Two-Minute Drill: Jags, Dolphins, Bucs ready for 2025 NFL Draft
The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft takes place Thursday, April 24. The Jaguars are the first of Florida’s 3 NFL teams to have a pick.
- The Knights struggled to retain top talent due to NIL deals offered by other programs.
- Coach Johnny Dawkins has added several transfers, including two from Milwaukee, to rebuild the roster.
- The new roster includes a mix of experienced players and high-potential transfers, aiming to compete in the Big 12.
The NCAA’s basketball transfer portal might be closed, but UCF coach Johnny Dawkins still has plenty of work to accomplish after a truly transformational month for his roster.
Fourteen of the Knights’ 16 players from the 2024-25 opening-night roster are no longer with the program. Only four — guards Darius Johnson and Jordan Ivy-Curry, wing Deebo Coleman and forward Benny Williams — were projected to be out of eligibility, though the latter trio is reportedly seeking waiver possibilities.
Starting with a nearly clean slate, Dawkins has filled out — on paper — a solid, experienced rotation that could challenge for a spot among the Big 12’s upper half and, perhaps, an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Those goals appeared in reach this past season as well, particularly when the Knights survived January with a 13-7 record, including a 4-5 mark in Big 12 play, and notched three Quad 1 victories (Texas A&M, at Texas Tech, at Arizona State). Of course, the Knights collapsed when the calendar flipped to February. A seven-game losing streak destroyed any March Madness hopes.
UCF finished the campaign with an impressive run to the championship game of the inaugural College Basketball Crown, losing to Nebraska but pocketing $100,000 in prize money via Name, Image and Likeness endorsements from tournament corporate partner Vivid Seats. Still, any hopes of building momentum on the back of the Crown was rendered moot by all of the roster upheaval.
Here are five takeaways on what the Knights have lost and gained, to this point, from the portal.
1. UCF returns 0% of scoring from 2024-25 roster
Despite ranking 12th in the conference in field goal percentage (42.6%), UCF ended the season fifth among Big 12 teams in scoring (79.8 points per game). The Knights’ uptempo style, cast of talented shotmakers and inability to defend the paint led to shootouts on a near-nightly basis.
Unless combo guard Mikey Williams and swingman JJ Taylor withdraw from the portal to rejoin the Knights, UCF is not projected to return a single player that scored for the team last season.
UCF’s roster has been a revolving door in the portal age. Over the past four seasons, the Knights have had 48 different players — with an increasing prevalence of one-and-done acquisitions. Johnson, Jaylin Sellers, Taylor Hendricks, Nils Machowski and Poohpha Warakulnukroh were the only holdovers from the 2023-24 squad during this past campaign.
2. UCF likely priced out of retaining top basketball talent
Part of the Knights’ roster turnover simply comes down to price.
With the House settlement still in limbo, players — and their NIL representatives — saw this portal cycle as, perhaps, a last opportunity to cash in before agreements could count against a school’s spending cap. Well over 2,000 players entered the marketplace, and a pair of former Knights landed reportedly lucrative deals.
Big 12 leading scorer Keyshawn Hall declared for the NBA draft, hit the portal and then signed with Auburn after meeting with the likes of Arkansas, Kansas and Kentucky. Nearly three weeks later, starting center Moustapha Thiam departed — and ultimately signed with conference rival Cincinnati.
Both players, according to multiple outlets, were offered seven-figure deals.
Extenuating circumstances may surround Thiam’s exit; assistant coach Mamadou N’Diaye — who is no longer a member of UCF’s coaching staff, according to a university spokesman — is expected to accept a similar position at Cincinnati. But the larger point remains that the Knights are likely going to struggle to keep hold of their most productive starters, even when revenue sharing kicks in.
3. Milwaukee duo shined in head-to-head matchup at UCF
Milwaukee must have made an impression on Dawkins and his staff during a head-to-head showdown with the Knights the day before Thanksgiving. Two of the Panthers’ starters from that night, point guard Themus Fulks and power forward Jamichael Stillwell, have since signed with UCF.
Fulks will likely be counted upon to fill Johnson’s role as the floor general. Chosen to the Horizon League’s second team, Fulks ranked 22nd nationally in assists per game and has NCAA Tournament experience from his tenure at Louisiana.
Stillwell became the first Milwaukee player to average a double-double across an entire season, averaging 13 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound Atlanta native provides the sort of toughness and physicality that UCF sorely lacked next to Thiam. Rebounding was a major area of weakness for the Knights — 281st in Division I with a margin of minus-two per game.
Stillwell had 14 points and 12 boards versus the Knights, making six of his nine shots, and Fulks added 13 points, six assists and three steals for Milwaukee, which went 21-11 and reached the quarterfinals of the Horizon League’s postseason tournament.
4. Johnny Dawkins extends another 2nd chance with BJ Freeman
Another player with Milwaukee ties, BJ Freeman also lit up the Knights this past season — with Arizona State, pouring in a season-high 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting (5 of 6 from 3-point range). He averaged 13.7 points per game for the Sun Devils, but was kicked off the team in late February for repeated instances of detrimental conduct.
Freeman, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard, was ejected in Big 12 games against Arizona and Colorado and suspended for Arizona State’s road trip to Oklahoma State.
“It was unfortunate that it’s coming to this,” Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley told the Arizona Republic. “He’s our leading scorer, very productive player for us. It’s just, we had too many instances of either player or coach conduct with B.J. and he was already suspended once so it was a really hard decision to make.
“But based on this year — and he’s got another season to play — I’m sure he’s going to still have a really good market for a place to land next year.”
That place is UCF, and Dawkins demonstrated last year he was willing to offer second chances to the former Memphis duo of Taylor (indefinite suspension) and Williams (criminal threat felony). Both players carved out roles, mostly off the Knights’ bench, and logged over 250 minutes apiece.
5. Examining the rest of UCF’s newcomers
Orlando native Riley Kugel became the Knights’ first portal commit, shortly before the Knights tipped off April 5 for their College Basketball Crown semifinal against Villanova. He produced a remarkably consistent stat line (9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 33.9% 3-point shooting) across three seasons in the SEC — two with Florida and one at Mississippi State.
Jordan Burks started Georgetown’s final nine games and rose to the occasion with an elevated role, averaging 10.4 points and posting a pair of double-doubles. Carmelo Pacheco knocked down an eye-popping 46.4% of his 3-point attempts (fourth-best in Division I among qualified shooters) at Mount St. Mary, and Hampton transfer George Beale Jr. set career highs in makes (120), attempts (267) and shooting percentage (40%) from long range this past season.
UCF will attempt to replace Thiam’s defensive prowess with Ole Miss transfer John Bol. Mississippi State transfer Jeremy Foumena, meanwhile, could help replace some of the scoring in the paint.
Bol, a 2024 McDonald’s All-American, was regarded as one of the top frontcourt defenders in the nation among the prep ranks. Foumena shot 52.5% two seasons ago in limited minutes at Rhode Island and can stretch the floor offensively a bit, though he launched roughly one-third of the 3-point attempts Thiam did.
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