{"id":26191,"date":"2026-04-20T19:17:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=26191&post_type=story"},"modified":"2026-04-20T19:17:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:17:42","slug":"march-to-madness","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/march-to-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"March to Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a roster full of new faces, the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ men\u2019s basketball team was dismissed by many of the so-called experts ahead of the 2025-26 season. But the Knights proved the doubters wrong with a resume worthy of selection to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since their memorable 2019 appearance \u2014 and the sixth time in school history.<\/p>\n

Along the way, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 national poll for the first time in seven years, beat two nationally ranked Big 12 teams on the Knights\u2019 home court, upset No. 19 BYU on the road, defeated the University of Cincinnati in overtime to advance to the Big 12 Conference Tournament quarterfinal for the first time and battled UCLA to the wire in the first round of March Madness.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
3 wins<\/dt>\n
Over Top 25 teams, tying a single-season school record<\/dd>\n
2nd straight 20-win season<\/dt>\n
For the first time since 2012-13<\/dd>\n
1 of only 2<\/dt>\n
NCAA Tournament teams without returning scorers from last season<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

\"Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½<\/p>\n

\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

\n

\"Basketball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":26203,"template":"","categories":[979],"tags":[388,1763,1762,1761],"class_list":["post-26191","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","tag-ucf-athletics","tag-march-madness","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-ucf-mens-basketball","issues-spring-2026"],"yoast_head":"\nMarch to Madness: Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Men's Basketball 2025-26<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ men\u2019s basketball team made the 2025-26 season one to remember, capped by a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/march-to-madness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"March to Madness\" \/>\n<meta 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