January 8, 2026 • 14 mins
Chad Brendel on what's next for the Bearcats.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sixteen away from four o'clock. This is.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
ESPN fifteen thirty. My name's Moweger. Thank you for listening today.
On Thursdays, we chat with our friend Chad Rendell Chad
bearcadtournal dot com, covering all things U see.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Sports and he's he's been busy.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
With football and the transfer portal basketball so much more
so here to talk about those things is the aforementioned
Chad Rendell.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hi, Chad, I'm sorry. I was telling Taren about my
dinner in Memphis. That was really good. That's my bad.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I understand, It's okay.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Honestly, there's a big part of me that would rather
talk about your dinner in Memphis than the things we're
about to discuss.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I mean, it was really good. I had a flight
of surf and turf though.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Oh well, now I really would rather talk about that
than what we're about to talk about. But I had
to serve the audience, and you know how that works.
So here we go. Yeah, what now I'm talking men's basketball?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
What now?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Sixteen games left in the regular season, one game left
in the conference tournament. Being kind, I mean, I don't know,
like I don't have it. There's no reason to have
any confidence at this point that this team is going
to turn it around, like they're going to have to
earn that, and so far they had not, And it's
(01:36):
unfortunate because I think, ultimately, like this is a group
of guys that I like. Since the first half of
the cleansing game, I feel like they're playing hard. I
feel like they're fighting. I feel like it's a team
that they're a leade on defense, they're really good rebounding,
(01:59):
like it's a team that a lot of has a
lot of qualities that we've enjoyed as Cincinnati fans. They
just stink on offense, and I mean I think I
counted four different stretches against West Virginia where they went
at least three minutes without a point. And when that's
(02:24):
the case, I don't know, like where's the turnaround where, like, logically,
can you say I feel like this team's going to
get it back on track. They're below two hundred in
offense for the season on ken Pom, and they they
they're not moving right, like they're right in that range
(02:45):
and they're not. It's not like they had a bad
start and they're trending back up. I just don't see
any specific areas where I look at it and go, Okay,
I think this team's gonna get it on track, especially off.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
What has been most disappointing to you about their offense
this season?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
What's the identity of their offense? What? You know? What?
What are they supposed to be offensively? You know we
knew coming in and no I have talked about this
a lot over the years. When we go back at
the end of the West Miller era and say, what
went wrong Wes Miller's ability to find a number one,
(03:34):
to find a give me the ball. I'm gonna make
something happen. I mean, I know people say like like
Dave de Julius and Landers, Dolly, I think those are
Landers was kind of an off ball guy. Julius was
probably the best he had, but that doesn't mean he
was like an all big twelve guy. They haven't been
(03:55):
able to find the number one. They haven't been able
to recruit one, they haven't been able to get one
in the portal, they haven't been able to develop one.
And it just makes you know everybody has to now
play up a spot or two and where they should
be on the you know, allocation of roles and we're
(04:16):
seeing that doesn't work. Like Dayda Thomas is their leading scorer,
he's probably their best offensive player, but he's a guy
that scores in spurts, right, He's a guy that will
put up seven, eight, ten points in quick fashion, but
then he ends the game with fifteen. So that means
in the other you know, thirty seven minutes, he scored
(04:39):
five points. We saw that against Houston. We saw it
the other night. Coming out of the second half. He
got hot, but he didn't do a whole lot else
the rest of the game. You're asking guys to be
something that they're not, and that's just not a way
to be successful at this level.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
If you would have said a sentence that you just
uttered there back in August, which is Dayda Thomas is
their best offensive player, if you would have said that
back in August, I think everybody was said, there's no
frickin way. And if that's the case, those things have
gone poorly. And so when the team was put together,
I cannot imagine nothing against Daydae, who we all like,
(05:16):
and you know, at the end of the first half
against Houston, he was electrifying. But when the team was
put together, it was put together with the idea, I
would imagine that somebody would be their their go to
guy offensively, who is it supposed to be and why
has that person not been what they're supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Well, No, if you listen to the preseason preview show
on Bearcat journal dot com, m HM, I predicted Dayda
Thomas would be their leading scorer because I didn't see
anybody else that was capable of you know, look, it's
really difficult for like a Mustapha Chom who was young
and still developing. He's going to have his fifteen sixteen
(06:01):
seventeen point nights like we've seen, but he's also gonna
have some four point nights. Baba Miller without a jump shot,
teams are gonna be able to play off him, and
it's gonna be against the better teams, the higher end teams.
It's gonna be really hard for him to consistently get
up in that fourteen fifteen sixteen point range. I didn't
(06:24):
see anybody on this roster other than day Day that
was gonna be able to consistently put every night, night
in and night out, double digit points on the board.
And I mean, now Gigsel's back, I guess you could
could say him, but I mean, he kind of looks
like Gigsel James. Again, doesn't he where some nights it's
(06:47):
there when that mid range shot is falling, he can
be really deadly. When it's not falling, he can go
three for thirteen. And that's that's ultimately Wes Miller put
over the five years that he's been here, he put
a ton of eggs in the basket that Dan Skillings
and Digsel James we're gonna evolve and be, you know,
(07:11):
first team, second team All conference type guys. It didn't happen.
If this ends in Wes Miller being let go at
the end of the season, that's probably the number one
reason why.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Wes has sounded after each of the last two games
like somebody who feels the walls closing in on him
and somebody who clearly is is feeling the heat, both
externally and.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I'm sure internally.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
What's your take on how he has come out after
each of these last two losses.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
He's handled it really poorly. I think in retrospect he'd probably,
I mean, I hope he would tell you that you
can't look. Dan Hord is a bleeping legend in this town.
You can't come out and be short with Dan Horde,
who was giving him grace. I'm sure your guys are
in that locker room feeling terrible right now. He's he's
(08:11):
giving less some cushion and then to jump down Dan's throat.
It's a bad look. It's it's it's not professional. It
doesn't And the biggest thing about it mo what he's
talking about. What he's what he's saying. Nobody is taking
shots at his team. That's not happening. Nobody is is
(08:36):
piling on this roster, these individual players, not nearly like
we saw last year. This has all been aimed and
directed at Wes Miller. So this tirade about you know,
leave my guys out of it and bunker mentality and
us against the world, that's not what's happening. There's a
(08:59):
disconnect then, And look, the walls are closing in. He
doesn't feel the walls closing in. He sees the walls
closing in. So look, if I had a three million
dollar a year job, I don't. I mean, I own
a multimedia conglomerate empire. But we're not quite at that
level yet, not yet. If I felt not yet, we're
(09:20):
getting there. If I felt the walls closing in and
I knew, like I could see the light at the
end of the tunnel, but I was well aware that
that light was a train, I'd probably be panicking too.
But you're the adult in the room, man, Like you're
supposed to be the leader of men, and you can't
come out and handle yourself like that. And maybe if
(09:41):
it happens once, everybody gives it a pass and goes Look,
they had just played a tough Houston team close. He
feels like his team's ready to turn the corner, like
I understand, But then to come back out and do
it again after another loss where you can't figure out
you can't get your team across the finish line. It's
(10:02):
a terrible look. Man, It's just a terrible look.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I think for me, what's interesting, and I talked about
this extensively yesterday, I think, as a general rule, and
I'm sure there have been exceptions. I know how social
media works, but I think, as a general rule, fans
and folks who talk about this team on public forums
have been very patient and I think have been very fair.
(10:27):
You know, I've done this show for the entirety of
Wes's tenure here. I don't recall anybody saying the things
about Wes that they said about Mick Cronin in his
first three or four years, right where it was often
about things that had nothing to do with basketball. I
think there has been an understanding of the difficulty of
(10:48):
the job both year one, when he got to gig
in mid April and how hard that was, and then
moving into the Big twelve, and then everybody adjusting to
the reality that is the current college sports land. And
there was some exasperation and a lack of patience being
exhibited last year. But I feel like as a general
rule of the sense was okay, that team didn't click,
(11:10):
try again next year year five, but you got to
get to the dance, and by the way, just get
to the dance doesn't mean gott to get to the
second weekend of the tournament, doesn't mean you've got to
win the Big twelve B team sixty eight and that'll
be tangible proof of progress. I think this entire time
his program has been talked about in fairness. As a
general rule, I think it is the criticisms have been
(11:33):
confined to what's happening on the floor and the results
these teams have achieved. And so what's interesting to me
is I would understand if a coach lashed out at
things that were unfair, narratives that had built that were unfair.
I just simply, and I like Wes a lot, I
just simply don't think that's been the case here.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I agree at one thousand percent. I don't feel like,
I mean, I've been harsh because I think that's it's warranted.
Like this was last year. Look, we saw progress year
one to year two, year two to year three. Last
year was supposed to be the year and it didn't work.
Dan Skillings got hurt, Dan Skillings didn't develop. I think
(12:18):
you probably built a roster that that fair or unfair,
didn't allow some guys to play to their strengths. Like
it just okay, it didn't work. It's basketball. Sometimes your
roster building just doesn't work. Yes, but that can't happen
twice in a row with an entirely different team where
(12:43):
the issues not only look the same, but the same
issues are showing up worse than the year before. The
offense is decidedly worse than it was a year ago.
I mean, there was one point a couple of weeks ago,
bo they were lasting the Big twelve and two point percentage,
(13:04):
three point percentage and pre pro percentage. That that speaks
for itself. Things have regressed and that's ultimately when we're
talking the world of sports. And I like Wes too
West has been good to me. We had a good
relationship from the time he got here. Like this, this
is not pointed at less. You've got a high paying
(13:29):
job with high expectations. When you have back to back
years of regression, the walls closed in. That's just how
this works. Unfortunately. Like I don't know what else like
can can really be said other than you know, if
this team started looked better than last year's team, but
(13:51):
they were still probably seventh eighth in the Big twelve,
and it's like, all right, well they're they're gonna be
battling for a bubble spot again. Like some of the
criticism would be unwarranted at that point, but that's not
what we're talking about. We're talking about a team that
the Crown is going to be like, I think we're good.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Uh all right, well we got to run uh next
next week, I'll ask you who J. C.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
French is. I'll look forward to that. Thank you as always.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
We don't have to run MO, it's your show. You
can do whatever the heck you want.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, we do have to.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
We do have to get a unless you want to
stick around and say some more stuff. I mean, I hell,
you know, it feels like you got some things, some
things to get off your chest.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I don't. I'm just saying like you don't like you know,
I've hosted this show before.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
You have that. No, you have, and I've already blown
through one here. I will, uh, I will.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I will talk to you uh next Thursday. I'm sure
we'll have a lot today. Thank you as always, Chad Brendel,
Bearcat Journal dot com. It's nearly four o'clock on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station RALS
Sixteen away from four o'clock. This is.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
ESPN fifteen thirty. My name's Moweger. Thank you for listening today.
On Thursdays, we chat with our friend Chad Rendell Chad
bearcadtournal dot com, covering all things U see.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Sports and he's he's been busy.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
With football and the transfer portal basketball so much more
so here to talk about those things is the aforementioned
Chad Rendell.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hi, Chad, I'm sorry. I was telling Taren about my
dinner in Memphis. That was really good. That's my bad.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I understand, It's okay.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Honestly, there's a big part of me that would rather
talk about your dinner in Memphis than the things we're
about to discuss.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I mean, it was really good. I had a flight
of surf and turf though.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Oh well, now I really would rather talk about that
than what we're about to talk about. But I had
to serve the audience, and you know how that works.
So here we go. Yeah, what now I'm talking men's basketball?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
What now?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Sixteen games left in the regular season, one game left
in the conference tournament. Being kind, I mean, I don't know,
like I don't have it. There's no reason to have
any confidence at this point that this team is going
to turn it around, like they're going to have to
earn that, and so far they had not, And it's
(01:36):
unfortunate because I think, ultimately, like this is a group
of guys that I like. Since the first half of
the cleansing game, I feel like they're playing hard. I
feel like they're fighting. I feel like it's a team
that they're a leade on defense, they're really good rebounding,
(01:59):
like it's a team that a lot of has a
lot of qualities that we've enjoyed as Cincinnati fans. They
just stink on offense, and I mean I think I
counted four different stretches against West Virginia where they went
at least three minutes without a point. And when that's
(02:24):
the case, I don't know, like where's the turnaround where, like, logically,
can you say I feel like this team's going to
get it back on track. They're below two hundred in
offense for the season on ken Pom, and they they
they're not moving right, like they're right in that range
(02:45):
and they're not. It's not like they had a bad
start and they're trending back up. I just don't see
any specific areas where I look at it and go, Okay,
I think this team's gonna get it on track, especially off.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
What has been most disappointing to you about their offense
this season?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
What's the identity of their offense? What? You know? What?
What are they supposed to be offensively? You know we
knew coming in and no I have talked about this
a lot over the years. When we go back at
the end of the West Miller era and say, what
went wrong Wes Miller's ability to find a number one,
(03:34):
to find a give me the ball. I'm gonna make
something happen. I mean, I know people say like like
Dave de Julius and Landers, Dolly, I think those are
Landers was kind of an off ball guy. Julius was
probably the best he had, but that doesn't mean he
was like an all big twelve guy. They haven't been
(03:55):
able to find the number one. They haven't been able
to recruit one, they haven't been able to get one
in the portal, they haven't been able to develop one.
And it just makes you know everybody has to now
play up a spot or two and where they should
be on the you know, allocation of roles and we're
(04:16):
seeing that doesn't work. Like Dayda Thomas is their leading scorer,
he's probably their best offensive player, but he's a guy
that scores in spurts, right, He's a guy that will
put up seven, eight, ten points in quick fashion, but
then he ends the game with fifteen. So that means
in the other you know, thirty seven minutes, he scored
(04:39):
five points. We saw that against Houston. We saw it
the other night. Coming out of the second half. He
got hot, but he didn't do a whole lot else
the rest of the game. You're asking guys to be
something that they're not, and that's just not a way
to be successful at this level.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
If you would have said a sentence that you just
uttered there back in August, which is Dayda Thomas is
their best offensive player, if you would have said that
back in August, I think everybody was said, there's no
frickin way. And if that's the case, those things have
gone poorly. And so when the team was put together,
I cannot imagine nothing against Daydae, who we all like,
(05:16):
and you know, at the end of the first half
against Houston, he was electrifying. But when the team was
put together, it was put together with the idea, I
would imagine that somebody would be their their go to
guy offensively, who is it supposed to be and why
has that person not been what they're supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Well, No, if you listen to the preseason preview show
on Bearcat journal dot com, m HM, I predicted Dayda
Thomas would be their leading scorer because I didn't see
anybody else that was capable of you know, look, it's
really difficult for like a Mustapha Chom who was young
and still developing. He's going to have his fifteen sixteen
(06:01):
seventeen point nights like we've seen, but he's also gonna
have some four point nights. Baba Miller without a jump shot,
teams are gonna be able to play off him, and
it's gonna be against the better teams, the higher end teams.
It's gonna be really hard for him to consistently get
up in that fourteen fifteen sixteen point range. I didn't
(06:24):
see anybody on this roster other than day Day that
was gonna be able to consistently put every night, night
in and night out, double digit points on the board.
And I mean, now Gigsel's back, I guess you could
could say him, but I mean, he kind of looks
like Gigsel James. Again, doesn't he where some nights it's
(06:47):
there when that mid range shot is falling, he can
be really deadly. When it's not falling, he can go
three for thirteen. And that's that's ultimately Wes Miller put
over the five years that he's been here, he put
a ton of eggs in the basket that Dan Skillings
and Digsel James we're gonna evolve and be, you know,
(07:11):
first team, second team All conference type guys. It didn't happen.
If this ends in Wes Miller being let go at
the end of the season, that's probably the number one
reason why.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Wes has sounded after each of the last two games
like somebody who feels the walls closing in on him
and somebody who clearly is is feeling the heat, both
externally and.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I'm sure internally.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
What's your take on how he has come out after
each of these last two losses.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
He's handled it really poorly. I think in retrospect he'd probably,
I mean, I hope he would tell you that you
can't look. Dan Hord is a bleeping legend in this town.
You can't come out and be short with Dan Horde,
who was giving him grace. I'm sure your guys are
in that locker room feeling terrible right now. He's he's
(08:11):
giving less some cushion and then to jump down Dan's throat.
It's a bad look. It's it's it's not professional. It
doesn't And the biggest thing about it mo what he's
talking about. What he's what he's saying. Nobody is taking
shots at his team. That's not happening. Nobody is is
(08:36):
piling on this roster, these individual players, not nearly like
we saw last year. This has all been aimed and
directed at Wes Miller. So this tirade about you know,
leave my guys out of it and bunker mentality and
us against the world, that's not what's happening. There's a
(08:59):
disconnect then, And look, the walls are closing in. He
doesn't feel the walls closing in. He sees the walls
closing in. So look, if I had a three million
dollar a year job, I don't. I mean, I own
a multimedia conglomerate empire. But we're not quite at that
level yet, not yet. If I felt not yet, we're
(09:20):
getting there. If I felt the walls closing in and
I knew, like I could see the light at the
end of the tunnel, but I was well aware that
that light was a train, I'd probably be panicking too.
But you're the adult in the room, man, Like you're
supposed to be the leader of men, and you can't
come out and handle yourself like that. And maybe if
(09:41):
it happens once, everybody gives it a pass and goes Look,
they had just played a tough Houston team close. He
feels like his team's ready to turn the corner, like
I understand, But then to come back out and do
it again after another loss where you can't figure out
you can't get your team across the finish line. It's
(10:02):
a terrible look. Man, It's just a terrible look.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I think for me, what's interesting, and I talked about
this extensively yesterday, I think, as a general rule, and
I'm sure there have been exceptions. I know how social
media works, but I think, as a general rule, fans
and folks who talk about this team on public forums
have been very patient and I think have been very fair.
(10:27):
You know, I've done this show for the entirety of
Wes's tenure here. I don't recall anybody saying the things
about Wes that they said about Mick Cronin in his
first three or four years, right where it was often
about things that had nothing to do with basketball. I
think there has been an understanding of the difficulty of
(10:48):
the job both year one, when he got to gig
in mid April and how hard that was, and then
moving into the Big twelve, and then everybody adjusting to
the reality that is the current college sports land. And
there was some exasperation and a lack of patience being
exhibited last year. But I feel like as a general
rule of the sense was okay, that team didn't click,
(11:10):
try again next year year five, but you got to
get to the dance, and by the way, just get
to the dance doesn't mean gott to get to the
second weekend of the tournament, doesn't mean you've got to
win the Big twelve B team sixty eight and that'll
be tangible proof of progress. I think this entire time
his program has been talked about in fairness. As a
general rule, I think it is the criticisms have been
(11:33):
confined to what's happening on the floor and the results
these teams have achieved. And so what's interesting to me
is I would understand if a coach lashed out at
things that were unfair, narratives that had built that were unfair.
I just simply, and I like Wes a lot, I
just simply don't think that's been the case here.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I agree at one thousand percent. I don't feel like,
I mean, I've been harsh because I think that's it's warranted.
Like this was last year. Look, we saw progress year
one to year two, year two to year three. Last
year was supposed to be the year and it didn't work.
Dan Skillings got hurt, Dan Skillings didn't develop. I think
(12:18):
you probably built a roster that that fair or unfair,
didn't allow some guys to play to their strengths. Like
it just okay, it didn't work. It's basketball. Sometimes your
roster building just doesn't work. Yes, but that can't happen
twice in a row with an entirely different team where
(12:43):
the issues not only look the same, but the same
issues are showing up worse than the year before. The
offense is decidedly worse than it was a year ago.
I mean, there was one point a couple of weeks ago,
bo they were lasting the Big twelve and two point percentage,
(13:04):
three point percentage and pre pro percentage. That that speaks
for itself. Things have regressed and that's ultimately when we're
talking the world of sports. And I like Wes too
West has been good to me. We had a good
relationship from the time he got here. Like this, this
is not pointed at less. You've got a high paying
(13:29):
job with high expectations. When you have back to back
years of regression, the walls closed in. That's just how
this works. Unfortunately. Like I don't know what else like
can can really be said other than you know, if
this team started looked better than last year's team, but
(13:51):
they were still probably seventh eighth in the Big twelve,
and it's like, all right, well they're they're gonna be
battling for a bubble spot again. Like some of the
criticism would be unwarranted at that point, but that's not
what we're talking about. We're talking about a team that
the Crown is going to be like, I think we're good.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Uh all right, well we got to run uh next
next week, I'll ask you who J. C.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
French is. I'll look forward to that. Thank you as always.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
We don't have to run MO, it's your show. You
can do whatever the heck you want.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, we do have to.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
We do have to get a unless you want to
stick around and say some more stuff. I mean, I hell,
you know, it feels like you got some things, some
things to get off your chest.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I don't. I'm just saying like you don't like you know,
I've hosted this show before.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
You have that. No, you have, and I've already blown
through one here. I will, uh, I will.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I will talk to you uh next Thursday. I'm sure
we'll have a lot today. Thank you as always, Chad Brendel,
Bearcat Journal dot com. It's nearly four o'clock on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station RALS
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