The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 207 is UCF basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of UCF basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 1
- Bids: 6
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 15.5
- Bids per season: 0.14
- AP Polls: 6
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 2
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 1
- Conference tournament titles: 4
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on UCF basketball
The wildest part about UCF basketball? Tacko Fall is certainly the most notable name in program history, but he went undrafted in 2019. Even after the 7-footer got season-long national attention and helped the Knights upset 8-seed VCU (and lose by just one point to 1-seed Duke), NBA scouts didn’t see enough. Of course, they ended up being right, with Fall only playing in 37 career games in the league.
That 2018-19 UCF team was special, finishing 24-9, but they’ve had some other great seasons too. Literally just this past season, the Knights got a 10-seed, falling to UCLA in a close one in the round of 64. And while he didn’t take them to March Madness, Taylor Hendricks had quite the year in 2022-23, and was drafted, playing 59 games last season split between Utah and Memphis.
While Johnny Dawkins has been the coach for this era, with UCF now in the Big 12, they had another long-term guy in charge in Kirk Speraw. From 1993-2010, he led UCF to four NCAA Tournaments, won over 250 games, and was the 2006-07 Conference USA Coach of the Year. Speraw’s teams always played better in March, only winning one regular season conference title in that span, and making it to the big dance in 1996 despite only having 11 wins.
Before Speraw, UCF was pretty atrocious, not having more than 12 wins in any of its first nine seasons in Division I. But between Speraw, a short stint with Donnie Jones, and Dawkins, the program has been almost a little bit underrated. Of course, with more eyes on them in the Big 12, they’ve got to stay consistent now, but coming off a tourney appearance last year, they seem to be in a good spot.