Basketball Transfer Portal '25

[bearcatbret]

An Alpha player demanding the ball and a coaching staff unafraid to demand it from the divas. This may be the last year for a couple of guards. A forward went to Texas as well.

I was kind of hoping one of those two would leave.

[John P]

Obviously there is more player movement this year + a greater sense of urgency for this upcoming season but...

Last year's 2024 portal thread = 602 posts, 104,707 views through August 21, 2024
This year's 2025 portal thread = 895 posts, 126,622 views and counting through late morning April 24, 2025

Last year most of the players opted to stay in Cincy so I would assume that would account for a lot less posts about incoming portal players.

[leo from jersey]

You and me both Leo, but how do you get that when you have 3-4 divas all wanting to drain threes but can't get the ball passed to them.

An Alpha player demanding the ball and a coaching staff unafraid to demand it from the divas. This may be the last year for a couple of guards. A forward went to Texas as well.

[Rufus]

You and me both Leo, but how do you get that when you have 3-4 divas all wanting to drain threes but can't get the ball passed to them.

[leo from jersey]

In all fairness to Miller it would be super hard to put a competitive team together every year starting from scratch. Especially when your dealing with diva egos. You just know there's going to be jealousy among the players who are supposed to be your A list players, and I think that's what we saw in this year's squad. They all played great against the weaker teams but when the conference schedule started and it takes more team oriented playing to win ball games I think the jealousy within showed itself. That's just my opinion, and it took a game of volleyball to clear the air so to speak.

The truth is that I would rather see them playing team oriented quality basketball.

[Rufus]

I feel like Miller is trying to pull together a team of competitors. Some of the new guys seem to have an edge to them - this appeared to be missing this past year. How many times did Miller complain about the lack of competitiveness - something he said he never had to coach before.

I like Miller, but I agree that the performance & play on the floor are on his shoulders. He's pulling together a different style team, I'm excited to see what he can do with them.

In all fairness to Miller it would be super hard to put a competitive team together every year starting from scratch. Especially when your dealing with diva egos. You just know there's going to be jealousy among the players who are supposed to be your A list players, and I think that's what we saw in this year's squad. They all played great against the weaker teams but when the conference schedule started and it takes more team oriented playing to win ball games I think the jealousy within showed itself. That's just my opinion, and it took a game of volleyball to clear the air so to speak.

[longtimefan]

I feel like Miller is trying to pull together a team of competitors. Some of the new guys seem to have an edge to them - this appeared to be missing this past year. How many times did Miller complain about the lack of competitiveness - something he said he never had to coach before.

I like Miller, but I agree that the performance & play on the floor are on his shoulders. He's pulling together a different style team, I'm excited to see what he can do with them.

Another thing you hear when coaches praise a player, that the player is coachable. I don’t remember him saying that about anybody last year.

[GoBearcats31]

@portal_updates on Twitter/X says Aziz has entered the portal as a grad transfer with no eligibility

[GoBearcats31]

Arizona State's second leading scorer, BJ Freeman, has committed to UCF

[bearcatrunner]

I agree that last year was a disappointment considering how they started and what I thought the team could do. I personally think this team played best when it didn't try to think. Which was when we played full court. We had the numbers and the athletes to do this. Mitchell is the perfect example. As long as we have a coach who thinks like everybody else we will fail to achieve greatness. With our budget we need an identity that sets us apart like the Running Rebels had or Huggs Thuggs. We don't have the budget to play the same game. What we do have is a good school with a program that has some great history. I think our facilities are good enough. I hope Wes takes a step back this year and reevaluates himself. I want Miller to succeed because I just like him as a coach. He recruits pretty darn well and his players do not get into trouble and seem to be decent to good students. He needs to think outside the box and find a system for the players he is recruiting. Be flexible and fit the system around the players. I think Huggins did an excellent job of that. I just wish he had focused more on the Student Athlete. Of course in this day of everyone going into the portal every year I guess who cares. I have high hopes for next years team and Millers being our coach for a long time. Really like the signings for this year. Lets go cats!

[GoBearcats31]

Stojakovic trending towards Illinois, where he'd join fellow Illinois transfers David Mirkovic, Mihailo Petrovic and Zvonimir Ivisic - brother of Illinois big man Tomislav Ivisic!

Rothstein says UC, UNC, Florida, Gonzaga, USC, Washington also still in pursuit of Stojakovic.

[BigDaddyCornHusker]

I feel like Miller is trying to pull together a team of competitors. Some of the new guys seem to have an edge to them - this appeared to be missing this past year. How many times did Miller complain about the lack of competitiveness - something he said he never had to coach before.

I like Miller, but I agree that the performance & play on the floor are on his shoulders. He's pulling together a different style team, I'm excited to see what he can do with them.

[BearKatz]

I was going to point this out as well. However we don't know how much it was where he chose not to involve himself offensively or was it that our ball hogging guards would not get him the ball and it took him to the end of the season to figure out how to produce in that situation. I'm leaning towards the latter. Between he, Skillings and Simas, if two of those three decided to be wall flowers in a game it was certainly a loss.

I cooudn't agree more!

Bottom-line, Miller is the one who put this team together! So in the end, it's all on him! As you said, Skillings, Simas and Mitchell decided to be wall flowers at times.

Question is, did they lose interest becuase our guards weren't getting them the ball enough? And now players can jump from team to team each year, looking for more $M!

[Rufus]

I was going to point this out as well. However we don't know how much it was where he chose not to involve himself offensively or was it that our ball hogging guards would not get him the ball and it took him to the end of the season to figure out how to produce in that situation. I'm leaning towards the latter. Between he, Skillings and Simas, if two of those three decided to be wall flowers in a game it was certainly a loss.

[leo from jersey]

All I’m saying is his numbers the last two seasons were basically the same, with two different coaches. His problem is the games where he was content to stand around, not demand the ball, and attempt less than 5 shots the whole game. Texas thought he was probably one and done when he got there, there’s a reason that didn’t work out. Look at his shot attempt numbers beginning with the 2/8 game, seems he chose not to involve himself in the offense. When he wanted to, against UCF in the Crown, he was a heck of a player.

He was on national tv auditioning for his next paycheck is why he tried. Good riddance.