KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The UCF Knights ended their Big 12 Tournament with a 81-59 loss to No. 1 seed Arizona on Thursday. But the mission had already been accomplished. The No. 8 seeded Knights (21-11) were believed to need only one win to clinch a spot as an at-large team in the NCAA Tournament. UCF did that with its overtime win over Cincinnati in the second round.
On Thursday morning, the Knights were among the Last Four Byes in March Madness, taking them off the bubble.
Assuming the NCAA Tournament committee agrees, the Knights will make their first appearance in the Dance under coach Johnny Dawkins since 2019 when Tacko Fall was the team’s center.
Johnny Dawkins Reacts
It’s a big deal for the Knights, and in Dawkins’ opinion joining the Big 12 was a catalyst for the program to get there.
“It’s the best conference in basketball in my opinion,” Dawkins said. “It’s competitive from top to bottom. Great coaches, great players and it’s so competitive. And we like to recruit guys that are competitive. It’s a great place to be. Great arenas, great environments and the student bodies are great. Us moving to the Big 12 has been great for our program and for our brand.”
UCF’s March Madness Resume
The Knights won 20 games for the second straight season, though last year they needed an extended run in the College Basketball Crown to do it. This year they claimed their 20th win in the regular season and their 9-9 record and tie for seventh was the program’s best finish in the Big 12 in three seasons. It was also their first .500 or better season in league action since 2021-22 in the American.
When Dawkins took over UCF in 2016, he was fresh off being fired at Stanford. He and the Knights won 24 games in two of their first three seasons together in the American, along with a 19-win season. The 2018-19 season was the high mark, as they tied for third in the American and received an at-large berth. The Knights won a Division I NCAA Tournament game for the first time.
After that, UCF treaded water. In its final four seasons in the American, UCF never reached the 20-win mark, never finished better than sixth in the league and made one NIT appearance in 2023.
The Knights debuted in the Big 12 spectacularly in 2023-24 when they beat Kansas in its first conference home game. But that success proved unsustainable. UCF finished in a tie for 11th in the league, won a Big 12 Tournament game in the first round and exited with a loss to BYU. UCF went to the NIT and lost in the first round to USF.
Last season saw a little improvement. After going 17-16 in their Big 12 debut, the Knights won 20 games. But they won the same number of Big 12 games (seven) as the year before, finished in a tie for 12th in the new 16-team league and won a Big 12 Tourney game before losing to Kansas. The Knights did go to the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas and reached the finals before losing to Nebraska.
It seems the Crown helped both programs. Nebraska has had one of its best seasons in school history under former Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg. For Dawkins and the Knights, they hope this season is propellant to achieving consistent success in college basketball’s toughest conference.
