CINCINNATI — Ready or not, Big 12 basketball is coming to Cincinnati this season. Widely regarded as the best college basketball conference in the country, the Cincinnati Bearcats have a steep challenge ahead.
The Bearcats are led by third-year Head Coach Wes Miller, who likes to lean on the ‘positives’ surrounding his program.
“What's different about this year, we return, you know, six really important pieces that have been with us, you know, one or two years now and that, 10 years ago, that might not sound like a lot but in today's climate, to have that continuity, to have guys that have played meaningful minutes for you (is a good thing),” Miller said.
Due to NIL and the transfer portal, retention is becoming increasingly rare in college basketball. Miller is very encouraged about his returners.
“We’ve built a culture, a day-to-day approach that I think our guys have a lot of pride in. It's not easy, it's not for everybody. But I think they feel a part of it and they want to continue to be a part of it… Retention is incredibly important now because it really helps you separate from others,” Miller said.
A lot of the Bearcats culture comes from Miller and his staff’s care for their players.
“They deal with so much more than we dealt with on a day-to-day basis… I think it is so important that we're attentive to their mental health. Not because kids have changed, they just deal with so much more than we dealt with, you know, back in my playing days,” Miller said.
Miller makes it a point to build relationships with each player. He's known to go on “coffee dates” with several players, to talk about life outside of basketball.
“Players want to feel and know that you care about them to do that…You have to have great relationships with them, but it's not always strategic as much as I really do enjoy the part of building relationships with our players,” Miller said.
Miller stresses the idea of a “basketball family”. Cincinnati is gaining a freshman class to his “family” that has drawn national attention.
“I think we added a number of pieces that can really impact our program. And so you look up and down the roster and it's all guys that we built relationships with for a long time in recruiting before we coached them. And that has a little bit different of a feel too,” Miller said.
The Freshman class is highlighted by Jizzle James, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer, running back Edgerrin James.
“He’s not just an NFL Hall of Famer's son, he’s a damn good competitor and damn good competitor himself… his work ethic is different than maybe any freshman I’ve ever seen. His focus is different than maybe and freshman I’ve ever seen,” Miller said about James.
Former Taft High School star and Cincinnati native, Rayvon Griffith, is another freshman fans are excited about.
“We all feel so much love and compassion for him right away because he is a highly, highly-recruited, highly-rated young player that chose Cincinnati over a bunch of other great choices. He did that before anybody else did. He will always have a really special place with me regardless of the other stuff he does because he kind of started something here with his decision to come here. He kind of put us in recruiting on the national map with a bunch of other prospects,” Miller said.
Former Kilgore College guard Day Day Thomas is another newcomer that is expected to make an immediate impact.
New faces contributing will be vital for Cincinnati as they transition to the Big 12.
“We're going into the best league in the country. It's kind of how I talk about our freshman, I want it to be right away. I want us to figure it out right away and I believe we can, but we will figure it out. There's certain things we just don't know, we haven't played in that league. We don't have players that have played in that league. We don't have coaches that have coached in that league. It's going to take a little time, but I do believe we can figure it out relatively quickly,” Miller said.
Coach Miller and the Bearcats will need to figure out the heightened competition quickly if they want to achieve their main goal.
“Bottom line, this is Cincinnati basketball. We should be playing in the NCAA Tournament and doing a lot more than that. And I think it's not going to be easy, but I think we have an opportunity to do that this year with our team and playing in a league where every night you play a game that helps build your resume for the NCAA tournament,” Miller said.
Miller and the Bearcats beginning their journey toward March on Monday. Cincinnati tips off their season on Monday against UIC.
