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Progress? It’s Knight and day – Valley News

Posted: January 25, 2020 at 4:43 am

HANOVER Chris Knight isnt afraid to admit it.

Hes still growing up.

The 6-foot-7 power forward for the Dartmouth College mens basketball team has had to do plenty of growing in the last seven years, from moving to Wisconsin for high school to making the trek back east to play for the Big Green.

Originally from the New York City borough of Queens, Knight never had college basketball on his list of goals. He gives the example that he doesnt have some epic origin story he wasnt some kid dominating the courts in the streets of New York.

Instead, he said, he was just an uncoordinated kid with black Rec Specs whose first love was soccer.

I was super awkward, Knight said in a recent interview. Growing up, I was really bad at basketball. I used to be really goofy. I think its because I was growing into my body and growing too fast. I was tall for no reason.

Public high schools in New York City operate differently than most. Students must apply to attend a public high school, and applicants are matched to one of their chosen schools according to admissions priority, location and availability of seats. A private education is an option, too, but the bill can run pretty high.

When it came time for Knight to enter high school, he didnt receive the high school placement he and his parents were looking for. Thats when his big brother, Roger, stepped into the picture and offered his help.

Roger, who played college football at Wisconsin and pro football for five seasons with the New Orleans Saints, was living in DeForest, Wis., and offered to welcome his brother into his home. He and his wife had three boys, but they were open to letting his younger brother join them.

Chris and Roger are more than 20 years apart in age, and for most of the younger Knights childhood, his brother was off playing football. But the idea of the two uniting was worth taking the risk for a strong education and the chance of his athletic abilities flourishing.

My mom gave me a call and said she couldnt get him into one of the better schools in New York, Roger Knight said. I was like, You know what? Send him out here to school in Wisconsin. Id be happy to have him come live with me.

Out to Wisconsin Chris Knight went, soon making his way through the ups and downs of high school. He tried to play football but didnt like the contact. He played for the junior varsity basketball team, but it wasnt a full-blown obsession. He jokes that he didnt know what AAU basketball was until his sophomore year.

Before the start of his junior year, Roger and his family, now including Chris, moved to Madison. It would provide a more challenging academic workload and determine if Knight had what it took as a player at James Madison Memorial High to compete in college later on.

I remember his brother coming to register him at the high school, said Chris Knights coach at Madison Memorial, Steve Collins. I noticed his size very quickly. I coached volleyball, but that didnt go over well. He wasnt going to have anything to do with that.

Knight started to train with Jeronne Maymon, who played at Madison Memorial and went on to play college basketball at Tennessee. Then, at some point in that junior season at Madison Memorial, Northern Iowa gave Knight a call. It was the first contact a college basketball program made with him and made the idea of playing at the next level a realistic possibility.

He was a first-team all-state player averaging a double-double (15.8 points per game, 10.7 rebounds per game) and a finalist for Wisconsins Mr. Basketball award by the end of his senior year of high school. Collins remembers when Madison Memorial lost in the state semifinals, Knight outplayed Sam Hauser, who beat Knight out for Mr. Basketball and is now competing at Virginia.

With success on the hardwood came plenty of offers from mid-major programs. Knight took official visits to Dartmouth and Furman, with unofficial stops at Yale and Brown. Something clicked in Hanover, however, as recently hired Big Green coach Dave McLaughlin sold Knight on the idea of helping the coach build a new tradition.

So I took my visit here. Just something about the area and how its in the middle of nowhere. I guess I kind of wanted to get away from people, he said. I also fell in love with the idea that I could come to Dartmouth and I could, like, change everything.

Freshman year didnt go as planned, though. Before preseason practices even began, he could tell he had a lot of catching up to do. His body wasnt ready to compete day after day, and his athletic ability was soon meaningless. The player with the better basketball IQ was going to beat him every time.

Yet Knight couldnt just use the year to catch up on the learning curve. Forward Evan Bordeaux announced on the eve of the season opener that hed be sitting out so he could transfer.

Knight averaged more than 20 minutes a game that first season and contributed 10 points a game, but things werent right. He was only 17 year old as a freshman in college, and trying to take on college basketball and his course load was a lot.

So that summer after his first season, he rededicated himself to basketball and the weight room. He made sure that once school started, he could focus on academics and make sure he wasnt playing catch-up on the court. The payoff was second-team all-Ivy League selection last season.

Its one of those reasons why you coach someone like him, McLaughlin said. You can see young men mature in many ways mentally, physically, socially. Hes just become the best version of himself.

Everything seems to be much better for Knight these days. The junior turned 20 on Nov. 17 and is enjoying school. This summer, hell be a product-control intern for Goldman Sachs.

Id love my daughter to date a kid like Chris, Collins said.

It has been a little rocky on the basketball court, however, with Dartmouth sitting at 7-9 and on a four-game losing streak. The Big Green lost its Ivy League opener last Saturday at Harvard, 67-62, and hosts the Crimson at Leede Arena on Saturday night.

Knight is scoring 13.4 points per game, good for 10th in the conference. He had a double-double in the season-opening victory at Buffalo and a career-high 23 points at Georgia State.

But recently, he said, his production isnt as explosive as it can be. At UNH on Dec. 30, a 70-56 loss, he shot 5-of-14 from the floor. When the Big Green hosted Vermont on Jan. 2, he was 3-of-9 from the free-throw line, something that hurt his team down the stretch, resulting in a 77-68 loss.

His coaches are trying to get him to be a bit more vocal on the court. The even-steven personality of Knight is trying to play the leader role, and he knows the best way to do it is by leading by example.

It will come with time, he hopes. Hes already done so much growing, but he knows he has plenty more to do.

Pete Nakos can be reached at pnakos@vnews.com.

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Progress? It's Knight and day - Valley News


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