It seems the UCF Knights are bound to skip the line.
Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology update, following 8-seed UCF’s 66-65 second-round win over 9-seed Cincinnati at the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, has the Knights among the last four byes, skipping the First Four as a No. 10 seed vs. No. 7 Villanova in Buffalo.
The Knights will almost certainly get a bump following Miami (Ohio)’s first loss of the season, coming against 17-15 UMass in the MAC quarterfinal on Thursday in Cleveland. The loss bruises Miami, a team that finished league play unbeaten at 18-0, and sees Travis Steele’s club on the bubble in Lunardi’s Last Four In with VCU, Texas and SMU.
UCF March Madness Resume
The Knights, 21-10 overall following a 9-9 finish in league play, are a 15.5-point underdog entering Thursday’s Big 12 quarterfinal with 1-seed Arizona. Still, it’s hard to imagine a world where UCF isn’t included in Selection Sunday.
Should the Knights manage the upset today, it’ll set up a rematch with Iowa State or Texas Tech, the latter of which UCF defeated 88-80 at home earlier this season when the Red Raiders were just outside the AP’s top 10.
No one UCF player shot especially well against Cincy, but Jamichael Stillwell’s 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting led the comeback effort; Riley Kugel and John Bol also netted double figures in the team’s first win since walking out of Provo with a 13-point victory over then-No. 19 BYU on Feb. 24.
Conversely, Cincinnati needed Wednesday’s contest with UCF to save their hopes of a tourney chair, and, with their season done, are lumped in with the next four out alongside Oklahoma, Virginia Tech and Cal.
