The UCF Knights play host to the Mercer Bulldogs Wednesday with hopes of improving on impressive fast start
UCF coach Johnny Dawkins could easily be impressed with the way the Knights have started the season.
They are off to a program-best 8-1 record entering Wednesday's game at home against the Mercer Bulldogs. While Dawkins has every right to pat himself and the players on the back, he refuses. That may never happen until the Knights prove they can translate the success into Big 12 conference play.
"Yeah, I'm never satisfied," Dawkins last week. "For me, the best start would have been we would have be undefeated. I mean that's the best way we could start and I'm proud of our guys for the effort that they've put out and our staff for the preparation that we've had for each opponent. But I want my guys to always understand that you're always striving to be better, you know, and I don't look at the overall record that we have right now. I just look at, and I talk to them all the time about let's not grade ourselves versus our opponents. Let's grade ourselves versus what our expectations are internally. Let's grade ourselves on that every night, and that's what we will continue to do. And I don't look at the overall compiled record other than all we try to do is see the next opponent in front of us and trying to find a way to win that one game."
After Mercer, the Knights have non-conference games against Florida Gulf Coast and Florida Atlantic before things get real. They open league play at the Kansas Jayhawks Jan. 3.
While Dawkins is trying to downplay the hot start to keep players motivated, he is well aware of what they have accomplished. He just wants them to remain focused the rest of the season.
"I don't concentrate on each one of our games as regard to like, `OK, here's what we've done in the preseason,"' Dawkins said. "I'm just looking at always the next opponent. You've heard me coming in here time and time again. Very rarely I'll be able to tell you who's two games down the road. I know who's right in front of me. And that's what we pour ourselves into because that's how I want to train our players to pour themselves into who's right in front of us. Let's make sure we're focused and prepared for that. Whatever happened in the past, it happened, whether it's good or bad, let's learn from it. And then what's going on in the future is just that immediate game in front, not two games, three games, four games in front of us, just a game that's right there. Let's pour everything that we can into that opponent."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of UCFRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com