10-29-25 - Mo Egger with Wes Miller

UC Head Coach Wes Miller previews the 2025-26 season.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Talk. This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Oigart. Thanks for
listening today. The Chad and Rick College Basketball Spectacular is
coming up in the five o'clock hour, and it will
be interrupted midway through so we can talk with Richard
Skinner about Joe Flacco, who did not practice today, and
Mike Pennell and so much more.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I was thinking about that. I mean, Chad used to
work with Skinny.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, man, Rick does a podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Skinny. Couldn't we come up with a name for that?

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Ooh, we should just have Skinny in here and let
me leave for the rest of the day and just
let those three guys do their thing that that option
is on the table. We are we're trying to we
hear they're trying to track down Wes Miller. Are we
going to be stood up by?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
What? See?

Speaker 1 (00:44):
This is?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
You know?

Speaker 1 (00:45):
This is this is one of those instances where this
is why you know it's not a podcast. This is
a live radio show. If this was a podcast, we
could just sit around and that's okay, we'll hit record
once the coach calls no, no, no no. We Instead we
just go on and complain about the fact that the
guest is late. So hopefully here Wes Miller in Uh.

(01:07):
In just a few I could have I could have
continued my conversation with Darren Horn called Darren hornback. I'm
sure he'd love to chat with us. I'm sure Wes
is doing something really important and uh, when he has
done with that, I'm I'm sure we'll hear from him.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Feels huh.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Oh yeah the hell talk to Mike. Mike, you want
to talk UC basketball with me?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Roll go with it.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Are you excited for the upcoming you see?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Wait a minute, wait a minute, Wait a minute, Mike.
I hate to do this. I'm looking at the screen.
Wes Miller. That's him, right? Is that him? Tarren? Yes,
all right, you got to answer it. Put there you
want me to do it? Okay, Hi, there you go.
There's the head coach of the Bearcats.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Coach.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
It's it's Mo. You're on the radio. How's it going?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Sorry, my staff just ran a phone to me, so
I think they thought it was tomorrow, not tonight.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Oh that's all right, we could is everything? Okay, We're great,
let's roll man, all right, let's do it. Let's well,
I appreciate you doing this. Cincinnati getting set to open
up the season on Monday against against Western Carolina. It's
awesome to have you. You've had a chance to exhibition games.
Some stuff went right, some stuff went wrong. How have
you used the Michigan and Arkansas games to uh get

(02:23):
your team ready for Monday.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I'll tell you what. I've been beating this drum pretty
hard for years with anybody that'll listen. But I wish
we could play four or five opponents in the preseason.
I think when the season started it would make the
product better. In November and December, we get more out
of seeing another jersey and we do out of seven practices,

(02:50):
and so, you know, I think they were they were
good tools for our development and for our preseason. There
was a lot to unpack from both games, and you know,
we tried, we tried to use them to prepare for
Monday night when the thing tips up for real.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Through the two exhibition games, all the off season workouts,
and then the weeks of quote official practice. What have
you come to like most about your team?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
You know, they've been intentional about getting connected. I think
when you've got a ton of new faces, which happens
in today's college basketball, today's college athletics, you're going to
have years that you get a lot of turnover. And
you know, one of the goals that we've had for
this team is in February, we want to play like
a team that's been together for two to three years,

(03:40):
even though we're not, and we got to make all
of us have to make efforts to try to build
those connections on and off the court, and this group's
been very intentional about that. They've taken that intention to practice. Now.
We weren't as good in practice last week, but it
seems to be clicking a little bit better again this
week with trying to make this about just getting better

(04:02):
every single day. So there's been some really good cultural
type things that they've done. I want to be able
to say the same thing about this team at the
end of January and the end of February. But so far,
so good.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Is blending so many new guys together along with the
players you brought back. Is this way of doing things
has it finally become normal?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah? I don't think it's it's that normal at this point.
You know, certainly, the more retention you have of the
right guys, I think the job is a little easier
on the coach earlier in the year because just certain
things that you know carry over you can just kind
of count on. But this is going to happen all
It happened all throughout college athletics. So trying to get

(04:48):
the team ready in all facets what it takes to
compete in college basketball, that's a that's a goal. That's
why we had the summer practices. It's why I wish
we had four exhibitions and that type of thing, but
it is. It's the new normal, and there'll be years
that you don't have that and you have quite an advantage.
We don't have that advantage this year, so we got

(05:08):
to get to it quickly.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Does it feel like this roster it's a little bit
easier to kind of identify who's going to do what
at this stage in the season, at least.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
I think so. We we've been pretty clear, especially since
our last exhibition on the role of definition, you know,
and it was interesting. We were in a ninety minute
film session followed by a practice that lasted as long
until my ops on Sunday, till my ops got told

(05:39):
me I had no I couldn't have to get them
off the floor. You know how that goes so that
was great about that exhibition. It's a chance to get
to get everybody's damn attention. But you know, we're in
that that that film session, and there's a bunch of
opportunities to stop and go who does this well? And
they were able to answer a lot of the questions

(06:00):
you talked about, like who are the best shooters? You know,
who are the guys that should have more freedom there?
So it's even with a lot of things without even
having to tell them, they were able to tell themselves.
And so I think there is some clarity on what
roles are that'll certainly keep evolving, you know with the
new team over the next like four or five weeks,
but I think we'll be more defined with offensive roles

(06:24):
with this team than we were last year. And even
with new faces.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Was was that something that you prioritize when you set
out to build this roster when the off season started.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Absolutely, Like coaching in the Big Twelve the last two years,
you know, the one thing that you learn is you
better have some old experienced guys, so you better have
some toughness, and that's physical and mental toughness, and then
you do have to have a level of skill like
at some point, the coaches, the players are old, physical

(06:59):
and tough. At some point, if you don't have enough skill,
they can figure out how to defend you. And so
adding you know, enough skill, enough shooting, enough decision making,
enough shot creation. That was intentional. But those first two
boxes we wanted to try to check as well, and
and I thought we did a nice job at least
of checking those boxes with roster creation. Now it sounds good.

(07:22):
Now we've got to go out and play that damn way,
you know, And that that's what that's what we've been
working on this whole offseason and this whole preseason.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Your program has a general manager NBA champion Corey Evans,
and that role is becoming common across college sports, specifically
men's college basketball. Take me through the collaborative process with
your program with a coach and a general manager.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah. I appreciate you asking the question, though, because I
think a lot of people, you know, assume that general
managers in college basketball is the same thing as a
general manager, and uh and pro well, I guess we
are pro sports, but I mean and call a state
to stay, But in college basketball is different than another
pro sports, So you know, in the GM of a

(08:08):
normal professional franchise is usually the guy that hires the coach,
right like similar to the athletic director. That's not the
case with the way that we're implementing that role at Cincinnati.
That was a higher that myself and my staff made,
and Corey is just another part of our staff. What
what I looked for was the value of having somebody

(08:30):
that three hundred and sixty five days a year thinks
about player personnel in every single way, whether that's recruiting,
whether it's retention, whether that's the contractual side, whether it's
the financial side, which is whether it's the fundraising side.
I mean, there's so many dynamics that have made this

(08:51):
job different, you know than it was four or five
years ago. Having somebody that just focuses on a lot
of those dynamics I think, I thought, I thought, and
now I believe has great value. And then with Corey
there was a long standing relationship. He's somebody that I've
known for well over a decade, from back when he
was you know, in college, uh, starting his own scouting

(09:14):
service it old dominion, uh, and in servicing division from programs.
So he's a friend, a professional friend, and somebody who's
who was his career. I followed and he was ready
for a new opportunity and a new challenge. So it
really did work out for us.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
I cannot wait for Monday, and now the time that
you thought you were going to be talking to me
tomorrow is wide open. You can come up with something
else to do. There you go.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Somebody made an air, but that's just the turnover. So
we sprint back and played the next place. If we
had more than more than one of those, we got
a problem. But that's the first turnover of the week.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
From the fact, you know, what if if if that's if,
that's the worst thing that happens this season. Uh, you
guys are going to cut down that so uh. I
appreciate it as always. Coach, thanks so Much'll see him
on Okay. Thanks, There you go. Wes Miller getting set
for Monday night Cincinnati hosting West Western Carolina.