It’s time for our 2025 Black & Gold Banneret Awards! This week we present our nominees for each award honoring the best people, moments and performances from your UCF Knights in the 2024-25 athletic year.

Our staff has chosen the nominees for each award. We will then vote on them this week, and you the fans, can vote as well in the poll below. The winner of the fan vote counts as one vote, and in the event of a tie, the award goes to the winner of the fan vote.

Women’s Play of the Year Nominees

Jazmen Newberry’s Comeback — Track & Field

• Thanks to a rain delay, it was a late night for the 4x400m relay team at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, with the race not even getting started until near midnight Eastern time. Entering the anchor leg, Jazmen Newberry sat a distant third behind TCU’s Bryce Brazzell (1.83 seconds) and Arizona’s Antonia Sanchez Nunez (1.32 seconds). While the commentators were focused on the Wildcat tracking down the Horned Frog, the Knight turned on the afterburners. The UAlbany transfer crossed the finish line 0.26 seconds ahead of Sanchez Nunez to win the heat and got UCF their second Big 12 Outdoor gold medal after beating out the previous heat winner Iowa State’s time by 0.21 seconds.

Olivia Lincer’s Deuce Point — Women’s Tennis

• Olivia Lincer had already fought off three match points to reach this deuce point with Oklahoma State’s Melissa Ercan in the Big 12 Tournament Semifinals (6:55 in the video above). If Ercan gets the ball by her, or she makes a mistake, it’s over for UCF, who is tied 3-3 with the Cowgirls. When Ercan sends a shot straight down her right sideline, Lincer sprints over and executes a one-handed backhand shot to keep the rally alive. The Cowgirl could not respond, hitting the ball into the net and sending the Knights to the Big 12 Championship Match.

Ashleigh Griffin’s Go-Ahead Homer vs. Stetson — Softball

• The UCF Softball team was already having a historic power-hitting night in DeLand, with their seven home runs to that point helping close an 11-run deficit to Stetson to just two by the seventh inning. With two runners on base and down to her last strike, all Ashleigh Griffin needed was one swing of the bat to complete the largest comeback in program history (4:15 in the video above).

Madi Simon’s Home Run Robbery — Softball

• It was a standout moment in a statement series for UCF Softball against #4 Arizona Wildcats. Both teams were tied up, 3-3, in the fourth inning of Game 2, a game the Knights would ultimately take, 5-4, to clinch the series. That only makes this center-field home-run robbery by Madi Simon all the more impactful.

First 4+ Boat’s Comeback — Rowing

• Halfway through its C Final race at the NCAA Rowing Championships, the UCF Rowing team’s First 4+ boat sat 2.84 seconds, or around half a boat length, back of Virginia Cavaliers. Over the next 1,000 meters, the Knights tracked down and passed the Cavaliers, taking the win by 1.276 seconds and becoming the only one of head coach Mara Allen’s three boats to claim victory in their C Final.

The 6’6 Stevens is averaging 14.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks in 29.2 minutes per game. All of those are career highs under first-year Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts. Adler explains how Stevens has thrived in Roberts’ system:

“She’s in a very pick-and-roll-heavy scheme that involves a lot of sort of cutting and just threes and rim shots off the ball. And … part of it is her sort of best position has been an open question for a while. She played the five and the four and the three, really, in Chicago, and it all really varied based on the teammate she was with. There was a lot of playing with Candace [Parker]. There was a lot of playing with Stef Dolson. …

“Now, playing with Dearica Hamby, things look really different because Dearica Hamby is an offensive five, a defensive four. So it’s a sort of a weird mix. I think it’s exciting to think about what that looks like once Cam Brink comes back. But until then, I think it’s really accentuating how good she is as a cutter, how quickly she thinks off the move, and how decisive she is, and just how much skill she has playing in space without having to worry about really anything getting cluttered up along the way, and I think it’s really brought out what her game is.”

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Williams was named an All-Star this season for the first time in her seven seasons. She is averaging 14.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.6 steals and 0.5 blocks in 33.9 minutes per game. Those are career highs in every category except rebounds. Cruse explains what’s different about how Williams is playing this season:

“I think she’s been more aggressive off the catch. I think we’ve seen her have a more aggressive scoring mentality this season. I was looking at the finishing numbers, and the finishing numbers still aren’t great in half court, but … it seems better when I watch her play. Obviously in transition, she’s insane. That game against New York, the way she was making plays in passing lanes doesn’t make sense. Like, you shouldn’t be this athletic on a basketball court. …

“She’s made more pull-up twos this year. I think she’s been more effective in that way [than] she has been in previous seasons. And then defensively, she’s ridiculous on that end.”

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The UFC returns to Nashville on Saturday, and it’s a classic veteran vs. prospect card.

Loaded with familiar names of past-their-prime stars, it’s an interesting betting spot for those looking to partake.

Most of the veterans are massive underdogs, as the sportsbooks suspect that the UFC is setting them up for squash spots.

Just four bouts on the 12-fight card event have odds inside of +200 for the underdog.

Meaning we’re looking at some dominant showings from the favorites on this card.

Below, we break down my favorite bets on the card, beginning at 6 p.m. ET, on ESPN.

UFC Nashville predictions

Derrick Lewis vs. Tallison Teixeira

It’s a tough spot for Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis, as the 40-year-old heavyweight faces an up-and-coming Tallison Teixeira, who has started his career with eight consecutive wins, all in the first round.

Teixeira stands at 6-foot-7 and should use that advantage in the UFC.

But his lack of time inside the ring could be a significant problem for him against a veteran like Lewis.

Teixeira has beaten nobody at the level of Lewis, and the Black Beast has been willing to grapple against average or slightly below average grapplers.

Coming off a knockout of Justin Tafa, Teixeira has the momentum that the UFC would love to piggyback on in a dead heavyweight division.

Teixeira could finish Lewis in the first round, but I’m not willing to bet on that.

Target the fight to start round 2 at +110 on Fanatics Sportsbook, I think Lewis is crafty enough to drag Teixeira into unfamiliar waters and even snag a victory.

PICK: Fight starts round 2 (+110, Fanatics Sportsbook)

Max Griffin vs. Chris Curtis

On the prelims, Chris Curtis faces Max Griffin, and it’s the shortest price Curtis has been in his UFC career.

Coming in as a -325 favorite, he hasn’t been this pricey since he was -500 in 2021, when he was fighting at the regional promotion XMMA.

Griffin is far from a world beater; he’s been around the block at 39 years old, while Curtis is 37.

Curtis will look to pick Griffin apart, and body shots will be the key to success for each fighter, but if Curtis is taken down, he’s going to be in a nightmare situation.

For Griffin, he’ll need to utilize that grappling and avoid striking in the center of the octagon.

The cage will be his friend in the situation, clinch work against the cage, and chained together takedown attempts should wear his opponent down and help him pick up the victory.

Long shot prop alert: Griffin by split decision (+1200) is the bet to target.

PICK: Griffin by split decision (+1200, DraftKings)

Get the lowdown on the Best USA Sports Betting Sites and Apps

UFC Nashville full card picks

Derrick Lewis vs. Tallison Teixeira: Fight starts round 2 (+110, Fanatics Sportsbook)

Stephen Thompson vs. Gabriel Bonfim: Thompson moneyline (+310, Caesars Sportsbook)

Calvin Kattar vs. Steve Garcia: Kattar moneyline (+105, BetMGM)

Nate Landwehr vs. Morgan Charriere: Fight ends inside the distance (+110, Bet365)

Vitor Petrino vs. Austen Lane: Petrino by KO/TKO (-230, FanDuel)

Junior Tafa vs. Tuco Tokkos: Over 1.5 rounds (+145, DraftKings)

Jake Matthews vs. Chidi Njokuani: Jake Matthews moneyline (+135, DraftKings)

Max Griffin vs. Chris Curtis: Griffin by split decision (+1200, DraftKings)

Lauren Murphy vs. Eduarda Moura: Pass

Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Valter Walker: Fight goes to decision (+120, Fanatics)

Mitch Ramirez vs. Mike Davis: Pass

Fatima Kline vs. Melissa Martinez: Fight goes the distance (+100, BetMGM)

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he’s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.

One area to watch on Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats teams this season and future seasons is the frontcourt. How the Wildcats’ frontcourt defends and displays versatility is going to be a key to next season as the Wildcats pursue a ninth national championship.

A 5-star prospect in the 2026 class, Miikka Muurinen, has whittled down his list of schools that have offered him to seven. Kentucky is among those seven schools.

ESPN has the 6-foot-10, 185-pound Muurinen listed as the No. 11 player in their ESPN100 for the Class of 2026.

Muurinen is a native of Jarvenpaa, Finland, and he currently stars at Arizona Compass Prep in Chandler, Arizona.

Muurinen’s profile on 247 Sports Composite has him listed as the No. 9-ranked player in the country and No. 2 power forward. He is listed as the No. 1 player in Arizona.

Muurinen does not have an official visit to Kentucky scheduled. He only has visits scheduled at Michigan (Sept. 14) and Arkansas (Sept. 20).

If he commits to Kentucky, it would be a great addition to Kentucky’s frontcourt for the 2026-27 season.

Kentucky Reacts

In this week’s Kentucky Reacts survey, the majority of fans voted for Denzel Aberdeen to be UK’s third starter in the backcourt next to Jaland Lowe and Otega Oweh.

This survey was brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook.

Rising senior Miikka Muurinen has included Indiana in his final seven schools.

The 6-foot-11 forward from Finland will also consider Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, Michigan, NC State, and North Carolina going forward.

According to the average of the national rankings, Muurinen is the nation’s No. 8 overall prospect and the No. 1 power forward in the 2026 class.

The 5-star attends Compass Prep in Arizona for high school.

Muurinen has already visited Arkansas and Michigan.  The IU staff is working to get him on campus for a visit.

Indiana has been involved with Muurinen since the new staff took over in the spring.  He formally announced an IU offer earlier this week.

Muurinen has not laid out a timeline to announce his college decision.  His junior season high school highlights are below.

For a complete look at all of Indiana’s 2026 targets, GO HERE.

 For complete coverage of IU basketball recruiting, GO HERE.   

The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”

Related

Women’s sports are in the spotlight this month as South Africa’s Banyana Banyana defend their WAFCON title, taking on Africa’s greatest players. With a victory against Ghana already under their belts, we’ll be tuning in to watch them stand up to Tanzania on Friday, 11 July, and Mali on Monday, 14 July. In the meantime, women’s football teams are also taking advantage of the Premier League off-season to get their time in the sun, at the Women’s Euros. It’s all live on Showmax Premier League now … but not every day is match day.

If you’re on fire to see women and girls kicking butt and snatching trophies through great teamwork, skill, and the power of will, we have some series and documentaries for you. Press play to see what it takes to become a champion, from the netball court to the race track.

Quick ticket links

Obstruction Season 1

Breekpunt Season 1

Spinners Season 1

Inside Spinners

Trompoppie Season 1

Reënboogrant Season 1 

Dare Me Season 1

Cheer, Drama, Murder

Makofi Season 1-3

Champions Season 1

Mr Throwback Season 1

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Season 1-2

Ballers Season 1-5

Edge of the Earth Season 1

Lionesses Part 1 and Lionesses Part 2

Breaking Records the Gerda Steyn Story

The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez

Black Ferns, a Redemption

Lindsey Vonn The Final Season

Angel City Season 1

The Fastest Woman on Earth

Unstoppable: The Rebecca Nagel Story

Shine

Hero starts with her

Netball

Obstruction Season 1

Sports drama from Thembakuye Madlala, the creator of Showmax Original series Youngins. Seventeen-year-old Zenokuhle (Luyanda Zuma) has big dreams of making the Gauteng provincial netball team. But getting around her opponents on the court is child’s play compared to overcoming the obstacles in her everyday life, starting with her mom, Thandiwe (Bukamina Cebekhulu), who’s decided to uproot them and transfer Zenokuhle to a new school with a lacklustre netball team. While Zenokuhle blames her mom, her dad Mandla’s (Menzi Biyela) gambling addiction might be the root of the family’s troubles.

Tennis

Breekpunt Season 1

When 18-year-old Ashleigh Joshua (Spinners and Wyfie star Chelsea Thomas) sets her sights on becoming an international tennis champion, her mom Rozlynne (Lorcia Cooper Kumalo) and dad Dwayne (Sherman Faro) are more inclined to douse her dreams in cold water, than to cheer her on. There’s a strong message that “this is not for the likes of you”. But as Ashleigh’s talent shines, smart, ambitious Rozlynne faces a tough choice whether to stand up for her daughter, and stand up to her husband. Breekpunt’s tennis advisors included Pieter Becker, director of the High Performance Tennis Academy. 

Spinning

Spinners Season 1

We’re not talking about those spin cycle classes at the gym, we’re talking about extreme motorsport street car stunt performers. One of the drivers grabbing the Red Bull by the horns is Amber (Chelsea Thomas), the best young woman Spinner in The Hills. Her character is based on real-life driver Kayla Olifant, who was Chelsea’s stunt driver – especially for death-defying moves like her “suicide slide” in which she hangs backwards out of her driver’s side window, with her hair nearly touching the ground while her car drives in perfect circles. Don’t tell the insurance; we’d like to keep our woman driver discounts.

Also watch: For an inside look at Spinners’ stunts and more, watch the making-of doccie, Inside Spinners.

Cheerleading

Trompoppie Season 1

In the Showmax Original murder-mystery series Trompoppie, the rich Patterson family take shy, ambitious gymnast Luna (Melissa Myburgh) under their wing believing that she has the star quality to boost their daughter Zanne’s (Celeste Loots) Deacon College cheerleading squad to the next level. But when Zanne goes missing during Luna’s top secret initiation ceremony, everyone’s lacquered claws point at the new girl. If you’re a cheer-lover, this is unmissable. Aside from having backgrounds in dance and gymnastics, the cast trained and ate like real trompoppies for months – and Jane de Wet (Valerie) was a real-life cheerleader for the DHL Stormers and the IPL in India, while Maite Rakabe (Tracy) was a stunt performer on the movie The Woman King. 

Reënboogrant Season 1 

In this Showmax Original series inspired by Louise van Niekerk’s young adult novels, Hoërskool Reënboogrant Rhinos cheerleader Shani Brink (Minke Marais) has big dreams of translating her skills on the squad to a career in modelling or being an actress. Performance is performance. But she’s surrounded by mean girl frenemies looking to topple her off the pyramid – like rich girl Rachelle Labuschagne (Marelee Ferreira), and jealous social media terror Tina Swanepoel (Cara Kruger). And if you’ve seen Shani going “one one and two” at cheerleader practice, you know she’s not quite ready to step it up like a Trompoppie. 

Dare Me Season 1

American cheerleader drama series based on Megan Abbott’s novel of the same name. Sutton Grove High School’s cheerleading squad takes a dark turn after they get a new coach, Colette French (Willa Fitzgerald), who starts making drastic changes like body shaming the girls, demoting squad captain Beth Cassidy (Marlo Kelly), and elevating Beth’s quiet best friend, Addy (Herizen Guardiola). On the surface and on the field it’s all smiles and chummy togetherness, but underneath, it seems all too easy to turn young women’s competitive natures against one another. When your power structure is a pyramid, everyone wants to be on top. 

Also watch: The murder-mystery movie Cheer, Drama, Murder

Boxing

Makofi Season 1-3

Zambian boxing drama. Women can dish it out and take it! Anna (Chimwemwe Zulu) a passionate young boxer, inherits her dad’s Makofi Boxing Club after he dies in front of her in the middle of a match. Despite fierce opposition from the woman who used to be her greatest supporter – her mom, Izukanji (Yoko Chimanja) – hordes of haters including her sister Kalumba (Chacha Cottan), and the fact that her dad’s business partner Joe (Philip J Ngabwe) might be fighting dirty, Anna gets her gloves up and fights for her dreams at home and in the ring. And in doing so, she opens a space in the ring for women like her.

Sidelined!

Women might not be on the field, but they’re calling the shots behind the scenes in these series: 

Champions Season 1: Sne Modise (Jo-Anne Reyneke) takes charge of her family’s business – Soshanguve Giants Football Club.

Mr Throwback Season 1: Kimberly (Ego Nwodim) runs (real-life) basketball star Stephen Curry’s documentary film production company, Curry Up and Wait Productions, in this comedy series.

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Season 1-2: Claire Rothman (Gaby Hoffmann) is the first and only woman managing a major sports arena, the Forum, while Jeanie Buss (Hadley Robinson), daughter of LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss (John C Reilly), Jerry’s mom and bookkeeper Jessie Buss (Sally Field), marketing guru Linda Zafrani (Molly Gordon), and Laker Girls cheerleader head choreographer Paula Abdul (Carina Conti) rattle some cages as they try to make themselves heard above men’s egos in the business.

Ballers Season 1-5: High-profile sports journalist Tracy Legette (Arielle Kebbel) knows all the NFL’s darkest secrets and has the players’ best interests in mind in Seasons 1, 2 and 5 of this comedy-drama about the business of American Football.

Doccies

Edge of the Earth Season 1: HBO documentary miniseries on elite athletes taking part in extreme sports expeditions. Look out for mountaineer and free climber Emily Harrington, snowboarder Elena Hight, and canoeist Nouria Newman. 

Lionesses Part 1 and Lionesses Part 2: A behind-the-scenes documentary on the England women’s football team’s 2022 UEFA victory, and how they overcame massive obstacles including attitudes that sidelined them while the lion’s share of resources went to the men’s team.

Breaking Records the Gerda Steyn Story: Documentary on the South African ultramarathon runner and multiple-time Two Oceans and Comrades Marathon winner, following her 2024 running season. 

The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez: Her story reads like the script for Million Dollar Baby, but MMA athlete Tatiana overcame a broken neck during the 2012 Summer Olympics, and cancer, to come back and win the 2023 season of reality series The Ultimate Fighter.

Black Ferns, a Redemption: Documentary tracing the rise of the New Zealand women’s rugby team the Black Ferns, from underdogs status to winning the 2021 Rugby World Cup.

Lindsey Vonn The Final Season: This gripping documentary follows 34-year-old downhill skiing champion Lindsey Vonn as a 2019 knee injury derails her plan to break the career record set by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark for most World Cup wins (86). 

Angel City Season 1: A three-part docuseries about the origins of Angel City Football Club, a Los Angeles-based professional women’s soccer team whose financial backers include Uzo Aduba, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria and Natalie Portman.

The Fastest Woman on Earth: HBO documentary on Jessi Combs, the racing driver, metal fabricator and Mythbusters Host, on a mission to break the women’s land speed record – set at 825 km/h by Kitty O’Neil in 1976 – and then to top her own record. 

Unstoppable: The Rebecca Nagel Story: In 2014 Rebecca Nagel lost the use of her legs in a car accident. But on 18 June 2022, Rebecca became the first-ever woman to complete a half marathon trail event. This South African documentary joins her on the trail.

Shine: Documentary. Nigerian sports journalist Tracy Chapele-Ugo is one of four fans in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana, who are going above and beyond to make football more enjoyable for others in their local community.