UC Bearcats basketball coach Wes Miller with Lukosius, Bandaogo in KC
UC Bearcats basketball coach Wes Miller with Simas Lukosius and Aziz Bandaogo at Big 12 media days
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – If all goes well, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball team will be in the T-Mobile Center hoisting a Big 12 championship trophy in five months.
For now, Coach Wes Miller’s men are here with the No. 20 Associated Press preseason ranking and the No. 20 ranking in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, the program’s first preseason being ranked since 2017 when Mick Cronin’s Bearcats began at No. 12.
Arguably the best college basketball league around, the Big 12 boasts the No. 1 preseason team in the Kansas Jayhawks, the No. 4 Houston Cougars, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 8 Baylor, No. 10 Arizona and the Bearcats at No. 20. Also receiving votes were Texas Tech with 58 votes, Kansas State with 37, BYU with 14 and Arizona State with two.
USA TODAY had Kansas No. 1, Houston No. 4, Iowa State No. 6, Baylor No. 8, Arizona No. 9 and UC 20th.
“It’s fact, I don’t think it’s an opinion,” UC coach Miller said of Big 12 supremacy. “Look at the numbers. Look at average NET rankings for the last five years. What’s interesting is not just the top, and it’s incredible at the top, the middle and the bottom have been better than all of the other Power Five leagues.”
Miller says he doesn’t care about the preseason rankings but does say it’s great for the attention it brings the program and fans.
“I like that our players get to see when you choose to come back, people recognize that,” Miller said. “In terms of what it means when the ball goes up in a couple weeks that stuff’s out the window.”
NCAA tournament or bust for UC?
At 22-15 (7-11 Big 12) UC made the NIT quarterfinals for a second straight year. Via the portal they added former five-star recruit and four-star-ranked transfer Dillon Mitchell from Texas, four-star guard Connor Hickman from Bradley and four-star pivot Arrinten Page from USC.
From high school, four-star Tyler Betsey picked UC over Alabama and Connecticut. Local four-star Tyler McKinley also joined the fold but will miss this season with a knee injury suffered in preseason practice.
In their Ohio State dress rehearsal, Mitchell didn’t miss a shot and led the team in scoring (12) and rebounding with seven. Page had six points and five boards in a little over 16 minutes and Betsey had seven points.
“We’re always looking for someone who aligns with who we are,” Miller said of Mitchell. “The next thing is how does that person fit in with those returning core guys? We felt Dillon fit in so well and his versatility allowed him to play in so many spots. I think people have seen what we saw there. Who Dillon is the first couple weeks of the season is not going to be who he is in January, February and March.”
Oh yeah, Dan Skillings Jr., Jizzle James, Simas Lukošius, Day Day Thomas, Aziz Bandaogo, C.J. Fredrick, Josh Reed and C.J. Anthony are back along with Rayvon Griffith who hit a 3-pointer and a dunk in his minutes against the Buckeyes.
In KC for UC
Wes Miller brought seniors Lukošius and Bandaogo to Kansas City this fall. Day Day Thomas was scheduled to make the trip but aggravated a foot injury the night before in a scrimmage. The injury is not believed to be a long-term issue.
“He had the broken foot in the NIT last year and had surgery,” Miller said. “Everything was going according to plan up ’til the end of practice yesterday. He had a little bit of a setback on the foot. Not serious, but out of precaution we held him back to do treatment today. I think it’s a day-to-day thing. Nothing to be alarmed about. This media day is not quite as important as our season. We didn’t think it was serious, but (there’s) a little bit of discomfort in that foot. We’re just trying to be safe.”
Day Day Thomas injury update
By the time Miller and the players had moved to breakout interview sessions on the T-Mobile Center floor, the UC coach had spoken to Thomas and had an update.
“He says he feels better today than he did last night,” Miller said. “That’s usually a pretty good sign. I don’t want to think about him not starting the season, that’s a couple weeks away.”
Thomas missed the last two NIT games last season but is back after starting all 35 games he played in 2023-24. In the scrimmage vs. Ohio State, Thomas came off the bench and had 11 points and six assists. He was third on the team in scoring last season (10.4 points per game) behind Skillings and Lukošius.
Aziz Bandaogo ready for full season
This time last year, UC was hoping to gain the eligibility of 7-foot Aziz Bandaogo through the courts. Now, the native of Senegal will get a full season.
“I’m grateful to be here,” Bandaogo said. “Last year I got an opportunity and now I feel like everything is great. I learned from it.”
The Big 12 has a marketing agreement with WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). As such, there was a wrestling title belt next to the championship trophies on display at halfcourt of the T-Mobile Center. Bandaogo would like the trophy and the belt.
“That is our goal for sure to win it all,” Bandaogo said. “We have a lot of people coming back so I feel like that would be great.”
Simas Lukošius looking for consistency
The 6-foot-8 Lithuanian long-range bomber was UC’s most reliable shooter late last season. Battling injuries early last season, he hopes this season is a more representative example of his talents.
“I was frustrated that it couldn’t be my whole year,” Lukošius said of his winter surge. “Consistency has been a thing I wanted to take a big step in from year to year. Hopefully, this upcoming year is when I have my most consistent year.”
Confidence and consistency go hand-in-hand and the Bearcats looked and felt pretty good in their Ohio State exhibition win, even though Coach Miller wants them to keep it in perspective.
“It was just fun to test it out against a different jersey,” Lukošius said. “It helped to be able to compare and watch film and work on some things we may have not noticed before.”
Re-recruiting Cincinnati Bearcats
Miller’s biggest accomplishment may be getting nine players off of last year’s roster to return (Skillings, Thomas, James, Griffith, Fredrick, Reed, Anthony, Lukošius and Bandaogo).
In remarks at Fifth Third Arena recently, Dan Skillings Jr. mentioned that many UC players had better offers, but stayed.
“Celebrate those guys that came back this year,” Miller said. “It’s a big deal. It wasn’t easy. They came back for the right reasons. They believed in what we were doing and they freakin’ love playing for Cincinnati and going to school at Cincinnati and living in the city. Celebrate that and I think that will encourage more to do it. That will help us.”
Skillings started the Ohio State exhibition along with Mitchell, Lukošius, Bandaogo and a focused Jizzle James.
“His competitive spirit, his competitive will, his edge, and Day Day the same way, I think that’s what we’re about,” Miller said.
What’s next?
The Bearcats have a “secret scrimmage” with Pittsburgh (Miller let that slip the other night). UC sources place it this coming weekend north of Cincinnati. The home opener at Fifth Third Arena is Monday, Nov. 4 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. By Nov. 23 they have to be in synch enough to travel to Georgia Tech of the ACC and on Dec. 3, then they’re in Philadelphia against Villanova of the Big East.
Xavier, which just dismantled Dayton in their CareSource Charity Classic 98-74, comes to Fifth Third Arena for the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout Dec. 14.
The bottom line is Miller is focused on the now and not so much the non-conference battles with Georgia Tech, Villanova, Xavier and Dayton.
“We’re a one-day-at-a-time program,” Miller said. “We’re in Cincinnati, we play in the Big 12, my guess is we’re going to get our butts challenged. That’s fun and we’re looking forward to that.”
The Big 12 menu begins at Kansas State Dec. 30 with the home Big 12 opener against Arizona Jan. 4.
