Is this an improved season, or historic collapse?

If you're the kind of person who takes a "glass half full" approach to things, you can look at the first part of the Knights record and see 14-6 and be impressed.

They're one win away from last year's win total, and should surely pass it. And improvement is improvement, right?

On the other hand, there's that second part of the record. You know, there's a comma, than another record. And that one is ugly.

1-6.

The Knights (14-6, 1-6) did a lot of things right in non-conference play this season. A perfect record of 13-0 kind of reflects that. They beat teams they were supposed to, consistently; something that wasn't the case last year (anybody remember losing to the Jacksonville Dolphins at the UCF Arena?).

They even beat some teams they weren't supposed to. While it seems about a thousand years ago, given the current state of things, the win against then-No. 16 Florida was one of the biggest for the school in any sport.

It was something the Knights had failed to do under former coach Kirk Speraw: notch signature wins. This season they had two, one against Florida and the other in beating Miami at a neutral site that was practically a home game for the Hurricanes.

New coach Donnie Jones made it clear that he'd arrived.

But the problem is that every team's out of conference schedule is a buildup to league play. They're games against, in some cases, completely random teams (Southeastern Louisiana?) that are designed to prepare a team for — you guessed it — league play.

Then comes the start of conference play and it gets personal.

Where a coaching staff might spend a few days prepping for an out-of-conference opponent, they spend all season prepping for those in their league. Last season's wins or losses are fresh in their minds, even if they say otherwise.

Now combine that with the fact that the Knights are clearly in a slump.

They're not playing good basketball. A team that was shooting near 50 percent most games now can't hit anything (30 percent shooting against Rice) and that was great at defending the perimeter with tenacious defense just got lit up for 30 points in three pointers by UAB on 50 percent three point shooting.

It's not an excuse, it's reality. Teams slump, and it's how they handle this that defines them.

And it's not like the Knights haven't played bad basketball before this season. But earlier this season they executed their adjustments to cover their weaknesses much better, something that has hardly happened recently during the losing streak. They also got lucky and played some of their bad basketball against bad teams, and athleticism and coaching was enough for them to still win comfortably.

That isn't the case now. All of these teams have been waiting all season for a chance at the Knights. Marcus Jordan's highlight-reel plays early in the season popping up on ESPN and UCF's first national ranking didn't help. The Knights had a target on their backs before, but it's doubled in size.

And just because they're down now, don't think the teams ahead on the schedule aren't still anxious to destroy them. I know of a team and a fan base that has a home game coming up against the Knights and their former coach that probably has no qualms about kicking the Knights while they're down. Marshall probably wouldn't be completely satisfied if they won by a hundred.

Simply put, it's the reality of league play that is hurting the Knights most. Conference USA is much improved this season, notching wins against power conference teams, three of which came from the Knights. Now, the conference is beating up on each other, and with no team undefeated in league play it really is a case of anybody can beat anybody.

UCF is one win away from getting some confidence back. Getting that win will give the Knights the opportunity to build some momentum before the conference tournament.

There will be no at-large bid for the Knights, but they still have something to play for. Getting hot in time for the C-USA Tournament in El Paso, Texas, could be the saving grace for the second half of this season.

They just need that win.