Kansas City, Missouri- The Big 12 basketball season is officially among us as members and coaches of all 16 teams gathered at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City to preview the upcoming 2024-2025 season.

Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller alongside players Simas Lukosius and Aziz Bandaogo took to sit with media members from across the country to discuss the 2024-2025 season.

The Bearcats enter their second season in the Big 12 conference as they enter the season predicted to finish 6th in the conference in the Big 12 preseason coaches' polls. However, the enter the 2024-2025 ranked #20th in the AP Preseason polls which came out last week.

"I have never cared for the preseason rankings." said Wes Miller. "When you're slighted with preseason rankings or when your picked highly. None of that has ever mattered to me and I have tried to explain that to our team. That is how I feel this year, I don't pay attention to those rankings. It is great for our university to be ranked entering the season. It's great for our team and players due to the retention we have. I really like that our players get to see that if you come back people recognize what they have done. I don't pay attention to them, but it is nice to see all the recognition we are getting due to the guys we have returning for us."

Now as the Bearcats enter their second year in the big 12 conference this season will be slightly different compared to their first year due to some recent changes among the conference. Each conference team will now play 20 conference games compared to the 18 games in years past. Now, the kicker to this, is the fact that each team will have to play 20 games in arguably the best basketball conference in America with no bye weeks throughout the conference period."

"Each team will have 20 games after Christmas without any bye's, talk about a challenge that we didn't have a year ago." said Miller. "That is different. There is no bye week, and we discussed that with our team earlier this week. I tried to remind them that when it comes January and February we will have to go and play two or three games a week for a 10-week span. That is where the work you do now in order to prepare for that will matter. The physical conditioning, mental preparation and resilience as a team will be put to a test. This is where your depth will become a factor in this league."

What did Wes Miller learn from year one in the Big 12 and what is he taking into year 12 within this conference?

"You knew sitting up here that you are going into the best league in America. Experiencing it on the hand, is completely different. You gain a little bit of wisdom like you do with any experience."

"The first thing I will say about last year, is what an awesome experience to coach in this league. It is awesome. It's also hard too because every single night you're playing against older, talented, smart players along with elite coaching. Now, as difficult and challenging as that is, it's awesome. It helps you elevate yourself as a coach, program and the way you do things as a coach."

"What I think is different heading into this year for us, we knew we were heading into the best conference in America, now we have experienced that. There is more of an understanding of why you are preparing the way you do because of the understanding about what is still ahead of you."

Wes Miller preaches the Bearcats success to the amount of continuity they return from a season ago. The Bearcats return six of their top eight scorers from a season ago between the likes of Dan Skillings, Aziz Bandaogo, Jizzle James, Day-Day Thomas, Simas Lukosius, and Cj Fredrick.

"I'm proud of the continuity we have. We return a lot of talent from last season. If we are going to be the team we expect to be, we have relied on the continuity." "We have the chance to be a really good team. However, every team in this conference is a really good team in this league. We are in the best conference in all of college basketball."

"When you have that continuity, it adds value to your program and culture. Our goal is to do just that. We want to celebrate the guys who came back this year. It is a pretty big deal. It wasn't easy to get everyone to come back but they all came back for the right reasons. They believe in what we are doing as a program and have bought into the culture,"

Dan Skillings mentioned last week that he believes guys like Lukosius, James, Bandaogo and himself all could have left this offseason for different opportunities but elected to stay because of the trust they have in coach Miller and this staff.

""That means everything to me," Miller told reporters. "The relationships with these young men really matter and there needs to be a deeper sense of purpose to this besides trying to win a basketball game."

"They could have potentially left and potentially really changes things financially but choose to stay. They believe in the right things. We are trying to build a culture and program. I was very proud of that. We are going to continue to keep building those relationships. I believe in them long-term. I always tell them, if you make sacrifices for the team then the team will have more success. I really believe our guys are really starting to understand that."

Lukosius went into detail about what it is that drew him to stay at Cincinnati, despite the new era of college athletics with the wave of transfer portal and NIL. He said it led to a discussion he had with Miller stemming back from one of the first conversations they had once he entered his name in the transfer portal prior to the 2023 season.

"It goes back to how Wes recruits' players," said Lukosius. "I remember when I was back in the portal, a lot of my first conversations with him where about looking for a winning culture. I was looking for something that has similar values as to me, and Cincinnati checked those boxes. I think the guy's Wes recruits really all have similar values to what he has as a coach."

"It is obvious by how many guys decided to return because of their belief in coach Wes and his vision for this program. That is our personal outlook, we aren't chasing something year to year. I'm chasing personal development. Cincinnati is the place I am going to develop as a player. This is the place I feel like I will have the biggest amount of success."

Now for Cincinnati, this is a much different offseason compared to a year ago, as they don't have to worry about the status of players due to unforeseen issues like they had to deal with last year surrounding the transfer portal.

One of those players involved is a big-time piece for this Cincinnati team, in Aziz Bandaogo. This time a year ago Bandaogo was fighting with legal representatives trying to figure out if he would even be eligible to play for Cincinnati last season.

Bandaogo would eventually miss four games at the beginining of the season and then time later in the year due to an injury he suffered early in the non-conference slate. However, for Miller, he is pleased to see how far Bandaogo has come over the last year despite everything he had going on to get to this position.

"We are really proud of him." Miller said. "He was in a very difficult situation this time last year due to the fact he wasn't for sure if was going to be able to play or not. We all believed that it wasn't going to be a question that he'd be able to play. Then he dealt with the back injury that lingered into conference play. He's really improved this summer and committed to his work ethic. He is a much better player than he was last year."

"It is a significantly different offseason this year for Aziz. To see it come full circle and see how it has impacted him. Honestly, he is so much more mentally healthy, and we talk about that all the time. Aziz is in such a better place not having to deal with that distraction. He has really found himself in our program."

Injury Update on Day-Day Thomas.

Wes Miller spoke to reporters this morning after stating that Thomas had a minor setback after having surgery on a broken foot that ended his 2023-2024 season.

"Day-Day suffered the broken foot in the NIT run last year and had surgery. Everything has gone exactly according to plan all the way up until the end of practice yesterday. I don't think it is serious, but he had a little bit of a setback. Again, it's not serious, but out of caution we held him back to do treatment today. I think it is a day-to-day situation. Nothing to be alarmed about. Guys, this media day is not as important as getting ready for the season and we will continue to monitor the situation day-to-day. We didn't think it was serious just maybe a little bit of discomfort in that foot, so we are trying to be safe."

Miller noted that he did follow back in with Thomas after his media availability on the main stage at Media Days and stated that he talked to Thomas moments prior to his breakout session with reporters this morning. Mentioned that Thomas told him, he feels better this morning than he did last night with the injury and it is still being taken as a day-to-day thing.

What should Cincinnati fans expect from true freshman Tyler Betsey in 2024-2025.

The 6'8" 225-pound freshman out of Connecticut has a great opportunity to come in and play an immediate impact for Cincinnati this season. We saw it in the scrimmage vs Ohio State of what Betsey is able to do on the wing. Betsey finished with seven points and two assists in the Bearcats exhibition win over Ohio State on Friday.

"I think for Tyler, here's a young man that we have a crazy amount of confidence in that could contribute this year." Miller told reporters. "Last year across the country very few freshmen were really able to impact the games in this league. The ones that could, were really special. I think Tyler is special like that. He has all the ability and all the opportunities for him to get out on the court and play meaningful minutes this year with the lights on against other opponents."