Chris Lofton cancer story is amazing

I'm sure most of you have already heard that Tennessee Volunteer All-American guard Chris Lofton privately battled cancer between his junior and senior seasons.

If you haven't, here's a quick re-cap. Following the 2007 basketball season, Lofton underwent surgery and radiation treatments for testicular cancer. He didn't go public with his illness at the time because he didn't want to distract his teammates. He kept the news quiet until last week when he spoke about his battle for the first time.

In a way, this makes sense. For followers of the program, it was obvious Chris was out of sync during the early part of last season. Even though the team was winning, there was a lot of talk about what was wrong with him.

I've known several people who have had cancer, and they have talked about the fatigue and sluggishness they felt for months after their treatments ended. It is something that takes a long time to get over, and I believe it played a big role in Lofton's early season funk. It says a lot about his character that he kept trying even when he had every right to walk away from basketball to concentrate on his health.

Here's praying that he remains cancer free and lives a long and healthy life.

UT men's basketball team had a terrific year

Well, the Tennessee men's basketball team had its season come to a screeching halt last Thursday when it lost to Louisville 79-60 in the NCAA tournament.

It would be easy to write about the disappointment of that game, but now that I am a few days removed from it, all I can think about is how great a season this was.

Yes, I used the word "great." That word is one of the most overused words in America, but I believe it applies here.

In sports, I think a person can only use that word when a team wins a championship, and the Vols certainly did that. This was the first time we have won the outright conference championship in more than 40 years (though we have shared the title several times since then).

Additionally, we set a school record for wins (with 31) and achieved our first number one ranking in the national polls ever.

The sting of the Louisville loss eases a bit when we put the entire season in perspective.

Though we lose some key players (primarily Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith), next season looks bright, especially if Tyler Smith does not declare himself eligible for the NBA draft.

Congratulations to the Vols for a great season.