Dalton Knecht of the Tennessee Volunteers has had an incredible journey to his time with Tennessee. He has proven to be one of the biggest stars in college basketball right now and is putting Colorado kids on the map.
Dalton was born in Fargo, North Dakota and moved to Thornton, Colorado at a young age. He attended Prairie View High School. Entering his sophomore year he and was only 5-feet-8 inches tall, but then going into his junior year he grew to 6 feet 1 inch. During his senior season with Prairie View he averaged 21 points and 6.5 rebounds. After his high school season he was not heavily recruited and went on to attend Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado.
He kept growing and got up to 6 feet 6 inches. During his freshman season with the Plainsmen he averaged 13,3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 one assists and his sophomore year 23,9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. His sophomore season he received First Team NJCAA All-American. After his two seasons in Sterling he committed to Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado.
In his junior season did not have a huge impact averaging 8.9 points and 3.6 rebounds. But in his next year he took the Big Sky by lead averaging 20.2 points and 7.2 rebounds. After his senior season at Northern Colorado he received Second-Team All-Big Sky. Using his extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19 pandemic he entered his name into the transfer portal and landed with the Tennessee Volunteers.
During his season with them he has been outstanding and was nominated as one of the five Naismith Player of the Year candidates.
He has been putting up some of the best numbers in the SEC all year which earned him the SEC Player of the Year. He earned SEC player of the week for the first week of the season after scoring 17 points over Tennessee Tech and 24 points and five rebounds in a road win against a tough Wisconsin team.
Nineteen days later he scored a career high of 37 points in a close loss to North Carolina. For a second time he was named player of the week scoring 28 points in a close loss against Mississippi State and 36 points in a win against Georgia.
A couple days later he scored career high with 39 points in a win against the Florida Gators, and he was not yet done. Seeing another career high against Kentucky, going for 40 points in a loss.
After the season he was named SEC Player of the Year by both the league’s coaches and Associated Press. He was was named SEC Newcomer of the Year by the AP.
With his college career now over he has declared for the draft.
He is projected to be a mid first round pick in the draft. He had a great tournament which really helped his draft stock. He led his team to a deep run in the NCAA Tournament as one of the best scorers in the tournament.
He is able to score at all levels and is a walking bucket. He has great size which will help him compete. He gives high effort very often. One thing that he struggles with is his defense, not having great technique and often struggles with staying in front of faster players. Personally I think that he could be good pick but also has potential to be a bust.
