by Aaron Bass
Orlando’s home college UCF, just completed an outstanding basketball season. Not only were they ranked in the top 25 in the country for the first time since 2011, but this was also the first time they qualified for the annual NCAA Championship "March Madness" Tournament.
UCF had many personal player achievements, as well. Senior and center, Tacko Fall, was able to rack up over 1000 points in his career in college basketball. Another proud accomplishment for the Knights is that their very own Aubrey Dawkins will enter the 2019 NBA draft, and has said that UCF played a massive part into him making it so far. Dawkins had an amazing season and impressed against some big teams, including putting up 32 points against Duke!
The UCF Knights came up against some tough opponents this season, but stood up to the test. Houston was ranked No. 6 nationally when UCF upset them on the road, marking the Knights’ second-highest ranked win in school history.
After this and some other great results, the Knights were able to qualify for the NCAA March Madness competition, seeded at No. 9 in their bracket. In the first round they were pitted against the No. 8 VCU Rams, and they came out on top with an impressive 73-58 win! In the next round they faced No. 1 seed (and the number one team in the country) the Duke Blue Devils! The Knights really took the game to Duke, as they battled all the way until the final second where they missed the win by only one point. Upsets in the game, such as Tacko Fall fouling out and a missed final lay-up, along with poor decisions by referees, made the difference between the win and the loss for the Knights.
In the end, UCF finished with their best record to-date: an astonishing 24 wins and only 9 defeats! We are all proud of our hometown college for their successful season, and we hope that they are able to do the same next year!
