He has exploded onto the scene over the past two weeks by flashing an array of skills, from bombing away beyond the arc to finishing at the rim with a flourish, all the while being a team player.
My favorite hoopster in the college game.
An entire season sometimes passes without my earmarking a single player who maybe, deep-deep down and secretly, I root for, who captures scenes and conquers games, and might lead his coach and program to the promised land.
Long ago, Jimmy Paxson at Dayton showed everyone how to move without the ball, Clyde Drexler of Houston’s Phi Slama Jama fraternity represented pure electricity and, five seasons ago, it was Obi Toppin.
The high Flyer at Dayton would have run roughshod in the NCAA Tournament, if only a virus hadn’t covered the globe and canceled it for the first time.
This season?
No, not Jaedon LeDee of San Diego State, the alma mater; which dozens of my actual frat bros might consider blasphemy.
Step right up and take a bow, Tennessee senior swingman Dalton Knecht, who has dominated since he strolled onto the Humphrey Coliseum court in Starkville, Miss., on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
He started at a Colorado junior college for two seasons and played two more at Northern Colorado before landing in Knoxville, and he’s capping his collegiate career in style.
Knecht tallied 28 points that evening, in a 77-72 defeat to Mississippi State, triggering a 128-point avalanche over four games in which he’s likely become a household name.
Blue Ribbon, the ultimate college hoops season guide, tapped the Volunteers to win the Southeastern Conference, but it did not project Knecht (sounds like “connect”) as a starter.
Tennessee worth consideration at odds to get Rick Barnes to second Final Four
For our purposes, Tennessee (14-4, 4-1 in SEC) has covered four of its past six, and eight of the Vols’ past 12 games have sailed OVER their totals.
Two of their defeats arrived on neutral courts (No. 2 Purdue and No. 18 Kansas), the other two were true away games (at No. 7 North Carolina, at the 34th-rated Bulldogs).
The bigger picture is that I own a 25-to-1 ticket (bought Nov. 11 at the South Point) on Tennessee and ninth-year coach Rick Barnes winning it all inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on April 8.
The latest Circa Sports title odds on Tennessee are 17-1. Sunday night, DraftKings offered 18-1 on the Vols. I also snatched +500, at the Westgate SuperBook, on the Volunteers reaching the Final Four.
Here are the latest Tennessee futures odds at top-rated sportsbooks:
(My portfolio is somewhat extensive, which I’ll update in a future column. Just know that 25-1 would constitute a sweet payoff.)
Barnes, 69, has been a Division-I head coach since 1987, with big stops being Providence, Clemson and Texas; in 2015, he took over at Tennessee.
His lone Final Four appearance came in 2003, when his Longhorns lost a national semifinal to Syracuse, 95-84, in New Orleans. Carmelo Anthony went for 33 that evening against Texas.
Tennessee has made a single Elite Eight, in 2010, when Bruce Pearl’s fifth squad lost to Michigan State, 70-69, in a regional final.
The Vols are ripe to take Barnes to his second Final Four. They’re rated fourth by one computer and on stats guru Ken Pomeroy’s big chart, whose figures we implemented above regarding Tennessee’s defeats this season.
Tennessee has regularly been among the dozen or so squads that I’ve charted, every Sunday night, among the nation’s top 10 percent in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Heading into the week's action, the Vols are second in the nation with an adjusted defensive efficiency rating of 91.5, trailing only Houston (85.6). Iowa State (92.9), North Carolina and Arizona (both at 93.7) round out that top five.
Knecht is the break-out star. During his hot run, he’s hit 55.8% (29-for-52) of his 2-point attempts, 48.3% (14-29) beyond the arc and 87.5% (28-32) of his free throws, averaging 32 points.
He owns a positive assists-to-turnovers ratio, where Tennessee has a top-20 rate, at 1.563. Pomeroy has LeDee of the Aztecs third and Knecht eighth on his player-of-the-year chart.
Tennessee doesn’t hit the hardwood again till Saturday, at Vanderbilt. Including that one, the Vols don’t figure to get tested in six of their next eight, and those are the games in which I’ll be investing further green in Volunteer orange.
KenPom has Tennessee winning 12 of its final 13 regular-season games. And the SEC tourney will be staged inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, just a three-hour drive from Knoxville.
Expect to hear Knecht’s name often over the next 2 1/2 months.
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SMU hot college hoops team ATS, at center of recent teasers
Southern Methodist has been included in several recent three-team teasers that I have come to favor, which has paid off since the Mustangs (13-5, 4-1 in the American Athletic Conference) have covered nine of their past 10 games.
Second-year coach Rob Lanier appears to have his charges in high gear, and they next play at North Texas on Thursday night and at Wichita State on Sunday afternoon.
We have circled that Sunday tilt because the Shockers are spiraling, having failed to cover nine of their previous 10 games.
This is a good time, too, to reiterate that the three-team teaser is my best friend. Know that whatever games I highlight in this arena, and single out during the week, are being included in those three-way beauties.
I tease with the maximum 6 points, because I will never kid myself that the spreads and totals posted by bookmakers are easy to beat. I scrape for every ounce of help I can get, that extra 6 points.
Hit three, and the profit is just a bit more than the investment, which I’ll gladly take. For instance, Butler (giving 16-ish) against DePaul last Saturday covered for me on two teasers, since I only had to give 11 in the Bulldogs’ 74-60 triumph.
(That’s my main sports-betting tactic, which also clicked when I connected Green Bay +17 to Tampa Bay +13 and Kansas City +9.5 in the NFL playoffs.)
SMU features the top defensive efficiency in its league, and nobody in the nation defends the 3-point arc better than the Mustangs, at 26%.
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Princeton is Ivy League team to watch in betting markets
Two of the country’s best-shooting squads clash Saturday afternoon inside Cornell’s Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.
Princeton has an effective field-goal percentage of 56.6, 14th in the country, while the home-side Big Red check in at a sixth-best 57.5.
KenPom projects the line to be Cornell -3, with a 161 total. We will take the Tigers and the points due to our faith in guard Xaivian Lee and center Caden Pierce.
Lee, a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Toronto, has registered 81 points over his past four games, with 22 rebounds and 18 assists. Pierce, a 6-7 sophomore center from Glen Ellyn, Ill., has tallied 79 points and yanked down 41 boards in that span.
Because of that dynamic duo, we’re taking Princeton (15-1, 3-0) to not only win the Ivy League, over Cornell (13-3, 3-0) and Yale (12-6, 3-0), but to also win at least one game in the NCAA Tournament.
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