Will TN's Dalton Knecht Keep Thriving in SEC to End Up on All-Time J.C. Team?

It wasn't long ago when only a splinter group of maverick coaches were sufficiently bold to liberally dot their rosters with junior-college recruits stereotyped as discipline problems, academic risks or simply unsuitable to go directly from high school to major-college programs. "Jucoland" was labeled by misguided observers as little more than basketball rehabilitation where free-lance players enjoyed free rein to make Great Plains arenas their own personal H-O-R-S-E stables.

However, major colleges aren't nearly so reluctant any longer to bring "quick-fix" junior college players aboard. But due to an almost complete absence of academic standards, the recruits don't attend jucos to prove themselves these days and simply go straight to a four-year institution.

Back in the dinosaur age prior to academic exemptions, the talent pool in the NJCAA Tournament might have never been greater than in 1968, when eight of the 10 members of the All-Tournament Team either eventually played or were at least drafted by the NBA and/or ABA, and a ninth All-Tournament Team member played several years with the Harlem Globetrotters. In 1982, an all-time high of five ex-jucos were named NCAA All-Americans - Oregon State guard Lester Conner (Los Medanos CA & Chabot CA), UC Irvine forward Kevin Magee (Saddleback CA), Idaho guard Ken Owens (Treasure Valley CA), Rice forward Ricky Pierce (Walla Walla WA) and Tulsa swingman Paul Pressey (Western Texas).

The misconceptions regarding junior college basketball aren't helped when network TV pulls a snafu such as in the early 1990s when it was mistakenly inferred that Kentucky guard Dale Brown was the first instance of the Wildcats recruiting a junior college player. Actually, legendary coach Adolph Rupp, a Kansas native, regularly attended the NJCAA Tournament at Hutchinson, Kan., in the 1950s and recruited four tournament MVPs or leading scorers. Two of the four didn't play much for Kentucky or transferred, but the other two - Bob Burrow (Lon Morris TX) and Sid Cohen (Kilgore TX) - proved to be pivotal players for the Wildcats and were selected in the NBA draft. Burrow, an NCAA consensus second-team All-American in 1956, still holds the school record for rebound average in a career (16.1 rpg). Guard Adrian "Odie" Smith, a key member of Kentucky's 1958 NCAA champion, was also a junior college recruit (Northeast Mississippi). Ditto Doug Pendygraft, who joined UK after setting an NJCAA record with 63 points in a national tournament game for Lindsey Wilson KY.

Two decades earlier, Alabama, after finishing 12th in the 13-team SEC in 1937-38 with a 4-12 record, topped the league's regular-season standings the next year with a 13-4 mark. Bama's squad included three junior college graduates, led by center George Prather, who was named to the SEC All-Tournament first five.

In the early to mid-1930s, John Tarleton Agricultural College (Tex.) reeled off 86 consecutive victories and won 112 of 113 contests over a six-year span. Tarleton coach W.J. Wisdom attended a Texas A&M/Texas game and five of the starters were JTAC grads he previously coached.

Coach John Wooden's first center with UCLA was Carl Kraushaar, a transfer from Compton (Calif.) Community College who led the Bruins in scoring in 1948-49 and was an All-PCC selection the next season. Often overlooked amid UCLA's amazing run of nine NCAA Tournament titles in a 10-year span from 1964 through 1973 was the impact of junior college products. The Bruins had six J.C. recruits, including 1970 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Sidney Wicks, who were part of multiple NCAA championships.

The Big Ten Conference never has had an abundance of junior college players, but J.C. transfer Dick Garmaker (Hibbing) scored 37 points for Minnesota in his first league game in 1954 before becoming an NCAA consensus All-American the next year.

Burrow (1954) and Garmaker (1952) are two of five players - including Furman's Darrell Floyd (1951), Tulsa's Pressey (1980) and St. John's Walter Berry (1984) - who were named NJCAA Tournament MVP before becoming NCAA All-Americans.

Five of the top six scorers for Oklahoma's 2002 Final Four team were former junior college players. Former Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson (now at Houston) is fond of the realistic view junior college recruits offer a roster.

"A lot of their egos are broken down already," Sampson said. "They've been through a lot on and off the court. High school kids sometimes have egos that you have to work through. Their bubble hasn't burst yet. A high school kid sometimes gets faced with, `I thought I was better than this.' Also, juco kids only have two years left. They're hungry."

There are usually about 40 to 45 active Division I head coaches who previously served in a similar capacity at a junior college. Among the major-college mentors who guided teams to the NCAA Tournament after coaching at the J.C. level are Denny Crum (Pierce CA), Mike Deane (Delhi NY), Benny Dees (Abraham Baldwin GA), Bobby Dye (Santa Monica CA), Cliff Ellis (Cumberland TN), Jack Hartman (Coffeyville KS), Maury John (Moberly MO), Gene Keady (Hutchinson KS), Jim Killingsworth (Cerritos CA), Dick Motta (Weber UT), Lute Olson (Long Beach City CA), Ted Owens (Cameron OK), Nolan Richardson Jr. (Western Texas), Roy Skinner (Paducah KY), Charlie Spoonhour (Moberly MO and Southeastern IA), Eddie Sutton (Southern Idaho), Jerry Tarkanian (Riverside CA and Pasadena CA), Stan Watts (Dixie UT) and Jim Williams (Snow UT).

Hartman took two of his J.C. stars (Paul Henry and Lou Williams) with him to Southern Illinois, where he toiled eight years before becoming Kansas State's all-time winningest coach. Keady signed three J.C. recruits, a high number by a Big Ten institution, for his final season (2004-05) with Purdue.

Southern Idaho has produced more NCAA Division I head coaches than any other junior college. Joining recently-deceased Sutton at that level were Boyd Grant (Fresno State and Colorado State), Jerry Hale (Oral Roberts) and Fred Trenkle (San Diego State). Hale brought point guard Arnold Dugger with him and Dugger became ORU's all-time assists leader. Trenkle won a national-record 137 consecutive home games during his J.C. tenure.

At least one junior college product was among the top seven NBA draft choices six straight years from 1970 through 1975. It is doubtful juco jewel Dalton Knecht will be a top seven NBA selection this year but it was one of the biggest stories so far this season when Northern Colorado transfer impersonated former All-American Bernard King by erupting for 191 points with Tennessee over last sixSEC games in January (average of almost 32 ppg in that span). Knecht is competing with Danny Schultz as the premier juco recruit in the Volunteers' history. If continuing to score at such a prolific pace, he might compete with Schultz, Burrow, Denver Brackeen (Ole Miss), Al Green (LSU), Chris Porter (Auburn) and Marcus Thornton (LSU) as the premier J.C. product in league annals. In order to understand the quality of juco players over the years, be aware that Knecht (Northeastern CO in 2020-21) probably wouldn't rank at this point among the top 100 such recruits.

Following is an All-Time Juco Team emphasizing two-time major-college All-Americans, top seven NBA draft choices, leading scorer for an Olympic team, more than 2,000 points at major-college level or MVP of a power conference:

FIRST TEAM

SECOND TEAM

THIRD TEAM

FOURTH TEAM

FIFTH TEAM

SIXTH TEAM

SEVENTH TEAM

EIGHTH TEAM

NINTH TEAM

TENTH TEAM

ELEVENTH TEAM

TWELFTH TEAM

THIRTEENTH TEAM

FOURTEENTH TEAM

FIFTEENTH TEAM

SIXTEENTH TEAM

SEVENTEENTH TEAM

EIGHTEENTH TEAM

NINETEENTH TEAM

TWENTIETH TEAM

TOP 50 HONORABLE MENTION