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Pitino denies snubbing Lofton

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06:24 AM ET 03.26 | The legend of Chris Lofton will continue this week. He will be a central story line leading up to Tennessee's Sweet 16 showdown against Louisville on Thursday in Charlotte, N.C. And the details, on the surface, appear to be juicy. Most people who follow college basketball in this region know the UT senior grew up in Maysville, Ky., and was a standout player at Mason County High School. As the story goes, then-Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith and Louisville Coach Rick Pitino passed on Lofton, failing to offer a scholarship to in-state prospect. He was recruited hard by former UT Coach Buzz Peterson, and Lofton chose to become a Vol. His apparent snubbing by Kentucky schools has fueled fans' smack talk and has been a go-to topic on sports talk radio for years. Come to find out, the story isn't totally true. "Oh, I can assure you we recruited him hard," Pitino said. "Chris knows we recruited him hard. His parents know we recruited him hard. I don't know why (some people) say that. But I'm very happy for Chris. How could he have had a better career if he'd gone to Louisville?"

Tennessean

Chris Lofton , AP Chris Lofton , AP

Comments (11) Add A Comment

March 26, 2008  11:20 AM ET
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In what might be the most entertaining match-up of the entire tourney, Let's go Louisville!!!

March 26, 2008  01:32 PM ET
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UK FANS FOR THE VOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 26, 2008  02:32 PM ET
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UK FANS FOR THE VOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ukcats1476 | 03/26/08, 01:32 PM

What do we have here, a bitter exception to the rule? UK fans are supposed to root for the Cards when their team is ousted from the tourney and vice-versa. Tell the truth, you haven't completely gotten over Pretty Ricky coaching at Louisville?

March 26, 2008  02:47 PM ET
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KY fans for Vols. How sad - These extra weeks of play for the good programs. must be hard for you. You are in this situation because a coach with 76% wins and 12 trips in a row to the NCAA's along with a National Championship was not good enough. Your coach ran players into the ground and caused people to leave or suffer physical problems. Louisville - 17 of 23 teams have advanced to post season events. We are hear - Louisville Men - Sweet Sixteen - Louisville Women - Sweet Sixteen. I'll always pull for KY teams but not beacuse of their fans. .

March 26, 2008  02:53 PM ET
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The same is true for the Pitino and Rajon Rondo situation. Pitino offered Rondo a scholarship, but Rondo was scare of the Telfair competition.

March 26, 2008  03:07 PM ET
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Nice, classy comment from Pitino. It's nice to see him tip his hat to a deserving Lofton and Tennessee program. Not exactly the tpye or quality of comment one would expect from a Kentucky fan (as evidenced by this and many other message boards).

March 26, 2008  09:59 PM ET
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The thing that amazes me is the almost complete lack of respect (and coverage) that Louisville is getting. ESPN has almost nothing to say and neither does SI. It's almost like it's the Sweet FIFTEN with the coverage that's been given

March 26, 2008  11:34 PM ET
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I agree definer, that's why the Cards need to blow the Vols out and put everyone on notice that they're for real. Let's go Louisville!!!

March 27, 2008  12:11 AM ET
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As a UT fan I hate to say it, but Louisville will pull the upset tomorrow. They just don't look like the team that beat Memphis about a month ago. I still will root for them though.

March 27, 2008  09:40 AM ET
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NO RESPECT FOR LOUISVILLE?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? LOUISVILLE IS A FAVORITE AND MOST OF THE "EXPERTS" ARE PICKING THEM, EVEN THOUGH UT HAD THE #1 SOS AND RPI. TALK ABOUT NO RESPECT...HOW 'BOUT UT!

 
March 27, 2008  04:42 PM ET
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CAPS IS A SHORTCUT TO COOL!

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