Dec. 20, 2010
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - When the college basketball Top 25 polls are released later today, and most likely will include UCF for the first time in school history, the Knights will move into some elite company in college athletics.
With UCF's football team also ranked No. 25 in the Bowl Championship Series rankings and headed for a spot in the college basketball rankings, the Knights are poised to join Ohio State, Michigan State and Missouri as the only schools recognized in both national polls.
``I think that's very significant for our program,'' UCF athletics director Keith Tribble said. ``It's in line with our visions and goals to have a Top 25 program in everything that we do, especially football and basketball. To have that come now with both of them in the top 25, it speaks to our programs and our commitment to being great.''
UCF seems poised for the school's first ranking after beating Miami on Saturday to improve to 10-0 on the season. The Knights have now whipped Florida, Miami and South Florida this season and are highly ranked in several major statistics nationally.
New head coach Donnie Jones, who took over the program last March, has instilled the Knights with a toughness and a belief that they can win every game. Even when UCF allowed a 17-0 run in the first half and fell behind by as many as 12 on Saturday, the Knights kept clawing and proved themselves to be the better team against the Hurricanes. Most everyone seems surprised by the success, except for Jones, of course.
``I think anything is possible,'' Jones said confidently. ``We're trying to build our program and this is a result of us playing 10 games and continuing to stay humble. We've worked hard and we've been able to win and being able to be ranked would be great for our program. We'd be really proud of that, but our goal is to be ranked at the end of the year.''
No one was happier about Saturday's victory in the MetroPCS Orange Bowl Classic than Tribble, who founded the basketball tournament several years ago when he was the executive director of the Orange Bowl. Seeing his Knights just play in a star-studded field that included Florida, Miami and Kansas State was satisfying; but seeing them pull off the defeat of Miami in south Florida was a message to the basketball world about the upward direction of UCF's basketball program.
``This is a special win for me personally because the Orange Bowl Classic is an event that I created when I was with the Orange Bowl because of the importance I thought that basketball should play in this state,'' Tribble said. ``And to have a team come in and win a big game against the University of Miami, it's very special.
``I'm so proud of Donnie and our kids because there are times during the game when they could have folded said they just weren't supposed to win this game,'' Tribble continued. ``But they hung in there, kept fighting and in the end they got the win.''
Tribble lured Jones to UCF last spring with the belief that his personality, dynamic coaching sills and ability to recruit elite athletes would help the Knights make some noise in basketball. He expected a building process and admitted that even he is shocked by UCF's 10-0 start and run to the national rankings. But victories like Saturday's against Miami are just further proof that he hired the right man for the job in Jones.
``I've heard Donnie say often to the guys, `We expect to win when we hit the floor.' That's something that I want all of our teams to feel when they hit the field of competition,'' Tribble said. ``It may not always happen, but if you have that belief that you can do it, nine times out of 10 it will happen. I'm very impressed with what Donnie has done and to be 10-0 right now is just amazing.
``When I had a chance to meet to Donnie and we talked about his visions for the program and the steps we had to take in order to get to a championship level, there was some building to do,'' Tribble remembered. ``But never in my wildest dreams did I think we could start 10-0. But I'm sure Donnie believed it and the kids believed it. We have a chance now to have a great season and do some special things at the end of the season.''
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.