Cincinnati Bearcats basketball enters Big 12 media days with great anticipation

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.

Cincinnati Bearcats guard Jizzle James (2) knocks down a 3-pointer in UC’s 80-62 exhibition win over Ohio State Oct. 18.

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…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/cincinnati-bearcats-basketball-enters-big-213315679.html

Author : The Enquirer

Publish date : 2024-10-23 21:33:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.