Big 12 Basketball: Ranking all 16 programs after adding Arizona, ASU, Colorado and Utah
By Joey Loose
16. UCF
Many people remember how close UCF came to knocking Zion Williamson and Duke out of the 2019 NCAA Tournament, barely missing the game-winning shot in the final seconds of the second round. The Knights had a revival of a season, were ranked earlier in the year, and proved they belonged on the national stage, but this hasn’t exactly been a prolonged success.
That trip to the Big Dance was just the fifth in program history and their only appearance in the last eighteen years. UCF actually won the Atlantic Sun in back-to-back years before departing for Conference USA in 2005, but certainly didn’t become anything of a perennial contender. Make no mistake, UCF hasn’t been a bad program, aside from their early days in the AAC, but they haven’t played at a Tournament-level either.
Their location in Orlando is certainly attractive and head coach Johnny Dawkins has proven to be a talented recruiter over the years, but you won’t get a Tacko Fall and an Aubrey Dawkins to fall into your lap on a regular basis. If the Knights haven’t been winning titles in the AAC, what makes them an attractive team in the Big 12? UCF finished above .500 just once in the last six years in conference play and will face significantly superior competition in the Big 12.
Obviously, anything can happen in the college game and UCF will certainly be a better place for recruits in the Big 12 compared to the AAC. That being said there’s plenty of reason to wonder how competitive the Knights will be in their new league. It’s a similar vibe that TCU had when they joined the Big 12 over a decade ago. The Horned Frogs figured it out in recent years; can UCF do the same down the line?