Cincinnati Basketball: 2024-25 season preview for the Bearcats
By Joey Loose
It seems like a lifetime ago that Cincinnati appeared in nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments, but life has just been different for the Bearcats since the pandemic. Mick Cronin’s departure and some subsequent decisions stunted the program, but Wes Miller has been putting the pieces back together in Cincinnati. He hasn’t gotten the Bearcats back to the Big Dance, but this program is certainly trending that way.
Each of the last two seasons has seen the Bearcats win at least 22 games while making decent runs at the NIT. They’ve been nearing a return to the Big Dance but haven’t quite gotten there yet. What makes this past season even more impressive was that this was the Bearcats’ first season in the Big 12. The transition wasn’t easy, tying for 11th place in perhaps the nation’s toughest conference, but that was only the beginning.
Miller begins his fourth year at the helm of the Bearcats and has his most talented team, with a significant amount of returning talent and a few intriguing new faces. While life in the Big 12 is immensely difficult, this could be the team that makes the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, perhaps starting a new run of prosperity.
Another 11th place finish in the Big 12 won’t suffice in year two, though you’ll soon see a few reasons why we’re excited about this Bearcats squad. We’re going to take some time and run through the important pieces in the rotation and look ahead to the schedule. We’ll think a bit about what to expect from the Bearcats in the months ahead; can this team break that recent NCAA Tournament drought?