UCF Basketball

Two months after reaching a plea deal in his gun charge related to an April 2023 arrest, Mikey Williams has found a new home to play college basketball.

Williams announced on Instagram he has committed to UCF after entering the transfer portal to leave Memphis earlier this week.

The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making a criminal threat and a special allegation of using a firearm during the threat stemming from a shooting at his home on March 17.

Williams was facing nine felony counts and up to 30 years in prison before his plea deal. The San Diego County Sheriff's Department said the situation began after an argument, with shots being fired at a car as it was leaving Williams' house. No one was injured.

As part of Williams' plea deal, he is required to complete 80 hours of community service and attend cognitive behavior therapy, gun safety and anger management classes. His felony charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor if he completes the terms of his plea agreement and has no new legal issues before an Aug. 12 sentencing hearing.

In a statement to Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg on Thursday, Williams' attorney, Troy P. Owens, said his client made the decision to enter the transfer portal after Memphis indicated bringing him back was "not a priority" for the basketball team.

Owens also said the university committee reviewing Williams' situation was also deciding if he would be allowed to play for the Tigers during the 2024-25 season.

"This was not something that Mr. Williams even thought was up for discussion," Owens said. "This caused him to take immediate action to protect the prospect of him playing collegiate basketball in the 2024-2025 season."

Williams was a 4-star prospect and the No. 10 combo guard in the 2023 recruiting class, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He signed a letter of intent with the University of Memphis in November 2022.

One day after both No. 1 Purdue and No. 2 Houston suffered losses, another top team in the nation fell.

No. 3 Kansas was on the receiving end of a 65-60 upset loss to unranked UCF on Wednesday night. It's the first time since the 2004 NCAA tournament that the top three teams in the AP Poll lost to unranked teams in the span of two days.

The Jayhawks led by as many as 16 in the game before being outscored 36-23 in the second half by the Knights, who were playing in their first Big 12 home game in program history.

Kevin McCullar Jr. led the Jayhawks with 16 points while also adding six rebounds and five assists. Star center Hunter Dickinson was limited to 12 points and four rebounds. Kansas committed 18 turnovers in the loss.

The loss dropped the Jayhawks to 13-2 and ended their nine-game win streak. It's the first time that Kansas has scored under 65 points since the team's last loss to Marquette on Nov. 21.

Fans on social media didn't hold back their thoughts about the Jayhawks' lackluster performance on Wednesday night:

Kansas will look to bounce back on Saturday against No. 9 Oklahoma (13-1).

The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament is always full of memorable moments, but often overlooked is the agony of defeat.

This was exemplified in the UCF locker room after the team's 77-76 loss to Duke on Sunday. Head coach Johnny Dawkins gave an emotional speech to his team after the game while his players were mostly in tears:

The Knights had an opportunity to knock off the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, leading by three points in the final minute.

Unfortunately, Zion Williamson got a basket and a foul with 14 seconds left. Although he missed the free throw, RJ Barrett got the rebound and put it back in for the go-ahead score.

When UCF had a chance to win it at the buzzer, the final shot barely rimmed out:

BR Video

Coming this close to a massive upset before falling short is devastating for the losing team, especially the seniors who played their last collegiate game. Dawkins did everything he could to lift his players' spirits, but the emotion after the game was real.

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Tacko Fall could soon become one of the tallest players in NBA history. The 7'6" center, who is declaring for the NBA draft but hasn't yet signed with an agent, averaged 10.9 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in just 26.3 minutes per game at UCF this past season.

Is he ready for the NBA? Check out the video above.

Former Stanford Cardinal head basketball coach Johnny Dawkins, who was fired following the 2015-16 regular season, will reportedly be the next head coach of the Central Florida Knights, per Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.

Dawkins, who led the Cardinal to two NIT championships, was 156-115 in eight seasons with the team and qualified for the NCAA tournament just once.    

Although the former Duke University star had only two losing seasons at Stanford, the Cardinal were just 15-15 this season. The lack of NCAA tournament appearances had to make the fans grow weary after seeing their team in the Big Dance 13 of the previous 14 years before Dawkins arrived in 2008.

Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com noted that Dawkins' Duke connections could have helped him land the job with UCF.

"His career record in the Pac-12 is 66-78," Parrish wrote. "But the former Duke standout and Duke assistant still managed to land the UCF job...less than a week after losing the Stanford job. And, it should be noted, UCF athletic director Danny White is the son of Duke AD Kevin White, if you're looking for a Duke-UCF connection."

Although Dawkins did not reach the level of success he and the school would have liked, it's not like he failed miserably. He leaves with a .576 winning percentage and four 20-win seasons.

It's also not as if the Knights have a rich history of basketball and can pick any coach they want. UCF began play in 1969 as a Division II school and sports a career 0-4 record in the NCAA tournament. In Dawkins' one appearance in 2013-14, he led the Cardinal to an upset victory of the No. 2-seeded Kansas Jayhawks in the second round.  

This could be a perfect fit for both sides. Dawkins has the chance to turn around a program that went 12-18 last season, and the Knights are able to show recruits they landed a coach with Power Five experience who brings with him a history full of blue-blood tradition.

The Central Florida Knights men's basketball team fired head coach Donnie Jones on Thursday, according to CBS Sports' Ryan Bass. The school confirmed the news.

Word of Jones' dismissal trickled out just hours after UCF was bounced in the first round of the AAC tournament by Tulane, 65-63. 

During his sixth season with the program, the Knights went 12-18, including a 6-12 record in American Athletic Conference play, en route to an eighth-place finish ahead of only the East Carolina Pirates, South Florida Bulls and Tulane Green Wave.

Jones was hired prior to the 2010-11 campaign, and his tenure started off in encouraging fashion as UCF went 21-12 while ranking as high as 19th in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, per Sports-Reference.com. 

The Knights followed that performance up by posting a 22-11 record the next season and then a 20-11 mark during the 2012-13 slate, but the program's production nosedived from that point forward. 

Not only did UCF fail to qualify for the NCAA tournament during Jones' tenure, but the team failed to top 14 wins during each of his final three seasons on the bench. 

With Jones now out of the picture, and UCF looking to start anew, the Knights' athletic department will need to take a step back and evaluate how the program can make strides as it seeks to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005. 

But in order to entertain thoughts of competing with perennial AAC powers such as Temple, UConn, SMU and Cincinnati, UCF will need to maintain a realistic vision that prioritizes steady improvement and the development of a winning culture. 

Marcus Jordan—yes, legendary basketball player Michael’s son—is taking some flak for a hilarious tweet that he fired off at porn star Rachel Roxxx.

According to Black Sports Online, the UCF Knights basketball player publicly posted a message to the adult actress on Wednesday, but it has since been removed and replaced with a tweet explaining that it was a prank.

Regardless if the initial “accident” DM was a practical joke or not—the content was quite funny—we should definitely #KeepItMovin and cut the kid a break for it.

It’s not like he said anything harmful and, last I checked, it’s not a crime to connect with a porn star on the Internet. After investigating Ms. Roxxx’s Twitter feed, it seems that plenty of other people do so on a regular basis.

There is no reason to get outraged because the Charlotte Bobcats owner’s son—or an anonymous prankster, depending on who you believe—decided to send that tweet.

Heck, baseball star Hideki Matsui proudly admitted to owning 55,000 porn videos in an interview with GQ. Rob Gronkowski posed shirtless for a picture with noted adult actress Bibi Jones. Tito Ortiz married possibly the most famous porn star of all time, Jenna Jameson. Kim Kardashian has dated what seems like every athlete, but got her start in a homemade video with Ray J.

Tiger Woods may as well have been moonlighting as a leading man in Porn Valley after all the rumors leaked out.

That is just a tiny sampling of the numerous big-name athletes who have been involved with the adult industry in some way.

A frivolous tweet by a mediocre college player that happens to be MJ’s son isn’t even close to a big deal in comparison. Give him a break.

Michael Jordan's son is leaving UCF.

No, not Marcus Jordan, who's leading the Golden Knights in scoring and minutes played.

I'm talking about the other one, Jeffrey Jordan. According to multiple reports, the elder son of His Airness is ditching Orlando for "personal reasons." Where he's headed or why is anyone's best guess at this point, though it's tough to imagine Jordan finding much of a career in basketball elsewhere. Jeffrey had been averaging career highs across the board in his first (and final) season at UCF.

Jordan's college basketball exploits began at Illinois, where he walked on to Bruce Weber's squad in 2007 and spent three wears working his way up the proverbial food chain, slowly but surely.

Jordan chose to bolt Champaign after his junior season to join Marcus at UCF and sat out last season per NCAA transfer rules.

Now, Jordan is on the road again, though he's unlikely to find any takers for his services for the half season that he might be eligible.

Which, for better or worse, may signal an early end to the playing career of one of the sons of the greatest basketball player who ever lived.

That is, unless MJ decides to throw his son a bone in the form of a roster spot with the Charlotte Bobcats at some point down the line.

Barring any sort of nepotistic generosity to such an un-Jordan-like degree, the task will fall exclusively to Marcus to live up to Daddy Dearest's impossible legacy on the court from here on out.

In other words, Michael Jordan won't ever have to worry about his descendants surpassing him in his own sport, a la Joe and Kobe Bryant or Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr.

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When Jeff Jordan decided to transfer to University of Central Florida from Illinois to play with his brother Marcus, it seemed like the perfect idea.

How quickly things change. Jeff has left the Knights basketball team for “personal reasons” according to ESPN.

He came over from Illinois after walking onto their program. He played three seasons for the Fighting Illini but never scored more than two points per game. Last season was by far his most productive campaign yet and he averaged just 1.6 points per game.

Jordan averaged 2.7 points on 37 percent shooting and 1.8 assists in 13 games played this season. He averaged 21 minutes per game.

His leaving of the team comes at an awful time for the Knights who are 12-3 overall and 2-0 in Conference USA.

They will now lean on Marcus who scores 17.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest. Keith Clanton has also been a major contributor the team with 15.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Jordan won’t be a major loss to the program given his uneven statistics, but you do have to wonder what impact it will have on his brother and the locker room.

Any type of change to a winning culture could have serious ramifications. The play could suffer on the court or, in some instances, players will rally with each other and play their best basketball.

We’ll find out how the Knights handle it when they host 9-6 Houston on Wednesday, January 11.