Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht put up an eerily similar performance on Thursday from his Tennessee Vols days

Dalton Knecht proved during his standout season for the Tennessee Vols that he could take over a game in crunch time.  Apparently not enough NBA scouts realized that, as Knecht slipped from a top 10 pick down to #17 with the Los Angeles Lakers during the NBA Draft back in June.

On Thursday, Knecht showed why he was one of the best players in college basketball last season, and why he deserved to be drafted higher than he did.  Knecht dropped in a co-game-high 35 points in the Lakers' 128-122 preseason win over the Phoenix Suns.

Knecht caught fire in the fourth quarter, tallying 20 straight points for Los Angeles.

If basketball fans are scratching their heads, wondering if that seems familiar, that's because it is.  Eerily so.

Knecht had a very similar performance back on February 28, when the Vols defeated the Auburn Tigers 92-84 in Knoxville.  With Tennessee trailing 63-55 in the second half, Knecht put the Vols on his back and carried them to victory.  From that point, Knecht scored 20 of the team's next 23 points, as the Vols steadily surged their way in front. Knecht finished with 39 points on 12-21 shooting (5-8 from three) in perhaps his most impressive performance of the season.

But again, Knecht was too old for some teams, it appeared. He dropped down draft boards and slipped from an expected top 10 pick out of the draft lottery entirely.

With performances like this, it looks like Knecht could be set up to make a lot of teams look foolish in the coming years.  And it's something that they should have seen coming if they'd paid attention to production over age.