Unbelievable: Dalton Knecht Said Choosing Vols Was The Biggest Mistake He Has Ever Made…

Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht has officially been named a finalist for the Wooden Award, which is handed out annually to the best player in college basketball. Knecht has already taken home SEC Player of the Year honors after averaging over 25 points in conference play.

Knecht is joined as a finalist by North Carolina’s R.J. Davis, Purdue’s Zach Edey, Connecticut’s Tristen Newton and Houston’s Jamal Shead.

A transfer from Northern Colorado, Knecht transformed Tennessee this year with his elite scoring. The Volunteers had needed someone like him for a couple of seasons now, and Rick Barnes found him in the portal to held advance to his first ever Elite Eight at Tennessee. Unfortunately for the Vols, they ran into Zach Edey and Purdue over the weekend and came up just short of the school’s first ever Final Four berth.

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.

Knecht’s 780 points this season lands him second on the single-season scoring list all-time for Tennessee, trailing only Alan Houston.

Overall for the year, Knecht averaged 21.7 points per game. That coming even with a bit of a lull in December as he fought back from an ankle injury. He finished shooting over 45 percent from the floor, hitting 39.7 percent of his chances from three-point range.

Knecht finished the season ranked eighth nationally in points per game. He scored over 35 points in six games this season.

The 6-6, 213 pound guard came to Tennessee to develop defensively and prove he could be a big time scorer at the top level. He certainly did that, and in the process he transformed himself into a likely lottery pick in this summer’s NBA Draft.

Edey has been the odds on favorite all season long, and he appears set to take home his second straight Wooden Award. The official announcement will come on April 12th.

Tennessee basketball guard Dalton Knecht has been named one of five finalists for John R. Wooden Award, given to the national player of the year, as announced Tuesday night on ESPN2. Knecht was joined by North Carolina’s R.J. Davis, Purdue’s Zach Edey, Connecticut’s Tristen Newton and Houston’s Jamal Shead.

Knecht, Davis, Edey and Shead were also the four players to earn consensus First Team All-American honors this season. Knecht became the fourth consensus First Team All-American in Tennessee history, joining Grant Williams (2018-19), Dale Ellis (1982-83) and Bernard King (1976-77).

The Northern Colorado transfer is just the eighth former junior college player to earn consensus First Team All-America honors in the NCAA Tournament era (1938-39 to present), including the first in 33 years. Knecht played at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colo., from 2019-21, before playing two seasons at Northern Colorado and transferring to Tennessee.

Knecht concluded his lone season as a Volunteer with 780 points, the second-most in a single campaign in program history. He averaged 21.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, while shooting 45.8 percent from the floor, 39.7 percent beyond the arc and 77.2 percent at the stripe. His scoring average puts him eighth nationally, including third among Power Six players and first in the SEC.

In SEC play alone, Knecht averaged 25.5 points during SEC play, which is the second-best in the league over the last 22 seasons. It was the highest scoring average of any Division 1 player this season and the best mark of any Power Six player in league play since 2019-20.

Knecht was named SEC Player of the Year by the league’s coaches following the conclusion of the regular season to become the 10th Volunteer to win the award and the first to do so since Grant Williams was honored in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019.

The 6-foot-6 guard recorded one 40-point game this season among seven by a Power Six player, three 39-point games (first nationally), five 35-point games (first nationally) and seven 30-point games (third nationally). He owns five of the top nine single-game point totals by an SEC player, was the first player with back-to-back 35-point games since LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal (Feb. 1991), was the first player with six straight 25-point games since South Carolina’s Devan Downey (Jan./Feb. 2010) and the second player in the last 14 seasons with at least five 35-point games and/or seven 30-point games, joining Arkansas’ Mason Jones.