Dalton Knecht just had one of the greatest seasons in Tennessee Basketball history. He also started a trend that will allow Rick Barnes to better adapt to this new age of college athletics than almost any head coach who is his age. That’s why he was just able to pick up another elite transfer.
Hofstra Pride wing Darlinstone Dubar transferred to the Vols Monday. At 6’8″, he is two inches taller than Knecht. Just like Knecht last year, though, he’s a about to be a fifth-year player who comes from a smaller school, and just like Knecht, was second team all-conference before transferring to UT, in his case second team All-Colonial Athletic Association (All-CAA).
In fact, just like Knecht, Tennessee Basketball will be his third school. Before three years at Hofstra, Dubar was with the Iowa State Cyclones. Knecht was at Northeastern Junior College before transferring to the Northern Colorado Bears in the Big Sky Conference. Dubar announced his commitment on an Instagram story on his page.
This past year, playing with CAA Player of the Year Tyler Thomas as a teammate, Dubar averaged 17.8 points per game, second most of the team. He led the team, though, in rebounding at just under seven a game, and he shot 39.9 percent from three, making over two a game, while shooting 73.4 percent from the free throw line.
Simply put, Dubar can score from anywhere on the court and can also be effective near the rim on both sides, again just like Knecht. He also comes to UT as a significantly better defender than Knecht, which means he could be working on fine-tuning other parts of his game.
This is going to be the way forward for Barnes now. He can find elite scorers at smaller levels who are very mature and just need to improve one or two aspects of their game to become NBA Draft picks, which will make them willing to commit to Barnes and buy into his system. That’s exactly what Knecht was.
Sure, it’s another form of one-and-dones, but given how Barnes coaches players hard and focuses on developing them, one-and-done 21 and 22-year-olds are likely to be much more successful under him than one-and-done five-star 18-year-olds just looking to go for the draft. Barnes has always struggled with them.
As a result, Dubar is a huge pickup for Barnes. Tennessee Basketball still is targeting multiple transfers, as the Vols did lose Jonas Aidoo, Tobe Awaka, D.J. Jefferson and Freddie Dilione V to the portal with Knecht, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi all graduating. However, Dubar is the key part to the Vols just reloading.
