From the Rocky Mountains to Rocky Top. Dalton Knecht has made the most of his new home away from home. It’s not often a player from Northern Colorado hits the transfer portal and some of the top school’s in the nation come calling.
“Right when I hit the portal, I was working out in the gym, didn’t have my phone with me and I had over 500 missed calls and 1,200 texts,” said Knecht.
“Did all those calls and texts happen in a day, in a couples days, what was the timeframe,” CBS Colorado asked Dalton.
“It was probably between 30 minutes and hour,” exclaimed Knecht.
After considering Oregon, North Carolina, Indiana and Kansas, the Thornton, Colorado, native settled on Tennessee.
“It just felt special here,” Knecht said. “They have a hall of fame coach who coached my favorite player, Kevin Durant. It just felt special.”
“Is Knoxville, Tennessee, like Broncos Country on steroids?” CBS Colorado asked Dalton.
“I’m not much of a Broncos fan,” Knecht said sheepishly. “But that Tennessee orange is special.”
Not only has Dalton been Tennessee’s best player, he’s arguably the best player in the SEC and a legitimate candidate for the National Player of the Year.
“Are you surprised by the amount of success you’ve had at Tennessee?” CBS Colorado asked Dalton.
“Yes and no, I always thought I could do it but seeing it come true is crazy,” said Knecht.
His 37 points at North Carolina earlier this year ties for the most ever scored by a visiting player in Chapel Hill and he’s the first player in the SEC to have back-to-back 35 point games since 1991. The last player you may know. Shaquille O’Neal.
“When you hear those kind of things, how does that resonate with you?” CBS Colorado asked Dalton.
“To be honest, I don’t know if it’s hit me yet,” Knecht said. “I didn’t even know about those stats until my teammates brought it up.”
So how does a kid who grew up in Thornton, became a junior college All-American at Northeastern J.C. in Sterling, then led the Big Sky conference in scoring as a senior at Northern Colorado go on to become one of college basketball’s best players?
“I’ve always had super high confidence in myself,” exclaimed Knecht. “Everytime I step on the court I have a chip on my shoulder. That began when I was a little kid being underrated. Representing Colorado is really cool and special for me. Being a kid from Thornton and now being all over social media is really cool. I’ve worked really hard for it. It’s just cool to see all that’s happening and representing Colorado.”
Knecht’s dream has always been to play pro basketball and that dream seems like a slam dunk reality. In a recent mock draft, Knecht was projected to go with the 5th pick overall.
