We just caught up with Johnny Dawkins via Zoom. He said he's excited for Taylor Hendricks, who declared for the NBA Draft earlier this week. Experts believe Hendricks could go in the early part of the first round as a lottery pick.
"It's exciting for Taylor and his family to have this opportunity," Dawkins said. "It's a well-deserved honor to be in this position to be thought of as a potential lottery pick in the upcoming draft. I thought he was terrific for us all season long. Not just on the court, but off the court as well. He was great in our community. He was a great teammate. He was all about winning.
"It was fun helping him to develop. I don't take any credit for what the young man became because you have your God-given gifts and talents. I do love the fact that our staff played an integral part in continuing his growth and helping him get better throughout the season to where he has this opportunity for the next level. He's a tremendous young man.
"Of course, we'll miss him and everything about him. We'll be moving forward with him without him in our program, but he'll always be with us and he'll always be a Knight."
Dawkins said he recognized by the third to halfway point of the season he would be a strong possibility to be a one-and-done player.
"He was displaying characteristics of a guy that can play at the next level. It's not about what you do in one game. It's about your body of work... how consistent are you? Every night you pretty much knew what to expect from him. Those are the guys that end up being your NBA-caliber players. You can go to sleep knowing Taylor is going to go for 15 (points) and eight (rebounds). That's always a tell-tale sign for me, a level of consistency with the talent he had. Once he had a body of work between 12 and 15 games, I'm kind of like, you know what, this kid no question has a chance to play at the next level."
Dawkins said Hendricks being a potential lottery pick will do a lot for the brand, similar to UCF's first NCAA Tournament victory in 2019.
"Taylor can help elevate what we're doing here," Dawkins said.
On the court, Dawkins said Hendricks needs to continue to develop his perimeter skills. He was primarily a center in high school.
On the advice he'd given Hendricks becoming a pro, Dawkins said: "Be yourself. Be genuine to who you are. I think if you're going to be successful in life, you always have to be true to yourself. If you try to be someone else or act a certain way because you're around a certain group of people, I don't think you're really happy with who you are. Be yourself and the right people will come around and love you for that instead of being all things for all people and find yourself miserable because you're not true to who you are. He has a great personality. He's a wonderful young man. Any room he walks into, he lights up. He's magnetic in that way. He has that 'it factor.'"
I asked about the outlook for Taylor's twin brother, Tyler Hendricks, who redshirted this past season.
"All expectations are that Tyler will be back here with us next year," Dawkins said. "In all of our conversations with his mom and everyone, we're expecting him to be back with us. We're excited to have him in our program as well. He's been terrific in the role he was in this year as he redshirted. We're excited to see his development this spring and summer as he starts his journey in a UCF uniform."
Dawkins also reflected the 19-15 season that ended recently in the NIT.
"We had some wonderful moments," Dawkins said. "We had some great games, some really good wins, some exciting wins for our program. I'll think about that team getting us to the postseason. Sometimes that goes overlooked. You have to remember, there's only four teams from the American that went to the postseason. It was Houston, Memphis, us and Cincinnati. It's a heck of an honor. For us as a program, we've been to (the postseason) in three out of seven years and one of those was a COVID year... In the legitimate seasons, we've been to the postseason three out of six. Two NITs and the NCAA Tournament which we won. I think we won a game in each of the tournaments. We've not just gone, but won a game or so.
"These guys have left their legacy like Tacko and those guys did. This team has done the same thing. The guys that are returning, we'll move forward with higher expectations for them as we go into a new conference."
I asked about some roster issues, first about building out their first Big 12 roster and their biggest needs. Based on how the roster looks today, UCF could have at least three available scholarships.
"We have to evaluate right now all the players we have that are potentially returning, seeing who's in the portal for us and who's not, getting organizing with that," Dawkins said. "Then we'll look at needs we have to fill. Some interior positions, we need some more size. Losing C.J. Kelly, we need a perimeter player of course. Losing Jayhlon (Young), a point guard. Trying to find someone that can play that position. Those are just some of the positions. I'd say bigs, wing type positions and guards. We're already hot and heavy and competing in those races right now in our program."
I asked whether Ithiel Horton has indicated he is coming back to UCF next year. He has one year left of eligibility.
"To my knowledge, he's saying he's going to be with us," Dawkins said. "I know this stuff is always fluid. We'll wait and see. He's given no indication that he wants to go anywhere else. I think he's really enjoyed his experience here with us. He's continuing to grow his game. I think his best basketball is still ahead to him. He's spent just one year in our system. It takes a little longer sometimes to get used to a staff, get used to a system offensively and defensively. There's an adjustment. He's got a lot under his belt. Going forward, his adjustment becomes a lot less. He's becomes more comfortable in his role and that will elevate his game.
Brandon Suggs and Tyem Freeman also have one more year of eligibility, though both participated in Senior Night festivities (Horton did not). I asked if we should infer those players are moving on.
"I don't think either is in the portal as of right now," Dawkins said. "I think having graduated is somewhat of an indication of what they're probably looking to do. Like I said, that hasn't been posted anywhere yet so I don't want to speculate. That's on their time table to make that type of decision."
