TicketsCINCINNATI -- The time has come.
This fall in Clifton has lived up to the anticipation of Cincinnati's inaugural Big 12 season, highlighted by FOX's Big Noon Kickoff from the Bearcats Commons for the football conference opener.
Now, as the clocks fall back and the temperatures slip, the heat cranks up in Fifth Third Arena for the most-anticipated slate in over a decade.
"I think when fans see our team on the floor, they'll be excited about the depth, length, size, athleticism and mentality," head coach Wes Miller said. "I think the thing that's been neat is seeing how it's evolved over the last couple of years. This team is continuing to grow that mentality. It's been a steady growth since I've been here, and this team will take another huge step there if we take care of things in practice."
Miller and Co. welcomed seven newcomers this season: four transfers (Aziz Bandaogo, CJ Fredrick, Simas Lukosius, Jamille Reynolds) two high-level freshmen (Rayvon Griffith, Jizzle James) and an explosive junior-college point guard in Day Day Thomas.
"The one thing we do have is we have a really solid nucleus of returners that make it feel like it's not just a brand-new team," Miller said. "I mean, Ody [Oguama] and Vik [Viktor Lakhin] and in particular, John Newman. I can keep kind of going down the list here, those six guys, but those guys bring that continuity and that older leadership to a group so it doesn't feel like you're just trying to work with a new team completely.
"They get into practice and they know the drills and they know the points of emphasis so we're actually a lot farther along this year in terms of where we are in practice and where we are as a team, given the transfers and the freshmen."
Last year's Cincinnati team, which had its highest-scoring season (77.1 ppg) since 2001-02, took a step forward with its first postseason appearance since 2019, first winning a raucous, tightly-contested home game against Virginia Tech, followed by coast-to-coast trips to Hofstra and Utah Valley that allowed not just more game experience, but practice time too.
Oguama averaged 8.7 points and rebounds per game over that stretch, all ahead of his season averages after earning a starting role for good on Jan. 5. Dan Skillings, a freshman who flashed his dazzling moves throughout the season and scored a career-high 20 points in the AAC Championship opener, also embodied the significance of added March reps.
Miller acknowledged that most in his locker room started playing basketball when they could first walk, while Skillings first played at the organized level in ninth grade but still managed to rank as high as No. 41 nationally out of Philadelphia's Roman Catholic HS.
"That learning curve just isn't quite as big and that's allowing him to go play with his natural instincts and gifts that we've all seen flashes of," Miller said. "I think we'll see that more consistently because he didn't have to think quite as much and he's worked really hard. He's worked hard on his body. He's worked really hard on his skill set in his game. You can see that kind of improvement. I say this to our team all the time, the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores."
Miller champions UC as a "Program of Development," embodied by the staff's focus on every facet of basketball, strength and conditioning and mental well-being. Miller and the staff make a point to dap up each player as they warm up at practice and take time out of their schedules for coffee-shop meetings and more. Even on the general athletics department end, UC has added its own three-person, in-house Sports Psychology staff as well as its first-ever Director of Performance Nutrition.
"Growing up as a young person, we define what development means, and we have a plan of how we execute that every day," Miller said. "We're really proud of that the guys that have been in this program, and the longer they're here, the more they develop, and we're proud of that growth."
With the aforementioned seven newcomers, which is certainly part of the game across all corners of the country, the program's efforts to attract the new players it wants while retaining those who see the fruits of their labor from their time in Clifton.
"When you have some guys that have been a part of that process on the team, it helps buy in from those new players because they see, number one, the example of how to do it," Miller said. "The guys that are returning are a great example of how to do it. Then number two, it helps them buy in because those guys have bought in and believe in what we're doing."
Another chapter is set to be written. Stars have been born in the MAC, Missouri Valley, Metro, Great Midwest, Conference USA, Big East and American and adorned in the annals of UC basketball lore. What happens next now takes place in the nation's most powerful basketball league.
This fall in Clifton has lived up to the anticipation of Cincinnati's inaugural Big 12 season, highlighted by FOX's Big Noon Kickoff from the Bearcats Commons for the football conference opener.
Now, as the clocks fall back and the temperatures slip, the heat cranks up in Fifth Third Arena for the most-anticipated slate in over a decade.
"I think when fans see our team on the floor, they'll be excited about the depth, length, size, athleticism and mentality," head coach Wes Miller said. "I think the thing that's been neat is seeing how it's evolved over the last couple of years. This team is continuing to grow that mentality. It's been a steady growth since I've been here, and this team will take another huge step there if we take care of things in practice."
Miller and Co. welcomed seven newcomers this season: four transfers (Aziz Bandaogo, CJ Fredrick, Simas Lukosius, Jamille Reynolds) two high-level freshmen (Rayvon Griffith, Jizzle James) and an explosive junior-college point guard in Day Day Thomas.
"The one thing we do have is we have a really solid nucleus of returners that make it feel like it's not just a brand-new team," Miller said. "I mean, Ody [Oguama] and Vik [Viktor Lakhin] and in particular, John Newman. I can keep kind of going down the list here, those six guys, but those guys bring that continuity and that older leadership to a group so it doesn't feel like you're just trying to work with a new team completely.
"They get into practice and they know the drills and they know the points of emphasis so we're actually a lot farther along this year in terms of where we are in practice and where we are as a team, given the transfers and the freshmen."
Last year's Cincinnati team, which had its highest-scoring season (77.1 ppg) since 2001-02, took a step forward with its first postseason appearance since 2019, first winning a raucous, tightly-contested home game against Virginia Tech, followed by coast-to-coast trips to Hofstra and Utah Valley that allowed not just more game experience, but practice time too.
Oguama averaged 8.7 points and rebounds per game over that stretch, all ahead of his season averages after earning a starting role for good on Jan. 5. Dan Skillings, a freshman who flashed his dazzling moves throughout the season and scored a career-high 20 points in the AAC Championship opener, also embodied the significance of added March reps.
Miller acknowledged that most in his locker room started playing basketball when they could first walk, while Skillings first played at the organized level in ninth grade but still managed to rank as high as No. 41 nationally out of Philadelphia's Roman Catholic HS.
"That learning curve just isn't quite as big and that's allowing him to go play with his natural instincts and gifts that we've all seen flashes of," Miller said. "I think we'll see that more consistently because he didn't have to think quite as much and he's worked really hard. He's worked hard on his body. He's worked really hard on his skill set in his game. You can see that kind of improvement. I say this to our team all the time, the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores."
Miller champions UC as a "Program of Development," embodied by the staff's focus on every facet of basketball, strength and conditioning and mental well-being. Miller and the staff make a point to dap up each player as they warm up at practice and take time out of their schedules for coffee-shop meetings and more. Even on the general athletics department end, UC has added its own three-person, in-house Sports Psychology staff as well as its first-ever Director of Performance Nutrition.
"Growing up as a young person, we define what development means, and we have a plan of how we execute that every day," Miller said. "We're really proud of that the guys that have been in this program, and the longer they're here, the more they develop, and we're proud of that growth."
With the aforementioned seven newcomers, which is certainly part of the game across all corners of the country, the program's efforts to attract the new players it wants while retaining those who see the fruits of their labor from their time in Clifton.
"When you have some guys that have been a part of that process on the team, it helps buy in from those new players because they see, number one, the example of how to do it," Miller said. "The guys that are returning are a great example of how to do it. Then number two, it helps them buy in because those guys have bought in and believe in what we're doing."
Another chapter is set to be written. Stars have been born in the MAC, Missouri Valley, Metro, Great Midwest, Conference USA, Big East and American and adorned in the annals of UC basketball lore. What happens next now takes place in the nation's most powerful basketball league.