UC freshman guard Gabe Madsen, who opted out of the remainder of the season in December, was the first to enter the portal. He was followed by sophomore guard Zach Harvey, redshirt junior Mamoudou Diarra, freshman guard Mike Saunders Jr., freshman forward Tari Eason and Madsen’s twin brother, Mason.
Gabe Madsen has since committed to the University of Utah.
The most notable of the group is Eason. The 6-foot-8, 215-pound four-star recruit out of Seattle averaged 7.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals this season en route to earning a spot on the American Athletic Conference All-Freshman team. Eason’s 1.3 blocks per game ranked fourth in the AAC.
Saunders, the first player who Brannen offered a scholarship to when the 47-year-old coach was hired at Cincinnati, averaged 3.5 points and 1.4 assists this season. The 6-foot Indianapolis native started 10 of UC’s last 12 games after beginning the season as a reserve.
Saunders’ role increased when junior starting point guard David DeJulius opted out on Feb. 25. DeJulius missed four games before returning for the AAC tournament.
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Saunders scored a career-high 19 points on Feb. 28 against Memphis. Brannen spoke highly of the freshman after the 80-74 loss.
“Mike Saunders is the future of our program,” he said. “He’ll be one of the elite point guards here that we have at the University of Cincinnati.”
Graduate transfer Rapolas Ivanauskas, who joined the team last offseason following stints at Northwestern and Colgate, opted out in December and later joined BC Rytas, a professional club in Lithuania.
DeJulius, who also transferred to Cincinnati last offseason after two years at Michigan, spoke out in support of Brannen in a recent interview with The Athletic. That came after unnamed players offered The Athletic their unattributed takes on the second-year Cincinnati coach.
The players suggested Brannen was apathetic to the challenges they faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that he dispensed playing time unwisely and that they had lost all trust in him.
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UC sophomore guard Jeremiah Davenport, a Cincinnati native and former Moeller High School standout, tweeted after Mason Madsen announced he was entering the portal, telling Bearcats fans to “Keep the faith ... we gone be alright! REGARDLESS!”
Davenport was the only Bearcats player to earn a spot on the AAC All-Tournament team, averaging a team-high 12.7 points, six rebounds and 1.7 steals over the three-game stretch.
"I thought he was one of the most improved players in the country," Brannen said of Davenport following the team’s loss to Houston in the AAC tournament championship game. "He loves Cincinnati, he loves the jersey that he puts on every day, and he plays like a young man who plays at Cincinnati. He's hard-nosed, talented, committed, has really matured a lot in his decision making and the habits that he has."
The Bearcats currently have no signed recruits. Brannen, who has an approximately $5 million buyout in his contract, did land his first commitment of the 2021 class in Bryson Spell, a 6-foot-9 forward out of Virginia.
Brannen led the Bearcats to a 20-10 record last season, a tie for the AAC regular-season crown and the No. 1 seed in the AAC tournament. The postseason tournaments were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Cincinnati started 3-7 this season before COVID-19 issues forced the team away from the court for 25 days. The Bearcats rallied to a 9-4 finish.
Cincinnati hired Brannen to replace Mick Cronin, who took over the UCLA men's basketball program in April 2019 after 13 seasons at UC. Cronin led UCLA to the Final Four this season.
Brannen spent the previous four seasons at Northern Kentucky University. He went 81-51 and won two regular-season conference titles, two conference tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA tournament twice during that span.
