KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Before Dalton Knecht became SEC Player of the Year and a first-team All-American with the Vols, he made his start in college basketball at the junior college level.
Dalton Knecht started at Northeastern Junior College as he was not heavily recruited out of high school.
The now 6'6" player was 5'8" as a sophomore in high school and grew to around 6'3'' when he was a senior. His game wasn’t fully developed either, but his head coach Eddie Trenkle said that dude could always shoot.
“He’s a special player,” Trenkle said. “I tell people all the time. He was a unicorn. You don’t get guys like him in junior college very often.”
Trenkle's assistant coach recruited Knecht at first. Trenkle mostly saw him on tape.
When he saw him in person, Trenkle was all in.
“He was better in person than he was on film,” he said with a chuckle. “I think I turned to my assistant and I said, ‘If you think you’re recruiting a guy this good again let’s make sure we sell out and get it done early.’”
Early on, Knecht’s three-point shooting was on display at a high level. Trenkle told Knecht he would need to develop a mid-range game and be able to effectively drive to the rim. He figured other teams would start chasing him off the three-point line.
Knecht worked and worked on it. Trenkle said Knecht’s mid-range game was even better than his three-point game by his second season.
It comes as not surprise that Knecht took the advice and ran with it.
Vols head coach Rick Barnes talks about Knecht’s elite work ethic a lot. That work ethic was there in junior college.
“He doesn’t leave the gym," Trenkle joked. "I’m sure if he could stay in the gym he would stay in the gym. If they built him a little room right there he would be good with it."
Trenkle said Knecht would seek out to play 1 on 1 with then assistant coach Bronson Moton, who was a JUCO All-American.
Knecht learned very quickly how to hold his own against the best.
“My assistant told me one time, ‘I don’t know if I’m ever going to beat him. You know, he has just got it’” he said.
Knecht became a JUCO All-American himself.
After two years at that level, he played two years at Northern Colorado and is now a first-team All-American with Tennessee.
“He got his big shot and he hasn’t wasted it,” Trenkle said.
Trenkle and Knecht still talk frequently. Sometimes his JUCO head coach lends some advice.
“He made a remark to me one time about just everything he is going through with scouts calling him and coming to watch him all the time and he didn’t want to disappoint them,” he said. “I told him you’re not going to disappoint anyone if you win and you figure out ways to win. So that was probably my biggest piece of advice to him. Stay focused and go win a national championship.”
Trenkle is so proud and was very proud when Knecht came up clutch sinking the free throws to seal the deal against Texas in the round of 32.
“I told him the other day when he made those free throws it made me tear up,” Trenkle said. “That means the world to know that a kid you coached is tough enough to step up in that scenario and make his presence known.”
Like Vol Nation, he just wants to see Knecht keep going.
“How awesome would it be to tell everyone, ‘Hey I coached that kid and now he is playing in a Final Four.’”