Lofty honor for Lofton

Tennessee senior shooting guard Chris Lofton added the honor of first-team Associated Press preseason All-America to his glowing resume.

Lofton, the SEC player of the year last season and preseason SEC player of the year this season, was a second-team All-American selection in 2006-07.

"It's an honor, and it's good, I guess,'' Lofton said. "But then, it's the preseason, so it really doesn't matter. At the end of the year it would mean something.''

UT coach Bruce Pearl said it's good to see the Vols get national recognition through Lofton's accomplishments.

"It's wonderful recognition for Chris, and certainly deserved,'' Pearl said, "but if he was on a team that was not thought to be competitive, that would not be the case. Chris understands that and I know he's appreciative of that.''

Lofton led the SEC with 20.8 points per game last year, connecting on 106 3-point shots while making 41.9 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc.

As Pearl suggested, the other first-team preseason Associated Press All-Americans came from competitive squads.

North Carolina junior forward Tyler Hansbrough was the leading vote-getter on the team.

Georgetown's Roy Hibbert, Michigan State's Drew Neitzel and UCLA's Darren Collision were the other first-team selections.

The 72-member panel that votes weekly in the Associated Press Top 25 poll selected the team.

Hansbrough received 71 votes, the 7-foot-2 Hibbert received 62 and Lofton had 61. Neitzel was on 37 ballots, Collision was on 31, and the next highest vote-getter was Kansas' Brandon Rush.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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