Knightmare — the official student section of the UCF basketball team — could be heard throughout Addition Financial Arena during the War on I4 rivalry game against the USF Bulls on Jan. 18, 2020. The Knights defeated the Bulls 55-54 to mark their ninth straight win over the Bulls. Photo by Terrance Coakley.

We are just under three weeks away from Selection Sunday. Will UCF hear its name called?

With just three conference games and the American Athletic Conference tournament remaining, the UCF Knights (16-9, 8-7 AAC) have a very limited amount of opportunities remaining to padden up their NCAA tournament resumé.

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According to the latest NCAA tournament bracket projections by college basketball analysts, such as ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, CBS’ Jerry Palm, and CBS’ Andy Katz, UCF is not projected to be selected as one of the fields’ 68 teams. They aren’t even considered a bubble team by any of the hoops insiders.

What can the Knights do to change this?

At this point, it would almost take a miracle for UCF to make the tournament.

Sitting with just a record of 1-5 in Quadrant 1 games – home games vs. teams ranked 1-30, neutral games vs. 1-50, and away games vs. 1–75 – the Knights would likely have to win their final three regular season games, in addition, make a deep run in the AAC tournament.

They may even need to win the conference tournament and make it as an automatic qualifier (conference tournament winner).

UCF’s final opportunity for a NCAA tournament push begins when they take on Cincinnati (17-10, 7-7 AAC) this Wednesday at 9 pm.

The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

Following this, the Knights will close out their season with two road games.

  • 03/03: At Tulane (8 pm)
  • 03/06: At Tulsa (2 pm)

The AAC tournament is set to begin on March 10 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX.