by Alan Smith
In the past few years, Kentucky has managed to let go of some in-state kids and have allowed them to go play ball at another school. Shelvin Mack, Allan Houston, Travis Ford, and Derek Anderson are just a few that come to mind. Granted, the last two finished their careers at UK but the others did not. One thing in common with all four players is that they played high school ball in the state of Kentucky and had good careers at their respective schools. Looking forward to the Tennessee game this weekend, two players that have had a large impact not only on their teams but against Kentucky as well are Chris Lofton and Scotty Hopson.
We’ll start off with Lofton, who cane out of Mason County. He was considered the top player in the state at the time. According to many people, he wanted to go to Kentucky but was never offered a scholarship. Towards the end of the recruiting period, Kentucky offered Louisville native and Oak Hill Academy senior Rajon Rondo a scholarship. He accepted and committed to UK in a similar scenario because he had always wanted to go to UofL but instead offered a scholarship to Sebastian Telfair. Rondo’s decision gave UK the No. 1 rated class in 2004, but it also led Lofton to look in another direction. He decided to become a Vol and become apart of SEC history at UT. While after that 2005 season, UK struggled while UT had met their “standards” for a successful season, by going to the NCAA Tournament four years straight and finishing first in the SEC East Division. Lofton was the primary reason for their success during this time, not Bruce Pearl, Ramar Smith, or Dane Bradshaw. He led the team in scoring as well as the SEC. He also managed to break some records during his career, became SEC Player of the Year in 2007 and was a warrior off the court as well. He did not tell anybody he was battling cancer and he eventually overcame that battle. He struggled some his senior year but still helped Tennessee to the Sweet 16 and to their first #1 ranking.
Meanwhile in Lexington, UK had been struggling with 10+ losses in a season. UK was in desperate need of a scorer, and despite the hiring of Billy Gillispie, it did not change much. In his short tenure, he did manage to win three of the four games against the Vols, and also find a scorer in Jodie Meeks although it was too little too late at that point. Chris Lofton was consistent from top to bottom in his career, and although he was overlooked based on his rankings coming out of high school, the former Kentucky “Mr. Basketball” made a huge impact on Tennessee basketball. Had he come to Kentucky to play, he would have added another dimension for the struggling teams the past four years, considering he was a four-year player himself.
Scotty Hopson is another name that comes to mind when mentioning Kentucky-Tennessee in recent years. Although he was primarily committed to Mississippi State, the Hoptown native and McDonald’s All-American was UK’s to lose. He was the No. 5 overall player in the Class of 2008. After he committed to UT, he became the second All-American from Kentucky to become a Vol (Allan Houston, 1993). Had he signed on to become a Wildcat, he would’ve been a go-to-guy behind Meeks and Patterson. Although this season’s squad has more depth, he’d be finding himself competing for a starting spot against the likes of Darius Miller and Darnell Dodson. So far, he has done just fine in Knoxville, especially this season as he is averaging 13.1 ppg as a sophomore, stepping up and helping his team when they need him.
These two players and others as well have gone on to have great basketball careers both within the state of Kentucky in high school and beyond, both in college and the professional ranks. But their careers at the same time have left a talent gap that needed to be filled the past few years, a task that neither Smith nor Gillispie could fulfill. Thankfully Calipari has found a solution to that problem, and UK can start to get the best of the in-state talent before it escapes them. The one thing that I am looking forward to tomorrow and beyond: I hope that despite how great their careers may have been or may be, I hope they regret not going to UK for a long, long time.
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