A year ago, Dalton Knecht was a second-team All-Big Sky Conference player at Northern Colorado.
Now Knecht, a 6-6 fifth-year senior guard for No. 5 Tennessee, is the SEC Player of the Year.
Knecht was announced Monday as the SEC's top player in a vote of the conference coaches.
"That is wild to think about that," Knecht said when he met with media members in Knoxville, Tenn. "That's real crazy.
"You play with one of the best point guards in the nation [Zakai Zeigler] and center in Jonas [Addio], so they make it a lot easier for me to just go out there and hoop."
Knecht is averaging 21.3 points per game this season for the SEC champion Volunteers (24-7, 14-4) after averaging 20.2 at Northern Colorado last season. He scored more than 30 points in six SEC games, including 40 against No. 9 Kentucky, 39 against No. 12 Auburn and 39 against Florida. He also scored 37 against No. 4 North Carolina.
"Just thankful for my teammates and the coaching staff," Knecht said. "It's a special year. It's just one of the most craziest years I've ever been a part of and it's really just a dream come true."
South Carolina's Lamont Paris was voted SEC Coach of the Year by his peers.
The Gamecocks (25-6, 13-5 SEC) were picked to finish last among the SEC's 14 teams in a preseason media poll, but they're ranked No. 15 in the latest Associated Press poll.
Paris led a massive turnaround after South Carolina finished 11-21, including 4-14 in the SEC, in his first season on the job.
This is the second conference coaching honor for Paris in the past three seasons. He was Southern Conference Coach of the Year in 2022 at Tennessee-Chattanooga, which had a 28-7 record and played in the NCAA Tournament.
Zeigler, a senior who recovered from major knee surgery after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament last season in Tennessee's 75-57 victory over the University of Arkansas, joined Knecht on the eight-player All-SEC first team and also was voted Defensive Player of the Year.
Also on the first team were Alabama guard Mark Sears, Auburn forward Johni Broome, Florida guard Zyon Pullin, Kentucky guard Antonio Reeves, Mississippi State forward Tolu Smith and Texas A&M guard Wade Taylor.
Arkansas junior guard Tramon Mark, averaging 16.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game, was not among the nine players voted to the All-SEC second team by the coaches. Mark, a 6-6 transfer from Houston, has scored 20 or more points in 10 games, including a career-high 35 against Texas A&M and 34 against North Carolina.
Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman said Monday he hadn't yet seen the All-SEC teams when asked on a media call for his thoughts on Mark not making the 17-player list.
"I don't know who the other names are, so it would be inappropriate to comment," Musselman said. "Certainly feel that T-Mark has had a great, great season and has been productive throughout the SEC season as well.
"Unless I had time to study that list, I would be ill-informed other than to say that T-Mark has had a great season."
Missouri finished 0-18 in SEC play, but the Tigers finally won something to do with the conference with senior guard Sean East being voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard is SEC Freshman of the Year and Wildcats guard Rob Dillingham, also a freshman, is Sixth Man of the Year.