By: Paul Nienaber
As November rounds the corner, Bearcats Basketball follows close behind. The 2024-2025 University of Cincinnati Men’s Basketball team looks for its most promising season since Mick Cronin’s departure after the NCAA tournament first round exit in the 2018-2019 season.
This year’s team is headlined by sophomore Jizzle James and Junior Dan Skillings Jr. The team is looking for a sophomore jump from James after his incredible freshman season, appearing in all 37 games. During this time, he averaged almost nine points per game, the most from a Bearcat freshman in almost a decade (Jacob Evans 2014-2015). Skillings Jr on the other hand brought consistency to the team last year, scoring 10 or more points in 25 of the 36 games he played in. This put him in position to be the Bearcats leading scorer with 12.9 points per game.
Head Coach Wes Miller is confident about his second year in the Big12 conference. However, Miller does not shy away from the fact that this is as strong as any conference to be playing division one basketball. In his appearance on the Let’s Reign Podcast Miller tells host Dan Hoard, “We have some of the great teams in the country in our league. More than you can count.” According to the AP Preseason poll there are six teams from the Big12 ranked in the top 25. UC happens to be placed 20th, behind all five of the other teams previously mentioned.
With a challenging conference schedule ahead of them, the Bearcats also have a tough series of non-conference matchups including Xavier, Villanova, and Dayton. Regardless Wes Miller and his team are up for the challenge, and ready to take on Arkansas – Pine Bluff in just under a week on November 4th at Fifth Third Arena.