Joining the Big 12 earlier this month hasn’t deterred Wes Miller from his primary goal as the head coach of Cincinnati.
If you coach at Fifth Third Arena, you don’t have much of a choice.
There’s one way to measure a successful season when you’re the head coach of the Bearcats and that’s whether or not you earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“The standard at Cincinnati is you play in the NCAA Tournament,” Miller said Monday on this week’s edition of the College Hoops Today Podcast. “It’s one of the reasons why I wanted to be the head coach here. We understand that as a staff. The guys that we’re recruiting understand that. The guys in our program understand that. It’s something that we’re very aware of.”
Joining the Big 12 should put Cincinnati in a better position to hear its name called on Selection Sunday. The Bearcats only played a total of 10 Quad 1 games last season as a member of the American Athletic Conference while each team in the Big 12 played an average of 21.
Cincinnati advanced to nine straight NCAA Tournaments from 2011-19 under current UCLA head coach Mick Cronin, but hasn’t been back since.
The Bearcats were 20-10 during the 2019-20 season prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and were in position to make the NCAA Tournament that year thanks a veteran nucleus of Jarron Cumberland, Keith Williams, and Tre Scott.
Cincinnati is a combined 32-21 in its first two seasons under Miller and was picked 11th in this week’s Big 12 Offseason Breakdown.
Leftovers
- Arizona, San Diego State finalizing agreement to meet on December 20th in Phoenix
- CBS Sports Podcast (5/12) — UNLV’s Josh Pastner
- Louisville, Cincinnati finalizing agreement to play two-year neutral site series
- CBS Sports Podcast (5/8) — Xavier’s Richard Pitino
- St. John’s, Alabama finalizing agreement to meet on November 8th at MSG
