Fall averaged 7.2 points (77.3 percent FG), 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots in five games played. On July 11 against Memphis, Fall scored 12 points on 6-8 shooting and hauled in eight rebounds.

The 2017 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, a 2017 Defensive All-American, and a 2019 All-Conference honoree in The American, Fall left his mark on 麻豆原创. The 7-foot-6 center left as the program鈥檚 all-time leader in blocked shots (280) and field goal percentage (.740).

His career field goal percentage of 74.0 percent (497-for-672) set a new NCAA Division I record and he holds the top four single-season field goal percentage marks in 麻豆原创 history.

Fall鈥檚 343 rebounds in 2016-17 were the most in single season in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Division I history and his 887 career boards rank third all-time.

A four-year starter, Fall helped lead 麻豆原创 back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005 this past season, averaging 11.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. His 13-point, 18-rebound, 5-block performance propelled the Knights past VCU for the program鈥檚 first win in the tournament.

He earned his degree in听interdisciplinary studies听in May.

Abrahamson-Henderson, also known as Coach Abe, has inked a one-year deal keeping听her at the helm through the 2022-23 season. Dawkins will lead the听Knights through the 2023-24 season.

鈥淲e are very fortunate to have Katie听Abrahamson-Henderson leading our women鈥檚 basketball program [and] I am thrilled to have Johnny Dawkins听leading our men鈥檚 basketball program,鈥� says Danny White, vice president and director of .

Under Abrahamson-Henderson鈥檚 guidance, the Knights finished the 2017-18 campaign with a 22-11 record, tying the most wins in a season as a Division I program. 麻豆原创 turned in a 12-4 mark in The American 鈥� its best record in league play since 2010-11 鈥� and posted its highest finish in the conference for the second consecutive season, earning the third seed.听One year after earning the program鈥檚 first postseason victory in either the NCAA or WNIT tournaments, Abrahamson-Henderson鈥檚 squad followed with a second-straight WNIT second round appearance.

鈥淚 am blessed and excited for the confidence of Danny White,听Brandi Stuart, former President Hitt and new President Whittaker,鈥� Abrahamson-Henderson says. 鈥淥ur team鈥檚 success over the last two seasons, both on the court and in the classroom, would not be possible without their support. Our entire staff is looking forward to building on the success of back-to-back postseason appearances as we head into this season and the future.鈥�

Dawkins took over a 12-18 team that hadn鈥檛 finished above .500 since the 2012-13 season and has led 麻豆原创 to 43 wins in his two years under his leadership.听In the last two seasons, Dawkins鈥� Knights have made a run to the National Invitation Tournament Semifinals, led the NCAA in field goal percentage defense, won at Memphis for the first time ever and earned their first true road win over a ranked opponent.

鈥淚鈥檓 very thankful to Danny White, Eric Wood, former President John Hitt, and new President Dale Whittaker for their continued support of me and my staff,鈥� Dawkins says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to have our administration behind us, knowing they believe in what we鈥檙e doing as a program and our standard of representing 麻豆原创 and the community at the highest level.鈥�

With the average team GPA of 3.0 for the last two semesters, both coaches have seen academic growth among their players.

Purchase tickets for the upcoming 2018-19 men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 basketball seasons online or call听407-823-1000.听

“I’m excited to go back to the Big Apple and have a chance to play for a championship,” Head Coach Johnny Dawkins said. “Having the ability to take this team and share that experience is big for our program, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Dawkins has been there before, winning NIT Championships in 2012 and 2015 as the head coach at Stanford.听 After three NIT wins at the helm of the Knights program, he now holds an all-time record of 14-1 in the tournament.

Can’t make it to New York to cheer the Knights on? Head over to 麻豆原创’s watch party at the CFE Arena. Doors will open at 8:30 p.m. Game starts at 9 p.m. Free popcorn and drinks will be available to the first 250 students who show up. Concessions will be open for everyone else.

“We’re going to have to play well. As well as we’ve played to get there, we’re going to have to be better,” Dawkins said. “There were 32 teams in this field when it started and there are just four left, so we need to be at our best when we go to New York if we expect to bring back a championship.”

Orlando native and 麻豆原创 leading scorer B.J. Taylor is excited to represent his hometown.

“We’re extremely excited. It’s a great opportunity for us to compete for a championship,” Taylor said. “We’re excited for the opportunity to represent 麻豆原创 and get out there to make a good showing in the Garden.”

Prior to this season, the 麻豆原创 men’s basketball team had participated in four NCAA Tournaments and one NIT, never having won a game in either.听 This year’s squad has already earned three NIT victories and the Knights know they’re making history.

“It’s awesome,” American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year Tacko Fall said. “Before I got here, this was what was sold to me. To come here to 麻豆原创 and do something that no one has done before, so it really means a lot.”

To keep the team’s recent success going in its final two games of the season, Dawkins is leaning on experiences from earlier in the season.

“All the tournaments that we’ve played in have helped prepare us for the situation we’re going to face next week,” he said. “Any time you can play in tournaments with the fields that we had in the Charleston Classic and our conference tournament, that’s great prep for this tournament in the NIT.

“We’re going to use those experiences of how to prepare for each one of our opponents, how to take care of our bodies and get our rest,” Dawkins said. “All the things that go into being successful, our guys have done in other tournaments, so hopefully we’ll use it again for this one.”

The Knights fell in the championship game of the Charleston Classic to Villanova and were ousted in the American Athletic Conference Championship by eventual winner SMU. 麻豆原创 is hoping for a different outcome this time around.

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Following an impressive regular season and American Athletic Conference Semifinals appearance, the men’s team (21-11) will participate in the tournament for the second time, and the women will compete in the tournament for the first time.

Also for the first time, 麻豆原创 will host an NIT game. The fourth seeded Knights will welcome fifth seeded Colorado (19-14) to CFE Arena Wednesday at 7 p.m. with coverage on ESPN3 and FM 96.9 The Game.

麻豆原创 last appeared in the NIT in 2011-12 after a 21-9 regular season and its only trip to the Conference USA Semifinals.听 The Knights have been to four NCAA Tournaments following Atlantic Sun Championships in 1994, 1996, 2004 and 2005.

This season’s Knights nearly doubled their most American Athletic Conference victories ever, winning 11 games in league play and earning a first round bye in the conference’s tournament for the first time.听 Fourth seeded 麻豆原创 defeated fifth seeded Memphis 84-54 in the quarterfinals, before falling to eventual champion SMU 70-59 in the semis.

In his first season at the helm, 麻豆原创 head coach Johnny Dawkins has led the Knights to nine more wins than they recorded last year.听 麻豆原创 defeated Memphis twice, Temple twice and picked up a victory over then No. 15 Cincinnati.

With a win on Wednesday, the Knights would advance to take on the winner of No. 1 seed Illinois State and No. 8 seed UC Irvine. That game would be played between March 16 and 20.

The first three rounds of the NIT are played at campus sites of the higher seed. The semifinals and finals will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 28 and 30.

The first 300 students can get tickets for free on Wednesday morning.

Ticket Info

The women’s team posted a 20-11 season record and will host Stetson at 7 p.m. Thursday in CFE Arena.
 

“I’m excited for our players, especially our returners who have never been to the postseason,” head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson听said. “It’s a lot of fun to be able to keep playing right now. It’s a great experience for the whole team, but it’s very special for the seniors. They get to extend their careers.”

麻豆原创 women have been to four NCAA Tournaments following Atlantic Sun Championships (1996, 1999) and Conference USA titles (2009, 2011).

“It’s my first time playing in the postseason as a Knight,” senior听Zykira Lewis听said. “I’m excited to continue playing with my teammates.”

The Knights posted one of the best turnarounds in Division I women’s basketball, as their 20 wins in the 2016-17 campaign marked 13 more victories than last season. At 9-7 in American Athletic Conference action, 麻豆原创 more than doubled its win total from last season and earned a first round bye in the conference tournament for the first time. As the fourth seed, 麻豆原创 defeated fifth-seeded Tulane 61-57 in the quarterfinals, before falling to top ranked – and eventual champion – UConn 78-56 in the semis.

Reaching milestone after milestone under Abrahamson-Henderson’s guidance, the Knights earned several “firsts” this season. One of those came on Feb. 14, when 麻豆原创 knocked off then-No. 22 USF in the Sun Dome, picking up the program’s first win over a nationally ranked opponent, and their first win in Tampa.

The Knights added the program’s first win in The American tournament to their resume on March 4, and nine days later achieved another program first, earning the bid to the WNIT.

“It means a lot,” redshirt senior听Joslyn Massey听said. “I’m happy that we get to continue this great season.”

According to NCAA research compiled in 2015, there is roughly a 3 percent chance that a high school basketball player will compete in college, and approximately a 1 percent chance that an NCAA hoops player will go on to suit up for the WNBA or NBA. For the remainder of us, there鈥檚 always pickup basketball.

Check the neighborhood park, church gym, recreation center or military sports center near you. There鈥檚 a dedicated group of folks that regularly comes together to play some ball, whether it be weekday lunchtime, Saturday mornings or whenever. Playground players come from everywhere, spontaneously pick teams and play. The teams are not always the same from one game to the next, but of course one primary objective is always the same: win.

While other aims of every pickup hoops player is to maximize fun and to get some good exercise, winning the game carries the reward of getting to immediately play again. Losing teams typically vacate the court and are obliged to essentially wait their turn to compete again. If you get the right mix of players, however, your team can run the court all day. Some other key nuances differentiate pickup from organized basketball. Without having coaches and referees, leadership and a rigid set of rules are sometimes lacking.

Many of the attributes inherent to team-oriented sports mimic the situations that our workplace teams or we as individuals encounter. Play enough pickup sports or watch enough NBA or WNBA and some things will pop out to you that have relevance off the court, such as:

Winning groups don鈥檛 necessarily have the most talented individuals

It鈥檚 a beauty in motion when fundamental team-oriented basketball is played. Individual members working together create low-energy, high-probability scoring opportunities for one another on offense and support each other on defense. They efficiently cooperate with each other to obscure individual weaknesses at both ends of the court. Players on winning teams often forego some individuality (such as taking excessive shots), and perhaps even some level of enjoyment, in order to maximize the chances of winning.

Highly talented individuals on the same team sometimes compete against each to be the most talented member of the team. These players go for high-energy, low-probability plays. They look to shoot first and share last. Their attitudes of individuality create inefficiencies that effective opposing teams take advantage of.

In the workplace, high-achieving groups, departments or offices have individuals who support each other. There is a willingness to collaborate to achieve the overall goal. When one person is out sick or on vacation, for example, a co-worker picks up the slack and things keep moving smoothly. There鈥檚 no work stoppage. Team-oriented environments are fun to be in because adversity is dealt with very efficiently.

Intensity picks up when resources are low

At some parks there are numerous courts with just enough players to start a game. Consequently, there are many opportunities to compete. At others, there might be just one court with an overabundance of players. For this latter case, there is a scarcity of playing opportunities, so losing a game is extremely undesirable because it potentially carries the outcome of having to wait a very long time to play again. The outcome of a loss diametrically opposes the purpose of going to court in the first place.

With limited playing opportunities, competition between teams can be intense. Individuals play harder on both offense and defense. No uncontested shots combined with a lack of officiating sometimes means that tactics such as pushing, elbowing, holding, clawing, jersey-grabbing and the like can sometimes be employed to allow a weaker player/team to nullify talent gaps of opposing players/teams. Arguments happen and tempers flare, too.

This may sound like a very important report or presentation that you鈥檝e toiled to put together, right? Every 鈥渋鈥� is dotted, every 鈥渢鈥� crossed. Midnight oil was burned. If your preparation was for an interview for a job opportunity having only one slot and many applicants, you might have tried to cleverly anticipate (or even gain access to) the interview questions that might come up. You鈥檝e out-hustled the others in order to gain an edge so your case is viewed the most favorably.

Appearances are fleeting

Sizing up an opponent before a game can sometimes be misleading. Just because a player may be shorter and slighter in size, and wears an unkempt outfit with mismatched socks, doesn鈥檛 mean that he or she won鈥檛 outjump, outhustle and outperform you during the game.

Don鈥檛 be fooled by perceived stereotypes. Those pregame observations often begin to disappear on the court.

And just like on the court, you can only judge co-workers鈥� skills and competence once they鈥檝e played on your work team. Those people who shine and are willing to collaborate to pursue your overall goal are the teammates you want.

Winning cures a lot of complaints.

Winning at basketball 鈥� and in the workplace 鈥� involves a blend of individual sacrifice, cerebral effort, adaptation to dynamic conditions, and a sometimes a degree of luck.

Who鈥檚 got next?

Ali P. Gordon is an associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. He can be reached at ali@ucf.edu.

“Not many campuses across the country have the kind of weather to make tailgating a possibility during basketball season,” White said. “This is going to give our fans a unique experience that can be found very few places, if any, throughout the collegiate basketball landscape.”

Tailgating for men’s basketball games will take place on Memory Mall and open four hours before tip-off.听There are four weekend American Athletic Conference games on the schedule, beginning with the Knights’ Jan. 14 game against Houston.

Registration for each tailgate will be open to 麻豆原创 students and anyone with a ticket to that day’s game (season or single game). Registration will open at 6 p.m. on the Sunday prior to the games. Fans can register at Knightsonthemall.com.

A live DJ will be featured on the mall, and 麻豆原创 fans are encouraged to bring tents, chairs, food and coolers to enjoy the experience.

The first 500 students in attendance at the tailgate on Jan. 14 will receive a Knightmare T-shirt for the game against the Cougars.

For tickets call 407-麻豆原创-1000 or click听here.

The NBA invited Mosher, a 麻豆原创 Intramural supervisor, to its Grassroots Officiating Camp. She is one of 48 people the league selected from across the country. The Grassroots program is the first step in the NBA鈥檚 evaluation process. Mosher and the other invitees are trying to earn a spot in the NBA鈥檚 Developmental League (D-League) program for referees. Four former Knights, Nelson Santiago, Vladimir Voyard-Tadal, John Conley and Ray Acosta are all officiating in the D-League.

Mosher says she鈥檚 been on cloud nine since league officials reached out to her, 鈥淲hen I received the official email, my smile grew from ear-to-ear. I am just so excited to go and soak up as much information as I can and implement it into my game. I feel like I should be nervous, but I’m more excited than anything.鈥�

Two former Knights, Brent Barnaky and Steve Anderson, are full-time NBA officials. All seven officials came through the RWC鈥檚 Intramural Sports Officiating Training Program and the 麻豆原创 Basketball Officiating Class held every fall at the RWC.

RWC Associate Director of Programs Gary Cahen (a Division 1 College Football official), states 麻豆原创 has a long tradition of developing officials, 鈥淥ur success in developing sports officials is mostly a product of partnerships with our alumni, local community organizations and the various sports league we connect with. These resources and leaders in officiating help provide opportunities for current 麻豆原创 students to learn what it takes to thrive as an official both on and off-campus.鈥�

RWC Director Jim Wilkening runs the Basketball Officiating Class every fall, and says Barnaky and听 Anderson are keys to the success of the class when they come back to teach new officials, 鈥淭he Basketball Officials Class at 麻豆原创 has experienced unprecedented success nationally. That of course is great but what makes it all come full circle is to watch NBA Referees and 麻豆原创 Alumni Brent Barnaky and Steve Anderson unselfish loyalty to the program by continue to give back with their time and talent.鈥�

recently published a feature story on Barnaky, Anderson and 麻豆原创鈥檚 program. For more information on the IM Sports officiating program, contact the RWC鈥檚 Assistant Director of Intramural Sports Shane Land at: shane.land@ucf.edu.

For photos of Mosher, and NBA officials Brent Barnaky and Steve Anderson, click here.

Dawkins听arrives in Orlando after an eight-year stint at Stanford, where he led the Cardinal to five postseason appearances, including an NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2014. Dawkins also guided the Cardinal to two NIT Championships during his tenure (2012, 2015).

Stanford put together four 20-win seasons in Dawkins鈥� time as head coach. He is only the second coach in Stanford history with at least four 20-win seasons. Stanford鈥檚 success on the court came against some of the toughest schedules in the nation.

This season, the Cardinal faced the sixth-most difficult slate in the country. A nation-leading 17 of Stanford鈥檚 30 games came against RPI Top 50 squads during the 2015-16 regular season. Stanford鈥檚 strength of schedule was rated in the top 50 each of the past four seasons, including two in the top 20, with an average rank of 27.75.

鈥淚鈥檓 confident Johnny Dawkins will be a great leader for our men鈥檚 basketball program here at 麻豆原创,鈥� White said. 鈥淭here was a ton of interest in this position. We targeted Coach Dawkins early on in the process. After our conversations with him and after talking to many well-respected people in college basketball, it became clear to me that he鈥檚 the right coach to take our program to the next level. We are very happy to welcome Johnny, Tracy and their family to Orlando. The members of our search committee, who were instrumental in helping us bring Coach Dawkins to 麻豆原创, deserve a great deal of credit for their role in this hire. I want to thank President Hitt, Alex Martins, George Kalogridis and David Albertson, along with the 麻豆原创 Athletics executive team, for their assistance with the search.鈥�

Dawkins expressed his excitement to be joining the Knights.

鈥淚’d like to thank President Hitt, Danny White and the entire administration for their belief, faith and confidence in me,鈥� Dawkins said. 鈥淭his is a meaningful opportunity to build and grow a program that we can be proud of. I am honored to represent 麻豆原创, the community and the state of Florida.鈥�

The Cardinal basketball program also excelled in the classroom during Dawkins鈥� tenure, earning at least three Pac-12 All-Academic selections for five consecutive seasons and producing back-to-back Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipients (2014, 2015). Stanford also received annual national academic recognition, with three players earning National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court status in 2015. The Cardinal was one of 20 NCAA Division I teams to earn an NABC Team Academic Excellence Award last season.

In 2012, Dawkins mentored Chasson Randle to become the consummate student-athlete. Randle finished that season as Stanford鈥檚 all-time leading scorer and earned the program鈥檚 first Academic All-America First Team selection since 2006. Under Dawkins, Stanford recorded back-to-back perfect Academic Progress Rate scores of 1000 in both the 2012-13 and 2013-14 reports, the two most recent to be released by the NCAA. 鈥ㄢ赌≒layer development was also markedly improved at Stanford under Dawkins鈥� tutelage. Four Cardinal players were selected in the NBA Draft following their collegiate careers.

Dawkins has served as a member of the NABC Board of Directors since 2012. He also currently serves on the NCAA Division I Men鈥檚 Basketball Ethics Coalition, an independent committee of current and former coaches, charged with promoting ethical conduct through leadership, education and mentoring opportunities, while identifying key issues challenging the coaching community.

Prior to his time in Palo Alto, the Washington, D.C. native coached for 10 years under the legendary Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. During Dawkins’ decade as a coach at Duke, the Blue Devils won a national championship (2001), tallied six ACC regular season championships, recorded seven ACC Tournament titles and posted a 330-60 record. In four consecutive seasons from 1999-2002, Duke finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in both national polls, a first in college basketball history. Duke reached a No. 1 national ranking in seven of the 10 seasons with Dawkins on the coaching staff. While at Duke, he also served as the Player Personnel Director for the USA Basketball Senior National Team from 2006-08.

Dawkins鈥� Duke roots run deep. He played for the Blue Devils from 1983-86, earning Consensus All-America honors twice (1985, 1986). Dawkins was also voted as the 1986 Naismith National Player of the Year. During his collegiate career, he helped lead Duke to three NCAA Tournament berths, including an NCAA National Championship Game appearance in 1986. He was listed as an All-ACC honoree in all four seasons as a Blue Devil. He finished his career as the school鈥檚 all-time leading scorer and held that honor until 2006 when J.J. Redick surpassed his mark of 2,556 points. He recorded double-figure point totals in 129-of-133 collegiate games.

A 1986 first-round draft pick (10th overall) by San Antonio, Dawkins saw action in nine NBA seasons with the Spurs, 76ers and Pistons. He averaged 11.1 points and 5.5 assists over 541 career NBA games. Upon his retirement from the NBA, he was inducted into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame in September 1996. His jersey number 24 was retired by the school.

THE DAWKINS PROFILE

Birthdate 鈥�听听Sept. 28, 1963鈥�Age 鈥�听听52鈥�High School 鈥�听听Mackin Catholic High School (Washington, D.C.)鈥�College Degree 鈥�听听B.A., Political Science, Duke (1986)鈥�Wife 鈥�听听罢谤补肠测鈥�Children 鈥�听听Blair, Sean, Jillian, Aubrey鈥ㄢ赌�COACHING CAREER鈥�2008-16 鈥�听听Stanford 鈥� Head Coach鈥�2000-08 鈥�听听Duke 鈥� Associate Head Coach鈥�2006-08 鈥�听听USA Basketball Senior National Team 鈥� Player Personnel Director鈥�1998-99 鈥�听听Duke 鈥� Assistant Coach鈥ㄢ赌�COLLEGIATE CAREER鈥�1982-86 鈥� Duke

Naismith National Player of the Year (1986)鈥∟CAA East Regional MVP (1986)鈥ˋCC Tournament MVP (1986)鈥–o-captain (1986)鈥–onsensus All-American (1985, 1986)鈥‵irst team All-ACC (1985, 1986)鈥⊿econd team All-ACC (1983, 1984)鈥‵reshman All-American (1983)鈥―uke Team MVP (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986)

听

NBA CAREER

Drafted 鈥�听1986 NBA Draft, San Antonio Spurs, First Round, 10th overall pick鈥�1986-89 鈥�听San Antonio Spurs鈥�1989-94 鈥�听Philadelphia 76ers鈥�1994-95 鈥�听Detroit Pistons

Professional Achievement Award winners are selected by each individual college and are given to alumni who are standouts in their respective fields.

The 2015 awardees included:
The Burnett Honors College
Susan D. Rozelle, ’94| Associate Dean for Faculty and Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law
College of Arts and Humanities
Juliann Nicole Hickey, ’95 | Senior Vice President and Eastern Regional Manager, Title Resources
College of Business Administration
Terry D. McNew, ’86 | President/CEO, MasterCraft Boat Company LLC
College of Education and Human Performance
Gonzalo S. La Cava, ’97, ’01, ’09 | Area Superintendent, Central Learning Community, Fulton County Schools
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Benjamin J. Patz, ’85 | Managing Director, The FAN Fund
College of Health and Public Affairs
Bernard Rousseau, ’98, ’00, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, ASHA Fellow | Associate Vice Chair for Research/Chancellor Faculty Fellow/Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, Hearing and Speech Sciences, and Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
College of Medicine
Dr. Michael Makowski, ’80 | Eye Physician/Surgeon, Tomoka Eye Associates
College of Nursing
Thomas Weichart, ’04, ’14 | Clinical Nursing Director, ONI Medical Associates
College of Optics and Photonics
Frank J. Effenberger, ’95 | VP, Access Lab, Futurewei Technologies
College of Sciences
James Rosengren, ’81 | Founder/Chairman/CEO, Heritage Health Solutions Inc.
Rosen College of Hospitality Management
Christopher Iaciofoli, ’03听|听Director of Operations, Red Lobster Seafood Co.

鈥斺赌斺赌�

The evening’s other recipients听included:
Distinguished Student Award
Yudeysis Cores
Service to 麻豆原创 Award
The Honorable Olga M. Calvet, ’71 | Senior Vice President/CFO, Palmas Services LLC
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Alex Martins, ’01 | CEO, Orlando Magic
Michelle Akers Award
Limbitless Solutions
Champions Award
J. Charles Gray

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

Read more stories about alumni at ucfalumni.com.