Northern Colorado transfer wing Dalton Knecht committed to Tennessee basketball Friday night, the highly touted transfer announced on Twitter.
#Committed 🧡 pic.twitter.com/ANdwNzijOo
— Dalton Knecht-2 (@DaltonKnecht3) April 22, 2023
Knecht commits to Tennessee just a week after visiting Knoxville. The talented wing also visited Oregon after entering the transfer portal and was pursued by a number of top programs including North Carolina.
“Dalton is just a terrific story of a guy whose hard work has enabled him to steadily improve his game,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said in a statement announcing his signing. “He’s grown nearly a foot since he started playing high school ball. And as he’s grown, he’s expanded his skill set as well. He’s a proven scorer and was one of the top offensive producers in the portal, so he immediately gives our team a boost in offensive firepower.”
The Thornton, Colorado native ranks as the 12th best player to enter the transfer portal this cycle according to the 247sports transfer rankings.
The 6-foot-6 wing averaged 20.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in his senior season at Northern Colorado. Knecht is an extremely high level shooter, making 48% of his shots from the field, 38% from three-point range and 77% from the free throw line.
“Beyond being a high-level shooter, his ability to put the ball on the floor and attack downhill with athleticism really drew our attention,” Barnes added. “He’s another guy who comes from a great family, and we’re excited to welcome them into our Volunteer family.”
Knecht spent the first two years of his college career at a junior college before transferring to Northern Colorado for his junior season. The wing played on two bad teams at Northern Colorado but was the top scorer each year.
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The question for the highly touted transfer is how effective he can score at the SEC level compared to the Big Sky. Knecht scored effectively off the dribble at Northern Colorado which will be much more challenging at Tennessee. Either way, Knecht’s shooting ability will carry over to the SEC and provide a roster that is lacking shooting just that.
Tennessee landing Knecht further puts them in a number’s crunch for next season. If Julian Phillips, Josiah-Jordan James and Uros Plavsic all returned to Tennessee, the Vols would have 17 players on scholarship next season— four over the 13 scholarship limit.
That makes it extremely unlikely that all of them would return to Tennessee and more likely that all three wouldn’t return to Tennessee. Even if Phillips, James and Plavsic all departed Tennessee, the Vols would still have to have one scholarship player transfer to clear room for their offseason roster additions.
Nevertheless, Tennessee’s roster is starting to come into picture for next season.
