What's next for UCF basketball after March Madness return, loss to UCLA

PHILADELPHIA — They may have faded as the calendar flipped to March, ultimately resulting in a 75-71 first-round NCAA Tournament exit against storied UCLA , but the UCF Knights proved they belonged among college basketball's elite in their third year as Big 12 members. Regarded as one of the country’s premier conferences, the Big 12 sent eight teams to the Big Dance — regular-season and tournament champion Arizona and seven at-larges, including the Knights, making just their sixth appearance in the program’s 41-year Division I history. Not bad for a squad that did not return a single player who scored a bucket in 2024-25 and was picked to finish 14th in the league's preseason poll.

“A team that battled through ups and downs, that persevered through no matter what critics and media said (and) preseason polls,” said senior guard and Orlando native Riley Kugel. “Just 13 individuals that came together who kind of have one goal. We came up short, but still to come this far; we came far.

So just to be able to buy in and lock into what the coach is telling us all year and staying together, I think we got to respect it. ” Why UCF basketball's accomplishments should not be forgotten Head coach Johnny Dawkins rebuilt his roster from scratch, losing top potential returners Keyshawn Hall (Auburn), Moustapha Thiam (Cincinnati) and Jaylin Sellers (Providence) to more lucrative opportunities. College basketball analyst and Field of 68 co-founder Jeff Goodman reported at the end of January that UCF’s NIL budget was “in (the) neighborhood of $3 million.

” That figure is less than the reported deals secured by, among others, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson. The Knights defeated each of those teams while they were ranked inside the USA TODAY Coaches Poll , broke into the AP Top 25 for a week and eventually celebrated on Selection Sunday . UCF finished 21-12, its second straight season topping the 20-win mark, with a 9-9 record in the Big 12.