The finest college basketball player in the nation, Dalton Knecht of Tennessee, has formally been declared a finalist for the Wooden Award. Knecht averaged more than 25 points per game in conference play, earning him the title of SEC Player of the Year early.
R.J. Davis of North Carolina, Zach Edey of Purdue, Tristen Newton of Connecticut, and Jamal Shead of Houston are all finalists alongside Knecht.
Knecht, a transfer from Northern Colorado, revolutionized Tennessee’s scoring this season. Rick Barnes discovered him through the gateway to hold advance to his first-ever Elite Eight at Tennessee. The Volunteers had been in need of someone like him for a few seasons. Regretfully, the Vols faced Zach Edey and Purdue during the weekend and were narrowly denied the school’s first-ever Final Four appearance.
Knecht’s season won’t soon be forgotten, however. He put up one of the best individual seasons we’ve ever seen in Knoxville, putting him alongside of names like Dale Ellis, Bernard King, Allan Houston, Chris Lofton and Grant Williams.
With 780 points this season, Knecht is second only to Alan Houston on Tennessee’s all-time single-season scoring leaderboard.
Knecht averaged 21.7 points per game during the year. This is despite a brief hiatus in December while he recovered from an ankle injury. In the end, he shot more than 45 percent from the field and made 39.7 percent of his three-point attempts.
In terms of points per game, Knecht placed seventh nationally at the end of the campaign. In six games this season, he scored more than 35 points.
The 6’6′′, 213-pound guard came to Tennessee to hone his defensive skills and show that he could be a high-level big-time scorer. He did exactly that, and in the process he made himself into a player who will most likely be selected in the lottery for this summer’s NBA Draft.
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