The UCF Knights are still being overlooked and underrated after collecting back-to-back 20-win campaigns and breaking a six-year NCAA Tournament drought.
CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein posted an early Big 12 preseason power rankings, and UCF was ranked 13th. Colorado, Kansas State and Utah finished 14th, 15th and 16th.
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Finishing as a bottom-three team is absurd. The Knights made the tournament over five programs: Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, Baylor, and West Virginia.
Cincinnati ranking higher than UCF is the most head-scratching placement. The Knights defeated them twice last season, the rubber match dashing the Bearcats’ postseason hopes in a thrilling overtime victory led by Jamichael Stillwell‘s toughness.
Wes Miller was fired because of the program’s disappointing season. Baba Miller departed for the NBA Draft, and multiple players, including former UCF center Moustapha Thiam, entered the transfer portal.
Coach Johnny Dawkins added three upsets to his resume last season. His squad overcame then-No. 17 Kansas and Darryn Peterson, defeated then-No. 11 Texas Tech in their annual Space Game and blew out then-No. 19 BYU and AJ Dybantsa in Provo.
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Those victories played a significant role in UCF dancing to March Madness for the first time since the 2018-19 season. The program celebrated its reveal as the No. 10 seed, but got bounced early by the No. 7-seeded UCLA Bruins despite a late shooting flurry.
April’s transfer portal cycle does influence these rankings, but the Knights did not sit and lose talent without replacing it. Dawkins lost 66.6% of his scoring — Riley Kugel, Themus Fulks, Jordan Burks and Stillwell combined for 53.3 points.
UCF landed two prolific scorers in North Carolina A&T transfer Lewis Walker and Tarleton State transfer Dior Johnson, who’s returning for his second stint. The program strengthened its defensive identity with New Orleans transfer Churchill Abass and Florida Gulf Coast transfer Isaiah Malone, who won ASUN Defensive Player of the Year.
Carmelo Pacheco, John Bol and Elijah Hulsewe were valuable returners, something Dawkins didn’t have before the 2025-26 season. The foundation is more stable, and the 10-year coach has added more to that.
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The Big 12 is one of the best college basketball conferences, featuring multiple ranked teams and first-round selections in this year’s draft. UCF was ranked 25th at one point during the season off the back of a historic 11-1 non-conference record under Dawkins and upsetting Kansas.
For the first time in three seasons since joining the conference, the Knights fared well. A .500 record is average, but compared to the combined 14-25 record before last season, it’s a significant improvement.
Dawkins putting together a successful season earned him praise from multiple college basketball analysts, and the media should extend the same acknowledgement in preseason power rankings.
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