KNOXVILLE — Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith and Jordan Howell weren’t exactly paraded onto the University of Tennessee campus.
Howell arrived in fall 2003 with mild fanfare, and Lofton and Smith came the following year with practically none. Howell had a few Southeastern Conference scholarship offers, but Lofton had only one and Smith was forced to walk on and earn free tuition to his “dream school.”
“People probably thought I was some frat guy or something,” Howell said. “Most people on campus didn’t know who we were, and most of the ones who knew didn’t care.
“A lot of people laughed at us. It wasn’t cool to play Tennessee basketball.”
Times have changed.
Regardless of today’s outcome with South Carolina, those three Volunteers will play their final game in Thompson-Boling Arena as outright SEC champions — and culture changers.
Howell redshirted in 2003-04, so all three players were freshmen the following season, Buzz Peterson’s last as Tennessee’s coach. The transformation started the following winter.
After going 14-17 as freshmen, those three seniors are 73-22 under coach Bruce Pearl. They have won two SEC Eastern Division titles and one overall crown. They have been a No. 2 NCAA tournament seed and made one Sweet 16 appearance. This season, they briefly rose to No. 1 in the nation for the first time in program history and are still considered serious national championship contenders.
“In my wildest dreams, I hoped that something like this could happen here,” Smith said last month. “I’m not a genius, though. I can’t say I knew we would turn this thing around so much like we have. It’s been a dream. I can’t believe what this place has become.
“I’ve known Tennessee basketball my whole life, and I can always say with pride that I was on the team that turned this thing around and made it what it should be.”
Thompson-Boling could have its most emotional senior day this afternoon. The contributions of Howell, legendary Lofton and home-state, feel-good-story Smith aren’t lost to UT basketball fans.
“I’ve talked about it for a while with Chris, wondering how it’s going to feel,” Howell said. “It’s going to be sad knowing that my career’s coming to a close. Both of our moms were saying, ‘We’re going to need somebody to hold us together.’
“It’s going to be emotional. Hopefully we’ll be able to feed off of that emotion and play a great game one more time for Tennessee fans ... the Rocky Top Rowdies.”
Even the typically reserved Lofton couldn’t guarantee stoicism.
“I can’t believe this is my last home game as a Volunteer,” Lofton said. “It’s gone by so fast.”
A win today would send those seniors out with 32 consecutive home victories — Division I’s second longest active streak. The Vols are 44-2 at home under Pearl.
“For our seniors, this is a great chance for our fans to thank them for being the all-time winningest players in Tennessee basketball history, and perhaps congratulate the team on being SEC champions,” Pearl said. “But I think there’s also so much basketball left to play, and there’s so much of the season to go.
“It’s going to be emotional, but if this was it, that would be one thing. But this is not it. We’ve got a whole other season to play.”
A win today coupled with a strong showing at next week’s SEC tournament could give the Vols their first No. 1 NCAA tournament seed. Their lofty RPI ranking — currently higher than any college team has finished with since 1999 — could land them the top overall seed.
Pearl has pleaded with the team to stay focused on the finish, and Howell said that shouldn’t be a problem.
“When that ball gets tipped, all we’re thinking about is winning,” Howell said.
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