Some surprising joie de vivre exhibited by UCF at the Crown, as always-on-thin-ice Johnny Dawkins has coaxed a couple of exciting wins from his Knights. Surprising here that Dawkins has been advancing minus top scorer Keyshawn hall, who quickly hit the portal and has already aligned with Auburn for next season. In the meantime, Dawkins has decided to allow to the portal entrants, rotation pieces Nils Machowski and Tyler Hendricks, to play and start, each scoring double digits in both of the first two games. It's been G Darius Johnson, however, really spiking the UCF offense lately, scoring 31 int he quarterfinal upset over fellow Big 12 Cincy, and scoring at a near 25 pg pace his last eight since late February. After a surprising slower-paced game vs. USC in the quarters, expect Nova guns Eric Dixon (25 ppg at Crown) and Wooga Poplar (20 ppg at Crown) to be able to run for interim Mike Nardi, who won't be coaching with a tight rein. Play UCF-Villanova "Over" (Crown at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas)