UCF's unexpected charge to the Crown finale is not too dissimilar from what we just saw with another longshot, Chattanooga, in the NIT. Liek the Movin' Mocs,, the Knights have flown out of nowhere to land in the Crown finale. Johnny "Always on Thin Ice" Dawkins has pulled a rabbit out of his hat in Las Vegas especially minus top scorer Keyshawn Hall (18.8 ppg), who hit the portal and has already transferred to Auburn. Dawkins, however, has let a couple of other portal entrants (Tyler Hendricks and Nils Machowski) stick around and has had them in the UCF lineup at the Crown, Hendricks responding with double-digit efforts in each round. Though carrying the Knights is G Darius Johnson, the hottest scorer in any postseason tourney and off of 42 points in the OT semifinal win vs. Villanova on Saturday. Johnson has scored 73 points across the past two rounds, and scoring at a near 28 pg clip the past nine games since late February. The Crown is also allowing Fred Hoiberg to salvage something with his Nebraska this season, but we suspect the Huskers are hard-pressed to replicate their 12 for 19 shooting from beyond the arc on Saturday vs. Boise State. Play UCF (Crown at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas)