A coach is expected to be able to accurately and effectively articulate his or her thoughts and feelings. First-year University of Cincinnati men's basketball coach Wes Miller finds it hard to do that as he inches closer to his first game at the helm of the Bearcats program.
"I'm so excited, I can't express it in words, honestly," Miller told The Enquirer. "You know, (it's a) dream job. I think our guys have worked really hard this summer and they've been working really hard this fall. So, yeah, we're really excited to get going. But I don't even know if I have the proper words to express that excitement. We're thrilled."
Miller and the Bearcats open the season Tuesday against Evansville. They'll play on the same court at Fifth Third Arena where Miller was introduced as the 28th head coach in program history just seven months prior.
Since Miller's introductory news conference on April 16, the program has undergone a nearly unrecognizable transformation. Miller has brought in an entirely new staff, put Mike Rehfeldt back in charge of the players' physical development and added seven new players.
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The new faces on the court include 6-foot-3 combo guard A.J. McGinnis, 6-foot-8 athletic forward Jarrett Hensley and 7-foot-1 center Hayden Koval. All three players followed Miller from UNC Greensboro.
Miller also added 6-foot-9 Wake Forest transfer Ody Oguama, 6-foot-5 Clemson transfer John Newman III, 6-foot-11 Mississippi State transfer Abdul Ado and Columbus native CJ Anthony, Central Ohio's all-time leading prep scorer with 2,395 career points.
Koval (337) and Ado (249) give the Bearcats a facelift inside, as they enter the season as the NCAA's active leaders in career blocks.
"I want the identity of our program to be built around who we are defensively every day and how we rebound on both ends of the floor," Miller said.
Miller has paired the new faces with a nucleus of returners that includes 6-foot-7 junior Jeremiah Davenport and guards David DeJulius, Mika Adams-Woods, Mike Saunders Jr. and Mason Madsen.
Miller said the mixture of transfers and players he inherited from former UC coach John Brannen has come together nicely early on.
"There's been a lot of transition, but everyone's making a concerted effort to build real relationships (and) to learn how to work together," he said.
A key to the nearly seamless transition has been Davenport. The former Moeller High School standout has become the team's Cincinnati ambassador, introducing his new coaches and teammates to everything the city has to offer, including Skyline Chili.
“Some of them didn’t like it, but now, they’re starting to get used to it," he said.
Davenport, who earned preseason second-team All-American Athletic Conference honors, is the Bearcats’ leading returning scorer, averaging 11.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists a season ago.
After being the only Cincinnati player to earn a spot on the All-AAC Tournament team last season en route to reaching the AAC championship game, Davenport experienced an offseason that included having six of his teammates enter the transfer portal, Brannen being fired after just two seasons and his father, Darren, dying at age 55.
But through all of that, Davenport decided to stay at UC.
"Ever since I was a little kid, I've always loved Cincinnati," Davenport told The Enquirer. "I've always been a Bearcat, since a young one. My family was raised around it. It just felt right to stay, regardless of what happened. It was a dream, and I'm going to stick with the dream."
Madsen and Saunders elected to withdraw from the transfer portal and also stay with the Bearcats after meeting with Miller.
Madsen, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Rochester, Minnesota, returned even after his twin brother, Gabe, transferred from Cincinnati to the University of Utah.
"My heart was here," Madsen told The Enquirer. "I knew I wanted to stay here if the situation was right, and obviously, with Coach Miller, it is. ... No one's said this to his face, but we've all said it in the locker room, we feel like we're playing for the best coach in the country. Obviously, he's really young and that might sound like an absurd statement right now, but you could look back in 10 years and be like, they were right."
Saunders, a 6-foot sophomore from Indianapolis, also knows the 38-year-old Miller is the right coach for him and the UC program.
"He's just a players' coach," Saunders told The Enquirer. "He cares about us. Whenever we need anything, he's always there for us. He's real genuine. He's never going to lie to you. Whatever he says face-to-face is the truth. That's a very important key to have in a head coach. That's why I have full belief in him and I feel like the guys on the team do as well."
Miller, who spent the last 10 seasons compiling a 185-135 record at UNC Greensboro and leading the Spartans to two NCAA tournament appearances, has worked hard to make sure Cincinnati isn't just a collection of players. He wants the group to be close, even saying he wants the Bearcats to "lead the nation in high-fives."
So far, it's worked.
"It'll be a process, for sure," Madsen said. "You can't overlook that. We've had a couple scrimmages. That's probably when the most growth happens. But I feel like that stuff will all take care of itself because I think the most important thing is we get along really well off the court. You can't underestimate the value in that. We all love hanging out. That's been pretty consistent throughout the whole year. On the court, I think it'll shine through, just people's willingness to share the ball. And I think we're really deep, so you'll see that depth utilized too."
DeJulius, the Bearcats' returning floor general, is expected to be the leader on the court. The senior guard, who was fifth in the AAC with 4.2 assists per game last season, said Cincinnati fans can expect a much better team than the one that finished 12-11 a season ago.
"Everyone's ready for Cincinnati basketball to be back," he said. "I think you'll see that toughness and that edge back, for sure."
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