Lofton gets his shot at Cards

Tennessee All-America guard Chris Lofton is expected to be back at practice Wednesday and ready to play in Thursday night's NCAA East regional semifinal against Louisville."The ankle, heel, the Achilles, it's all pretty sore," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. "But if we had a game tonight (Tuesday), he would have played."Lofton, who sat out Tuesday's practice after Pearl said he "tweaked" his ankle in the second-round win over Butler, said last week he hoped he and the Vols would face Louisville in the NCAA Tournament."I noticed they're in front of us," said Lofton, who spent most of his life in Maysville, Ky., as a Cardinals' fan. "It would be kinda nice to get to play them."Lofton will get his wish Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., when second-seeded UT (31-4) tips off against third-seeded Louisville (26-8) in the Sweet 16 of the East Regional.Cardinals coach Rick Pitino said there was a time when he hoped Lofton would be wearing Louisville's red."We recruited him -- hard," Pitino said. "We wanted him to commit as a junior, he wanted to wait a little bit longer, and he chose the right school for him. He made a great decision in going to Tennessee, and we lost out on a very good player."Lofton said when he was younger, he pulled for Kentucky, but later became a Louisville fan."That (pulling for the Wildcats) was just to kinda get at my dad, because he was a Louisville fan," Lofton said. "But the older I got the more I liked the Cardinals."Pearl said he doesn't think fans in Kentucky, those of the Wildcats or the Cardinals, should give their respective head coaches too much grief for not offering Lofton a scholarship his senior year."Louisville and Kentucky both took hits for not recruiting Chris Lofton," Pearl said. "But coming out of high school the guys they got were better than Chris. That's not a knock on Chris, and shouldn't be a knock on Tubby (Smith) and Rick."Chris Lofton made himself a great player, not Buzz Peterson, and not Bruce Pearl."The Vols' leading scorer at 16 points per game, Lofton ranks as the Southeastern Conference's all-time leading 3-pointer shooter and is No. 3 on the NCAA list with 429 career treys. But the past four tournament games -- two in the SEC tournament, two in the NCAA -- Lofton has cooled off hitting just 10 of 31 from beyond the arc.Lofton has hit .400 of his 3-pointers over the entire season, but has managed just 14 total points in the Vols' NCAA wins over American and Butler.That doesn't mean Pitino will be paying any less attention to him."Chris plays in a style that's really advantageous to him," Pitino said. "Any time you are a great shooter, and you love the game ... anybody who can shoot has a place in the game if he's hungry and passionate, and certainly, Chris is that."(Contact Mike Griffith of The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee at XX(at)xxx.com.)