Cincinnati basketball is coming off a two-point loss to West Virginia on Tuesday night. It has been a difficult year for the Bearcats, who are just 8-7. The trouble started before the first game of the year, as Cincinnati lost top transfer Jalen Haynes to an injury. As the team continues to struggle, head coach Wes Miller is feeling the heat and the hate.
“I don't care about the noise, Dan. I don't care what people think. I don't care. I only care about my team. And I care about my program. And you know what? It's almost comical right now. We just got to stay together and stay resilient. It's us against the whole world. We know that. We're gonna get a break. We're gonna keep going. Period. Period. I'll answer any questions you guys want. Everybody can quit on us. Everybody. I hear it. Everybody. Go ahead. Us against the world. Come on,” Miller told NewsRadio 700 in Cincinnati, according to The Field of 68.
Miller may have plenty of questions to answer. While he is 90-66 overall as the head coach of Cincinnati, he is just 32-44 in conference play. In the team's first two seasons in the Big 12, he has struggled. He went 22-15 with a 7-11 conference record, tied for 11th, in 2023-24. This led to an NIT berth. In 2024-25, Cincinnati was 19-16 and 7-13 in conference play, tied for 12th. This led to a berth in the CBC.
This was once a perennial team in the NCAA Tournament. From 1991-1992 through 2004-2005, Bob Huggins led the Bearcats to 14 straight tournament appearances. After missing five straight years, Mick Cronin got them back on track, reaching the tournament nine straight years from 2010-2011 through 2018-2019. The team was on track to make the tournament under John Brannen in 2019-2020 until the postseason was cancelled due to COVID-19.
After the 2020-2021 campaign, Brannen would be let go due to allegations against the program. Wes Miller was hired and has yet to make it to the NCAA Tournament. Current projections of the NCAA field, by Joe Lundardi of ESPN, have Cincinnati out again this year.
While Miller does not care about what people think, he may need to start caring about what his bosses think, as another season without an NCAA Tournament berth could lead to him needing to find a new job.
