Keyshawn Hall’s next stop appears to be St. John’s, and the move comes with one big question still hanging over everything: eligibility.
The former UCF standout committed to Rick Pitino’s program on Tuesday night after spending time with the Miami Heat’s Summer League team. For now, Hall has been ruled ineligible under the Ohio Court of Appeals’ recent motion, but the expectation is that he will ultimately land an additional year and be able to suit up for the Johnnies.
Hall’s path to this point has been a winding one. If he gets that extra season, St.
John’s would be his fifth school in five years. He began at UNLV, spent his sophomore year at George Mason, then moved to UCF for his junior season before testing the NBA waters this summer.
His year in Orlando was the one that put him on the map. Hall averaged 18.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 43/35/82. He finished as the Big 12’s leading scorer and stacked up several 30-point outings along the way.
The biggest of those came against Arizona State, when Hall dropped 40. He became just the third UCF player in the program’s Division I history to top 40 points in a game. He opened that night by hitting his first six shots and four of his first five threes, then went into halftime with 29 points before finishing 13-for-18 from the floor and 4-for-6 from deep.
That season also produced 620 points, the ninth-most in a single season in UCF history. Hall was again named to the second team in his conference’s awards.
After that breakout run, Hall initially said he would return to UCF for his senior year, but he later entered the NBA Draft. Under the current wording of the rulings, he still appears likely to make it back to college basketball, since he has not signed a professional contract.
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UCF May Have Found A Secondary Answer It Desperately Needed
UCF spent last season looking for more stability and playmaking in the back end, and it may have added an intriguing piece in Ty Bartrum. The safety transferred in after a standout run at Harvard, where he developed into one of the more decorated defenders in the Ivy League and arrives with the kind of rsum that suggests he can help a secondary that needed reinforcement for Big 12 play.
Bartrum was recognized with multiple postseason honors in college and drew strong marks from Pro Football Focus College, giving the Knights a player whose production and reputation both travel well. The next step is the one that matters most in Orlando: turning that Ivy League success into a role against higher-end competition, while pushing for snaps and a spot in a defense still sorting out its answers. [Read more 🡒]
UCF Defense Hype Is Rising With Lewis Carter Leading The Way
Lewis Carter keeps popping up on preseason lists, and thats a pretty good sign for a UCF defense trying to build some early-season momentum. The senior linebacker has already drawn multiple nods before the 2026 campaign even kicks off, and the attention reflects how central he is expected to be to the Knights plans on that side of the ball. For a unit looking to establish a clearer identity, having a veteran defender earn that kind of recognition gives UCF a useful starting point.
Carter is also one of the players the Knights will lean on most when they open the season Sept. 3 against Bethune-Cookman in Orlando. Preseason honors do not decide anything once the games begin, but they do signal where the respect is flowing, and UCFs defense appears to be getting some of it through Carter. The bigger question now is whether the Knights can turn that individual buzz into a defense that looks as steady as it sounds before the schedule starts to tighten. [Read more 🡒]
UCF Just Got An Early Reality Check For Next Season
UCF already has a pretty clear road map for its 2026 basketball season, and it comes with plenty of early tests before Big 12 play ever begins. The Knights announced a 14-game nonconference schedule that features nine home dates at Addition Financial Arena, plus matchups against Florida programs and a trip into the ESPN Events Invitational at ESPN Wide World of Sports, giving this group a chance to see where it stands against a mix of familiar regional opponents and higher-profile national competition.
The most interesting part may be how quickly the schedule ramps up the pressure, with games against Vanderbilt, Indiana and Virginia Tech among the list of opponents. Add in an 18-game Big 12 slate that includes home-and-home series with Baylor, Texas Tech and West Virginia, and UCF will get a thorough early read on what next season might look like long before the calendar reaches conference grind time. [Read more 🡒]