Knightly Review
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UCF basketball accepts invite to College Basketball Crown Tournament

After a tough season, the Knights get an invite to one postseason tournament and have chosen to accept.
ByEricka Brockish|
Mar 8, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; UCF Knights guard Keyshawn Hall (4) shoots a three pointer over West Virginia Mountaineers guard Toby Okani (5) during the second half at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images
Mar 8, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; UCF Knights guard Keyshawn Hall (4) shoots a three pointer over West Virginia Mountaineers guard Toby Okani (5) during the second half at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

At the beginning of the 2024-2025 season, UCF fans thought this was the year the Knights were going to get back in the NCAA Tournament. After some great pick-ups in the transfer portal and landing the huge signing of Moustapha Thiam, who reclassified to play with the Knights this season, it seemed like everything was going to fall into place.

UCF had some great key wins early in the season against No. 13 Texas A&M and Texas Tech to start out Big 12 play. However, as conference play went on, the Knights began to falter, and the losses began to pile up. It reached a point where there was no way UCF would make the NCAA Tournament, even after so much hope early on in the season.

So after ending the season with a 17-16 record and 7-13 record in the Big 12, UCF only had the Big 12 Tournament as hope for the NCAA tournament. If the Knights had won their conference tournament, they would have had an automatic bid to the big dance, but even that felt like a far-reach.

UCF was able to make it past the first round, taking down 11-seed Utah before their beginning matchup against 6-seed Kansas in the second round. UCF took the game all the way to overtime against the Jayhawks but just ran out of steam late, allowing the seasoned Kansas team to prevail over the Knights.

It seems UCF's season would end there, but the NCAA Tournament is not the only postseason tournament there is. The Knights did not have the resume to make it to the NIT but instead were invited to play in the College Basketball Crown Tournament. The Knights will accept their invitation and will play in the 16-team tournament out in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This will be the last time some Knights, like Darius Johnson, who spent all four years at UCF, play one last game in a UCF uniform with this team adn under head coach Johnny Dawkins. UCF is set to take on Oregon State on Tuesday, April 1, at 5:30 p.m. EST on FS1.

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