UCF Knights basketball in transfer portal flux ahead of College Basketball Crown

• UCF’s men’s basketball team heads to Las Vegas to compete in the inaugural College Basketball Crown.
• The tournament offers a significant NIL payday, with $300,000 going to the champion.
• UCF enters the tournament with a depleted roster as six players have entered the transfer portal.

ORLANDO — With the transfer portal open and its roster in a state of flux, UCF’s men’s basketball team heads to Las Vegas this week, where its players have the chance to parlay tournament wins into a lucrative NIL payday.

The Knights (17-16) will meet Oregon State (20-12) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. To the winners — and the runner-up and semifinalists — of the 16-team event go the spoils.

Last week, the tournament announced its champion will receive a $300,000 Name, Image and Likeness package through corporate partner Vivid Seats’ ambassador program. The runner-up team will win $100,000, and both semifinalists will earn $50,000 apiece.

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Since its opening March 25, six UCF players have reportedly entered the transfer portal: guards Nils Machowski, Tyler Hendricks, Mikey Williams, Jaylin Sellers, Cameron Simpson and forward Rokas Jocius. In addition, junior guard/forward Keyshawn Hall — the Big 12’s leading scorer at 18.8 points per game — declared for the NBA draft.

On Tuesday, Machowski and Hendricks were shown practicing in a series of pictures posted to the team’s official Instagram account. Rivals reported earlier in the week that UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins would allow select players to compete in the tournament despite entering the portal.

Sellers, Williams, Jocius and Simpson missed the Big 12 Tournament due to injury.

Dawkins guides the Knights to the postseason for the fifth time in nine seasons, with the caveat that his tenure has produced just one NCAA Tournament at-large berth. Tuesday marks the first time UCF will ever suit up for a men’s basketball game in the month of April, as well as a debut head-to-head meeting with Oregon State.

Oregon State temporarily joined the West Coast Conference after the fallout of the Pac-12, going 10-8 in its first tour through the league. The Beavers scored a mid-January home win over Gonzaga in overtime, but they were bounced in the opening round of the WCC tournament by Pepperdine.

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