Before we get in to this, I am going to try and do 1 or 2 team deep dives each week as we get closer to the 2024 season. Its not going to just be good teams, but great teams, Cinderella teams and even teams I think are going to be horrendous too. Sorry you have to catch this stray Mississippi State, but teams like you in 2023. Anyways, if you enjoy reading this... stay tuned for more each week.
UCF has me intrigued andddd I'm scared to do this again. Rewind to the 2023 season, the Knights had a perfect opportunity to knock off the regular main stay East Carolina and seize the American Athletic crown as a final send off before dashing to greener pastures in the Big 12 conference. I was ALL IN as they ran down Dabo's hill in death valley after sweeping Clemson... that ended up being the biggest tease. They also had to deal with the 'bat cheating' scandal. Maybe it's why they nose dived to irrelevancy, but I'm not here to speculate.
New year, new opportunities. I'm optimistic. 2024 UCF has some juice with 30 upperclassmen and 12 P5 transfers sitting in that dugout. Not all 30 will be on the final roster, but the fact that they can pick and choose the best ones, pretty good spot to be in.
Knights have a new man in charge, Rich Wallace, who played at UCF during his playing days and was a part of Notre Dame's Omaha team in 2022 as recruiting coordinator, then associate head coach at Florida State last year before heading home to Orlando. He knows what it takes to win, I think he can do a phenomenal job with the right support staff. It seems like he has brought in a whole bunch of players as 'tryout season' this fall to quickly build a competitive team to buy himself time to recruit guys he wants in the years to come.
In the new transfer portal era, this strategy can work. It's hard but doable.
Knights lost a dude in Ben McCabe who was a 9th rd pick this past summer. Mccabe arrived at UCF in 2019 and logged 232 games and 961 AB's. That's a program staple right there and not an easy replace. They also lost Cam Leiter to Florida State, he could have been a massive piece in the rotation this year.
The 2024 squad will feature returners Andrew Sundean and John Rhys Plumlee (a quarterback) at the plate. Plumlee is an electric gamechanger.
They got Jack Zyska out of the portal, the slugger from Notre Dame who was a crucial part of the 2022 Omaha team. On the mound, they have some pieces to work with, returning Najer Victor and Kyle Kramer. Victor is a K machine that should work out of the pen, but wouldn't be suprised if he starts. They also added Finnvold out of the portal from Florida. If you don't remember, he had his shinning moment when he saved the Gators with a masterclass in the 2022 Gainesville regional.
I am not going to sit here and break down this UCF team player by player, but I think this team can be a great team by May as they gel together and evolve. Might take a bit to get used to the gauntlet of the Big 12 schedule, but will benefit from an RPI and resume standpoint to get an at-large bid come June. Pitching will be their biggest issue, if they can find 3 reliable starters, I think this team is worth paying attention to.
Central Florida kicks off 2024 with Bryant, Samford and USF before heading to Norman to kick off Big 12 play with Oklahoma.
I know I'm going to ask myself why was I high on this team by March.
Before we get in to this, I am going to try and do 1 or 2 team deep dives each week as we get closer to the 2024 season. Its not going to just be good teams, but great teams, Cinderella teams and even teams I think are going to be horrendous too. Sorry you have to catch this stray Mississippi State, but teams like you in 2023. Anyways, if you enjoy reading this... stay tuned for more each week.
UCF has me intrigued andddd I'm scared to do this again. Rewind to the 2023 season, the Knights had a perfect opportunity to knock off the regular main stay East Carolina and seize the American Athletic crown as a final send off before dashing to greener pastures in the Big 12 conference. I was ALL IN as they ran down Dabo's hill in death valley after sweeping Clemson... that ended up being the biggest tease. They also had to deal with the 'bat cheating' scandal. Maybe it's why they nose dived to irrelevancy, but I'm not here to speculate.
New year, new opportunities. I'm optimistic. 2024 UCF has some juice with 30 upperclassmen and 12 P5 transfers sitting in that dugout. Not all 30 will be on the final roster, but the fact that they can pick and choose the best ones, pretty good spot to be in.
Knights have a new man in charge, Rich Wallace, who played at UCF during his playing days and was a part of Notre Dame's Omaha team in 2022 as recruiting coordinator, then associate head coach at Florida State last year before heading home to Orlando. He knows what it takes to win, I think he can do a phenomenal job with the right support staff. It seems like he has brought in a whole bunch of players as 'tryout season' this fall to quickly build a competitive team to buy himself time to recruit guys he wants in the years to come.
In the new transfer portal era, this strategy can work. It's hard but doable.
Knights lost a dude in Ben McCabe who was a 9th rd pick this past summer. Mccabe arrived at UCF in 2019 and logged 232 games and 961 AB's. That's a program staple right there and not an easy replace. They also lost Cam Leiter to Florida State, he could have been a massive piece in the rotation this year.
The 2024 squad will feature returners Andrew Sundean and John Rhys Plumlee (a quarterback) at the plate. Plumlee is an electric gamechanger.
They got Jack Zyska out of the portal, the slugger from Notre Dame who was a crucial part of the 2022 Omaha team. On the mound, they have some pieces to work with, returning Najer Victor and Kyle Kramer. Victor is a K machine that should work out of the pen, but wouldn't be suprised if he starts. They also added Finnvold out of the portal from Florida. If you don't remember, he had his shinning moment when he saved the Gators with a masterclass in the 2022 Gainesville regional.
I am not going to sit here and break down this UCF team player by player, but I think this team can be a great team by May as they gel together and evolve. Might take a bit to get used to the gauntlet of the Big 12 schedule, but will benefit from an RPI and resume standpoint to get an at-large bid come June. Pitching will be their biggest issue, if they can find 3 reliable starters, I think this team is worth paying attention to.
Central Florida kicks off 2024 with Bryant, Samford and USF before heading to Norman to kick off Big 12 play with Oklahoma.
I know I'm going to ask myself why was I high on this team by March.
