For those of you who are similar to me and sometimes overlook storylines in college sports, you may think that the story of Dalton Knecht, the SEC's Player of the Year, is similar to a lot of college basketball's top players. They are highly recruited, destined for greatness, and were the chosen ones for their university's basketball future. I for one, thought that Dalton Knecht was another high recruit who splashed onto the scene in 2024. In the age of freshman sensations dominating the game, it’s pretty common in men’s college basketball for names to be in the headlines for a year and then they leave for the NBA. It was ignorant of me to think this was the path Dalton Knecht took to become the SEC’s best player.

Knecht played his high school ball at Prairie View High School in Henderson, Colorado. It’s fair to say he wasn’t highly recruited. He went the Junior College route and ended up at Northeastern Junior College, 120 miles away from his hometown in Colorado. After two years of production at the JUCO level, he ended up at Northern Colorado. The local kid stayed home again. After leading the Big Sky Conference in scoring in 2023 with just north of 20 points per game, he decided to enter the portal one more time. Tennessee and Rocky Top came calling.

He became the star player on a deep roster for Tennessee this year, averaging 21.1 points per game and hitting 39% of his threes. His career ended yesterday as Tennessee fell in the Elite Eight to Purdue. While Knecht may be done in college, his basketball career is far from over. Knecht is now a projected lottery pick in the NBA draft, arguably a top 5 pick.

The transfer portal has its pros and cons, but man, these types of stories are cool. No offers out of high school -> JUCO -> D1 mid-major -> star player and SEC Player of the Year. You don’t see that career path very often. Knecht has shown resiliency and belief throughout his whole career, a story of defying the odds. Not only defying them but destroying them.

The one thing I love about this story the most is Knecht bet on himself. It’s not easy to double down, let alone triple down, on believing in your own talent. He climbed up the ladder on his own terms. He didn’t let his recruitment stop him, he didn’t let playing at a small JUCO stop him, nor did playing at a mid-major. He proved he has the talent, the pure skill, and the tenacity to play at the highest level.

I couldn’t believe I didn’t know all of this about Dalton Knecht as I watched their Elite Eight matchup, but it’s not like I needed another reason to root against Purdue. Knecht is the type of guy you just have to root for. I’d love to ask him, “Did you ever think you’d be the SEC Player of the Year?”, and from what I’ve learned about him in researching this piece, I bet he would say, “Without a doubt.”