TicketsCincinnati head men's basketball coach Wes Miller and graduate guard David DeJulius met with the media on Tuesday as the Bearcats prepared to host Xavier on Saturday (3 p.m., ESPN2) in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout.
Below are samples from Miller's press conference.
On if his second game against Xavier will feel different from the first
"I don't know if I've thought that deeply about it relative to last year, but it's different when you have some type of perspective and experience, and as I've mentioned a number of times it's a big time of game as we have in college basketball. Been really fortunate to be a part of some really, really cool rivalries and really cool games and it's as good if not better than any game I've ever been a part of in terms of what it means to people in the community, and the energy in the building and that was on the road last year. So that's the perspective it's not just something you've heard about it's something you've experienced, we certainly didn't play well last year. So that's kind of stuck with us for a long time. So, I hope you play better basketball and I'm certainly really excited to see what the environments are like here in Clifton."
On the freshenn getting a lot of playing time and how it will help them going forward
"There's silver lining to any situation. And that's certainly the way that I've always approached coaching and always tried to get our teams to approach it is you can't control anything that's going to happen. You know, things happen. That's just life, that's just basketball, but you can control how you respond to it. Generally over the course of the season, all kinds of stuff happens and if you respond the right way to it it's going to be better for your program, not just long term, but in the short term and like losing John (Newman) and losing Rob (Phinisee), those are things that you don't want to happen they have but there's good things that come from that even though they're things you didn't want to happen. One of the good things is it's given opportunity to younger players, and it's given an opportunity for older players to be in different roles. Guys will grow and our team will grow, and our program will grow. We handle that the right way. I don't think of Josh (Reed) and Dan (Skillings) and Sage (Tolentino) getting meaningful minutes right now. It's just something that's good for three years from now I'm thinking about it's something that's good for our team right now. Because they're talented, gifted players. They can help our team win and the more they get out there and get in the fire and make mistakes and learn from them, the better they're going to be and I do think those guys are going to be great for Cincinnati basketball three years from now. I think they're going to be great for Cincinnati basketball this year. And the earlier they get out there the better."
On new football head coach Scott Satterfield
"I met him yesterday just walking through the hall. He was walking to an event. It wasn't that long ago that I was going through that same day. So, I understand how crazy it is. I just met him and his wife and his son said hello and tried to welcome them to Cincinnati and try not to take too much of his time, I've sent him a text. He's responded and two things about that. Number one, I'm thrilled that we have a guy in position. I know that you guys are thrilled so you don't to figure it out anymore, but I'm thrilled for our student-athletes on the football team that are still here and still trying to figure it out because that's a strange time. I'm thrilled that we can now move forward. That's great for our department, our institution. The second thing is when I got here, Luke Fickell went way out of his way, way out of his way to help me and help me transition. I'll never forget that. So, if I'm in any type of position where I can do something similar for somebody, I'll pay that forward and I'll do that with Scott in any way that I can. I've already let him know I'm here and I'm available, but I also understand what he's going through. The third thing is I think Cincinnati's figuring it out now. You go get guys that were born and raised in North Carolina to coach, things will be just fine. I do like that he grew up about an hour from where I was born, and a lot of the area that I grew up in as well, so I'm sure that we get a chance to visit. We know a lot of the same people and come from the same part of the country."