For the first time in UCF\u2019s Division I history, the men’s basketball team has been picked to win its conference by the league\u2019s coaches.<\/p>\n
The coaches of the American Athletic Conference selected the Knights on Monday morning as the favorite for the upcoming 2018-19 season. UCF edged defending league champion Cincinnati in the vote.<\/p>\n
The UCF men\u2019s basketball program has won four conference championships since the 1984-85 season when it joined the Division I ranks \u2014 most recently capturing the league title in 2004-05 \u2014 but never has the program been picked to win the league by the conference\u2019s coaches.<\/p>\n
The American’s coaches aren’t the only ones who have high expectations for UCF for 2018-19. The Knights were pinned at No. 23 among NCAA.com’s preseason Power 36 rankings last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these kind of expectations, we\u2019re going to be targeted. But at the end of the day, we know what our team is capable of.”<\/p>\n
Entering his third season, head coach Johnny Dawkins will lead this year’s talented squad, which features prior all-conference performers\u00a0BJ Taylor\u00a0and\u00a0Tacko Fall, who are back for their final run in black and gold uniforms.<\/p>\n
Both were selected by The American’s coaches as 2018-19 Preseason All-Conference honorees, and Taylor was singled out as the league’s Preseason Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these kind of expectations, we\u2019re going to be targeted. But at the end of the day, we know what our team is capable of. Our staff and our team knows what it takes to get where we want to be, so for us it\u2019s all about staying focused on what we need to focus on every day,” Taylor says. “I\u2019m grateful to be in this position. I\u2019m excited that we have such a great team for my last year. I think we can really make a deep run, and it\u2019s awesome that my last year could be our best year.”<\/p>\n
Chad Brown,\u00a0Ceasar DeJesus,\u00a0Dayon Griffin and Chance McSpadden\u00a0all return with another year of experience, and\u00a0Aubrey Dawkins is finally expected to make his debut as a Knight this winter. The former University of Michigan star sat out 2016-17 after transferring and then missed all of last season with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n
The Knights officially open the 2018-19 campaign on Nov. 6. against Rider at 6:30 p.m. at CFE Arena, but fans can catch them along with the women’s team before then at the First Watch Fan Fest. The women’s team will find out its standing in The American’s preseason poll on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The basketball programs will host Fan Fest at CFE Arena on Oct. 25.\u00a0Doors open at 7 p.m. and the program is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. \u00a0The free event will give fans an opportunity to meet and greet with the men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball teams, win prizes and hear from coaches Dawkins and Katie Abrahamson-Henderson.<\/p>\n
The UCF cheer team, KnightMoves dance team and Knightro will also be in attendance performing for fans between a skill challenge, three-point shootout and dunk contest.<\/p>\n
The first 500 students at Fan Fest will receive a First Watch gift card and one student will have the opportunity to take a shot from half court to win a semester of tuition courtesy of First Watch.<\/p>\n
Fans excited for the upcoming 2018-19 UCF men’s and women\u2019s basketball seasons can purchase tickets today by calling 407-823-1000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The coaches of the American Athletic Conference selected the Knights as the favorite for the 2018-19 season and tabbed senior BJ Taylor as the Preseason Player of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":91299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[3086,4857],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-91292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-mens-basketball","tag-ucf-athletics"],"yoast_head":"\n