2025-26 Roster

[Rufus]

I see a couple Conner Barwins to round out the roster. Until things change the big money blue bloods are going to buy their championships. Sad sad sad.

[swilsonsp4]

Bearcats Star Announces SHOCKING Return | Fan Recap

Headlines often are intended to be SHOCKING. In this case, Jizzle's return isn't shocking. Chad Brendel has said recently that he expected, but couldn't guarantee, Jizzle's return.

[BearKatz]

So we could possibly lose the following players:

Subtractions:
1) Dan Skillings, G/F, Sr
2) Rayvon Griffith, G/F, RS-So
3) Josh Reed, G/F, Sr
4) Tyler Betsey, F, So
5) Arrinten Page, C, Jr
6) Dillon Mitchell, F, Sr

and so far the Cats answer is Harris who's not a big scorer, more known for defense. Kriisa who has potential but is often hurt etc... Sounds a little like Fredricks who we landed from UK.

Additions:
1) Kerr Kriisa, G, Sr +
2) Sencire Harris, G, Jr


At the moment, does this look like a team that could compete for a Big 12 Title? I know the first thought is, we're not done yet! If Wes does not land a couple heavy hitters, on paper we look worse IMO.

[sedz]

Chad suggested last night that we wouldn't fill all 15 spots (except maybe with types that would formerly be walk-ons), each spot cost money and the money is better spent on the top of the roster. Lots of info on the podcast for those interested in listening. Chad's guesstimate is the current roster (9 spots counting Hickman - if he gets a waiver) costs us around 4 million, which means we have around 2 million left to fill out the rest. Doesn't seem promising to me that we'll get high quality bigs at that price, seeing as we need to split our money among at least 2/3 guys and top bigs currently are going for over 2 million.

Corey Evans was also on the podcast talking about the type of players we are looking for in the portal. He has a lot of optimism that we can turn things around, which is promising given his background.

My takeaways from that are we have almost no chance to bring Mitchell back, and we have overpaid for the current roster. I think Mitchell alone gets over 2 million somewhere. Day Day and Hickman are the only guys on our team who have put up a BPM over 3.3 in their entire careers. So I'd hope most of that 4 million is going to high school recruits and not paying guys like Jizzle or Kriisa over a million. But we're not Duke. We're not getting the kind of freshmen who are going to carry us to the tournament by themselves. They're likely to leave after a year or two anyway, so we're paying them for the opportunity to develop, not necessarily produce right now. We can't afford that with our budget. We have to find value at every position. We have to pay for production this year.

[sedz]

Headlines often are intended to be SHOCKING. In this case, Jizzle's return isn't shocking. Chad Brendel has said recently that he expected, but couldn't guarantee, Jizzle's return.

I'm pretty sure all those FanRecap "articles" are just AI regurgitations. Lots of generic phrasing and nonsense analysis.

"His shooting stats—40% from the field, 29% from beyond the arc, and a solid 77% from the charity stripe—highlight his all-around offensive capabilities. Standing tall at 6-foot-3 and weighing in at 205 pounds, James has proven he can deliver when it counts."
Yeah, ok.

[GoBearcats31]

At the moment, does this look like a team that could compete for a Big 12 Title? I know the first thought is, we're not done yet! If Wes does not land a couple heavy hitters, on paper we look worse IMO.

We're not done yet...

Way too early here, and things have been quiet this week for most programs as the dead period is preventing visits. Let things play out.

[dmoney70]

Honestly putting price tags on guys just feels icky to me and I'm not sure I care to root for any of this going on in college basketball. This is the MLB. Cincinnati will never be able to fight for a Big 12 title or any title. Neither will 90% of othe programs. This is the lowest level of excitement I've ever had for UC sports.

[GoBearcats31]

Portal: Skillings, Griffith, Reed, Page, Betsey, Mitchell, Hickman

Transfers in: Kriisa, Harris

Confirmed returning: James

Returning unless they post otherwise: Thomas, McKinley, Dzellat

Signed HS prospects: Abaev, Tillery

[leeraymond]

8 spots accounted for, not counting Hickman and 4 are not guards. Honestly 6 guards, 6 wing/forward, and 3 "big men" make sense in bulding a roster with 15 scholarships. Counting McKinley and Abeav as wings, and Halvine the only big man, I'm still okay with Wes recruiting guards, especially 6'4" or taller. While we are really short on the wing/center front, we are not at all done with guards.

McKinley is not a wing at all. He most definitely is a 4 and could maybe play the 5 in short spells. You think 3 bigs are enough? I am thinking at least 4 bigs to rotate.

[red_n_black_attack]

McKinley is not a wing at all. He most definitely is a 4 and could maybe play the 5 in short spells. You think 3 bigs are enough? I am thinking at least 4 bigs to rotate.

There are 5 traditional positions, so that breaks down to 3 players at each position. As for McKinley, he was recruited as PF, but definitely a big inside presence, though not a traditional center. He was listed as 6' 8" coming out of high school, and is listed at 6' 9" now on the official team roster, and at his updated 247 profile. I would be happy the kid has shot up a few more inches, but cannot find confirmation anywhere. Please share your source.

With McKinley as a hybrid 4/5, and a taller guard as a hybrid 2/3, there will be flexibility rotate in plenty of different lineups.

https://247sports.com/player/tyler-mckinley-46125404/

https://gobearcats.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

[GoBearcats31]

Portal: Skillings, Griffith, Reed, Page, Betsey, Mitchell, Hickman

Transfers in: Kriisa, Harris, Haynes

Confirmed returning: James

Returning unless they post otherwise: Thomas, McKinley, Dzellat

Signed HS prospects: Abaev, Tillery

[GoBearcats31]

Jizzle James is back, per his Instagram post

Jizzle was working with Joey Burton on campus the last couple days, per IG posts. Joey Burton is an "NBA Player Development Coach, specializing in shooting development and offensive strategies" per his website. He serves (or has served) as a full-time player development coach for multiple NBA players. https://www.joeyburton.com/

[leo from jersey]

Jizzle was working with Joey Burton on campus the last couple days, per IG posts. Joey Burton is an "NBA Player Development Coach, specializing in shooting development and offensive strategies" per his website. He serves (or has served) as a full-time player development coach for multiple NBA players. https://www.joeyburton.com/

teaching him to dribble with his head up and seeing the floor. Now that's a groovy strategy.

[sedz]

Torvik has a crude Roster Cast tool where you can plug in any player and it will project the team efficiency margin. It obviously makes some assumptions about minutes distribution, some of which don't make much sense. With the current roster we're at 17.4, which would have been #40 last season. Adding Thiam bumps us to 19.7 (#29). Here's how it sees the minutes (position assignments are mine):

PG: Kriisa 25 / Day Day 15
SG: James 27 / Day Day 13
SF: Harris 22 / Tillery 13 / James 5
PF: Abaev 15 / Haynes 14 / McKinley 7 / Harris 4
C: Thiam 30 / Haynes 7 / Dzellat 3

It struggles with the 3 and 4 positions - PGs getting time at the 3 while a C and SG get most of the minutes at 4. It doesn't see a major role for McKinley. Hopefully we can bring in a true 4 or big wing.

[sedz]

Algorithms aside, this is my depth chart guess.

PG: Kriisa 20 / Day Day 10 / Tillery 10
SG: James 25 / Day Day 15
SF: Harris 20 / Abaev 20
PF: TRANSFER 20 / McKinley 15 / Haynes 5
C: Thiam 25 / Haynes 15