UCF does not have the greatest, most prolific basketball history. There were peak moments when the school from the tiny Atlantic Sun Conference made the NCAA Tournament and the program has slowly tried to climb the conference ladder. But this was never a strong basketball program.
Only two players from UCF have ever been to the NBA, and both happened in the last decade. This is not a peak time in UCF basketball history as the team transitioned from Kirk Speraw to Donnie Jones to Johnny Dawkins now.
One of those players though was truly special. Jermaine Taylor averaged 26.2 points per game his senior year and did get a cup of tea in the NBA. He played parts of two seasons in the league with the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings in 2010 and 2011.
And then nothing.
He played in Spain, Israel, China and New Zealand. He has been everywhere in the basketball world waiting for another shot. This supreme scorer, the best player in UCF’s basketball history most likely, is on the outside looking in.
But the door is not completely closed. Taylor is still trying to make his NBA comeback, even after taking a dreaded year off.
“You have no idea how hungry I am right now,” Taylor told Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. “My whole life is designed around basketball. Between the time I wake up in the morning and the time I go to sleep at night, everything I do is about basketball. I changed my diet completely and started juicing. It’s why I endure intense workouts several times a day. It’s why I changed my sleep schedule. It’s why I’m starting yoga five times a week, deep-tissue massages three times a week and cryotherapy-chamber treatments three times per week. Hungry doesn’t begin to describe this. Starving doesn’t describe it either. There isn’t a word for what I’m feeling right now.”
That year away from the game can hurt a player on the fringes. It is easy for general managers to lose notice. There is only so many roster spots available and so many new players entering the market each year.
Taylor took a year off to get himself back into shape after a torn ACL in 2014, trying to get back to the impressive scoring numbers he put up in UCF and got him that NBA cup of coffee. That time proved Taylor could compete in the NBA.
Taylor is trying to prove that again and appears to have put in the work to make his NBA dreams a reality again. He has worked out with Pat Burke in the Orlando area and played with Courtney Lee. Everyone seems to believe Taylor can still contribute something to a NBA team.
Only time will tell if Taylor can crack the NBA once again.
