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Wes Miller: I believe that we will be an NCAA Tournament team this season

CINCINNATI — Wes Miller isn’t backing down from expectations.

He knows that Cincinnati advanced to nine of 10 NCAA Tournaments prior to his arrival in 2021.

He also knows what the standard is for one of college basketball’s proudest programs.

“I believe that we will be an NCAA Tournament team this season,” Miller exclusively told College Hoops Today following Wednesday morning’s practice at Fifth Third Arena. “As a coach, the only thing that you’re concerned with is getting better today, but I believe that this team will eventually be an NCAA Tournament team this season.”

The upgrades on Cincinnati’s roster are obvious when you see this team in person.

Miller added three potential starters via the transfer portal in Landers Nolley (Memphis), Rob Phinisee (Indiana), and Kalu Ezikpe (Old Dominion) as well as a Top-100 freshman in 6-6 wing Daniel Skillings. The Bearcats also return six of this their top seven scorers — David DeJulius, Jeremiah Davenport, Mika Adams-Woods, John Newman III, Ody Oguama, and Viktor Lakhin — from last season’s team that won 18 games.

“We are significantly improved with length and athleticism,” Miller said. “We’re longer and more explosive at every single position on the floor. Landers Nolley (9.8 points, 3.9 rebounds) is a primary offensive option and Kalu Ezikpe (11.3 points, 7.1 rebounds) gives us something offensively inside that we didn’t have last season.”

This is the final season for Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference before it joins the Big 12. Miller insists that he isn’t focused on switching conferences and is instead solely intent on getting better every single day.

In order to put themselves in a position to qualify for the 2023 NCAA Tournament, the Bearcats will likely have to move the needle during the non-conference portion of their schedule which features three games in the Maui Invitational. Cincinnati will open the event against Arizona on Nov. 21st and then play the winner/loser of Ohio State/San Diego State the next day. Arkansas, Louisville, Creighton, and Texas Tech are also in the event. Cincinnati will also face rival Xavier in the Crosstown Shootout on Dec. 10th at Fifth Third Arena.

“Those are huge opportunities to show that we can play with anyone in college basketball,” Miller said of the non-conference schedule. “But if we don’t win those games, it also tells us what we need to improve to be better when we get opportunities down the line. We beat Illinois last season and played Arkansas very close before losing, but that didn’t matter because we didn’t win enough games down the stretch. That’s why as a coach, all you can focus on is getting better today.”

Miller advanced to two NCAA Tournaments in his final four years as the head coach of UNC Greensboro from 2017-21. He finished 18-15 last season in his first year as the head coach of Cincinnati.

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