where, a year ago, he had a full house bemoaning the fact that the Wildcats never recruited him.
Tubby Smith hasn't really lived that one down yet; and for sure, it would have taken a good while longer if Lofton had reprised last season's performance. It's hard to say what Kentucky folks love best - homegrown 'Cats or cold-blooded shooters. Adolph Rupp, the guy who inspired the arena, made his historic place by finding both in his bluegrass recruiting trips; by finding Loftons.
"We know we were fortunate to catch them without Chris," Smith said Sunday, after his team had recovered from a two-game losing snap. "Chris is a gifted athlete with unbelievable range, and he's a clutch player who takes difficult shots for them. We know what he did to us here, and what he does anytime he's on the court."
The real fortune, though, was in staving off another frame of Lofton-based, green-glossed, Blue-accented angst. Woe would be the Wildcats if the magical man from Maysville had extended the Kentucky losing streak. Nothing casts a fury upon the commonwealth like a UK booster scorned.
The ill feeling was further averted by Bradley, whose Lofton imitation was not dead-on, but darn good. He scored 19 points even while taking a few shots he shouldn't have. Pearl, for one, could appreciate the net effect. "You're asking Chris Lofton's coach whether you can put up with bad shots," he observed.
Pearl's predicament was dramatized by the fact that Lofton's replacement in the starting lineup, freshman Josh Tabb - who played last year at Cincinnati's Harmony Community School - has earned his time through dogged defense. Actually, he and center Ryan Childress of Moeller High School - a banging big man who styles himself after Bill Laimbeer - combined for exactly 40 minutes Sunday. And eight points and six rebounds.
Obviously, neither of the above was about to set off the Kentucky patrons in a jealous rage. (On the other hand, either could do it to a suffering University of Cincinnati fan - particularly Childress, who stands 6 feet 9 and over the summer increased his vertical leap by seven inches.) When the sellout crowd was dispersed Sunday, anxiety tramped out with it.
But it didn't go far. The Kentucky schedule turns brutal from here out, starting next Saturday at Arkansas. It includes a home game with NCAA champion and top-ranked Florida, and another one away. It brings in Georgia, which beat the Wildcats last week, and nationally ranked LSU. It takes Smith's team to Vanderbilt, which also owns a victory over UK, and No. 12 Alabama. And to Tennessee.
That game pops up in two weeks, by which time Lofton may or may not be back on the floor. In the meantime, Bradley, for one, didn't miss him.
"Not at all," he said with a smile. "If he's not out there, I'm happy with that."
He and the 24,311 satisfied friends who spent Sunday together.
Source (http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070129/SPT0202/701290340/1035/SPT)