November 13, 2025 • 20 mins
Tony and Austin talk with Keegan Nickoson from BearcatJournal.com on ESPN 1530!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Is Tony Pike Cincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in hard by Penn Station East Coast Subs, handcrafted,
hot grilled subs, fresh cut fries in lemonade. It's all
about good taste. Penn Station East Coast Subs orderum line today.
(00:20):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you to Penn Station. As we get underway here
our number three, ESBN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Let's
talk Bearcats. A huge one at Nipperts Stadium on Saturday.
Bearcat basketball plays on Sunday, and then of course a
huge matchup against Louisville at Heritage Banks Arena next Friday night,
and then BYU comes into town. So picking up here
(00:50):
for the Cincinnati Bearcats. So let's spend time talking about
said Bearcats. Austin's favorite, my second favorite, Nickoson. It's Keegan
Nickoson joining us right now from Bearcat Jenneral Hi Kegan.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Hi, Tony Keg.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And you sound healthy, you sound well, You sound much
better than the flu game that you had to push through.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well that that's ironic because I actually had food poisoning yesterday.
So I'm I'm really. Uh, my recovery rate is very
good in terms of them being out for a day.
But I'm doing solid.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Do you know, like what it was that you ate?
You don't have to give like a name brand or anything,
but do you know what it was?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
There's no one in this world I fear more than
Zack Stipe, So I'm not going to bring it up.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I'll take that and run.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Kagan.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Let's let's talk about what was at fitth third Arena
against the Dayton Flyers, because I feel like you could
be on both sides of this one. Sloppy twenty four turnovers,
Dayton makes seven percent of their threes, but on the
other end, you still find a way to win the
game by twelve points, and talking about a win while
(02:09):
having things to fix is a lot better than a loss.
How did you view the I would say, how do
you view the effort that you saw from this Bearcat
team against Dayton?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I think you see was just the better team at
the end of the day. I think they were bigger
and better And basically I would say every facet except
for turnovers. And you know, if you want to put
a spin zone on it, you can say, well, we
know the one thing they have to work on over
three games because the turnovers have been like that kind
of really bright flashing warning sign, and I think it's
(02:46):
it's mainly due to the fast pace that they're playing with.
It's different than what u SE's played with in the
past two years. And Wes Miller is not someone who
is going to see the struggles with the pace and
then kind of changed course. He sounds like he's really
committed to it. So it's definitely something that they have
(03:08):
to flesh out with that kind of increased chemistry. But
maybe the turnovers are just something that it's not going
to be twenty four is I think company they had
against Stayton. It's not going to be like that every night.
But that could be a weak spot for this team.
But when you get to that eight minute mark of
the second half and you're wearing down the opposition, that's
(03:29):
when they can kind of take over. And that's what
you saw against Dayton. So they played well. I think
they shot it pretty well when they actually couldn't shoot
the ball and didn't turn it over because I think
at some point they had turned it over in twenty
or fifty possessions, which isn't great, but you know they
I think they were just more talented.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
The talent level is high on this team. What do
you make of the style in which they've been able
to play through the first three Again, the level of
competition will pick up, but it does feel like a
team last year they were just searching. At times, you
could see the possession unfolding where there wasn't much ball movement.
It became a rough shot at the end. I thought
(04:10):
at times against Dayton they might have had one or
two passes too many. But it does feel different the
way this team operates offensively in trying to push it
if it's not there. They do share the ball.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Well, Yeah, there's a lot of ball movement, definitely more
than what I've seen in the past couple of years.
And that really starts with per Crisa. And you even
see him kind of making those no looks behind the
back passes that end up going straight out of bounds
because he's expecting a teammate a teammate to be somewhere
that they aren't. But I think when you talk about talent,
(04:42):
you talk about style, you have to go to Seanabia
and Babla Miller. Those two guys that are kind of
raising the roof and getting the fans really excited. A
Bayav hits two turnaround threes, one while he's hitting sound
and literally falling into the lap of someone that was
sitting half or just like really really great plays, and
(05:03):
Baba Miller's reaching all the way back and getting an
al oop. I think, and I've mentioned it before, but
those three players and Miller, Abiah and Seam are gonna
be kind of the catalyst of what the Cincinnati team
can be. Sham's kind of struggled a little bit, at
least offensively, but you see his ability on the defensive end,
(05:24):
kind of similar to his E's mandego, where you just
see his arm reach out and you wonder, like, I
don't know how anyone shoots over That guy hasn't raped
up the blocks as many as people might have thought
that he would so far, but I think that you'll
start to see that kind of increases he gets more comfortable.
But yeah, those three are great. Kerkkrisa been really good.
(05:47):
And then another guy who isn't getting into a lot
of notice is Jalen Celesting, but he just comes in
and he hits those few threes and big spots, and
he hit one that kind of sparked a run and
gave him some momentum when they were struggle and against Dayton,
and it helped the time.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Is there anything you can do personally keeking to help
this team with their free throw shooting?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
You know, I really don't think so. You kind of
almost have to bake in that they're going to make
under sixty five percent of the free throws in your
game plan, so you have to go somewhere else. Wes
Miller was actually talking about it at his radio show
last week, and I think it was after the Western
Carolina game. He turned around to Dan Horde and Terry
(06:30):
Or it might have been Dan Hord Mo during that
game and said, is there like a curse on the
Cincinnati free throws? And I think that he kind of
just didn't believe it after the first four years, but
now that it's been five, he's like, Okay, this is
actually like out of our control. So I'm not sure
when guys like Shanabaya or mising them Bass when it's
(06:51):
more obvious because he's supposed to be like one of
the best shooters. Jeordie Rodriguez, other guys who were just
supposed to be really, really good shooters. It almost feels
like they're as a curse. But you know, I think
it was the first player to make all at least
ten of their attempts make all of them. Dayde Thomas
did it against Dayton. The other time was in twenty twelve. Yeah,
(07:15):
So when you don't have that kind of consistency, maybe
there's some voodoo or crazy stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I have to ask because this is always fascinating to me,
and I know early in the season you play a
lot of guys when all is said and done with
this team, like we saw Jordi Rodriguez and Keishan Tillery's
minutes were eliminated in the second half against Dayton, and
they did not play particularly well. Both had two turnovers
in a short amount of time in the first half.
(07:41):
When all is said and done, What do you think
the ideal number is for a rotation in the Big
twelve to have the most success.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I think Wes has actually said before that the rotation
actually needs to grow instead of shrink when you get
the conference play. I think it needs to be around nine,
but that has to be nine guys who can really
really compete and help you, Like, it's not putting someone
on the floor that's going to struggle just for the
(08:10):
sake of having a longer rotation that gives some guys
some breeders and some breaks. I think it's nine to ten,
and you know, I don't really know it's weird. I
would go with nine to ten and then just kind
of always try to have your best players on the
floor as much as possible, because you've seen how that's
(08:33):
worked for Uce. So yeah, I would go nine to ten.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
The matchup against Louisville. Louisville's a great basketball team. We
just watched what they did to Kentucky on Tuesday night.
Everyone knows Pat Kelsey's got a very talented team. How
far could a win next Friday go for Wes Miller
and this team and the trajectory because it feels like
one of those wins against an opponent that has just
eluded Wes Miller. You're essentially playing it at your back
(08:59):
yard heritage bank. But how far would it go to
find a way to win that game on Friday night
for not only this team, but for Wes in general.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
It would be absolutely huge. I think it would do
a ton for their kind of their trendiness around the
country and what people think of this team, because you know,
they're not ranked in the AP top twenty five. They're
around like thirty six or thirty seven in terms of
Ken palm where he's looking at him. So I think
(09:29):
it would do a ton. Louisville is legitimately a Final
Four contender. I mean, that's how good that team is.
And you saw what they did to former Bearcat Eric
Martin the South Carolina State team. I think it was
like some like fifty to like eight at halftime or
something like that, just a blowout. And I mean Pat
(09:51):
Kelsy is a great coach, Michael Brown is a really
really good guard who a lot of people are talking
about as a lottery pick. But this is a game
where Sin Sandy just kind of had to establish your identity.
If you're going to be eat a team that plays
with a ton of pace, go and wear Louisville down
for some mistakes and have a really good shooting night,
maybe have a really good shooting night from the free
(10:11):
throw line once once in your life, and just kind
of wear away at that Louisville team. But you know,
it'd be a great thing to kind of get people
back on West's side. A lot of people, including myself,
don't really know what this team's going to be, and
through three games we don't have that much more clarity.
We've got some kind of like you know, Shana Bay.
(10:32):
It's been pretty consistently good. Baba Miller could be one
of the better players in the entire Big Twelve. But
beating that Louisville team, especially in like an old rivalry
type game, it would put Cincinnati on the map, especially
in front of your home crowd, even though I would
expect it to be close to fifty to fifty, if
at the very least sixty forty. With Louisville fans.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Talk a little bit, Let's let's switch to the football
side a few more minutes. You with Keegan nickoson Bearcat
journal dot com. Everyone asked over the bye, Keegan, what's
different about this year's team compared to last year's team,
the team that started five and two and then lost
their final five. I thought, I don't know if it
was much as being exposed against Utah, but receivers struggled
at times to get open. Brendan Swerzby didn't have his
(11:16):
best day. The special teams unit resorted back to what
we've seen in the past, and that was not great defense,
couldn't get the stops when necessary. What gives you more
confidence that the Utah game was more of just a
one off and not something that's going to be the
norm going forward.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, I don't really know about that game being a
one off. If I'm being completely honest, if they play
Utah on a nutral site, hypothetically, I think Utah probably wins,
and probably wins by seven to ten. Like, I didn't
take much from that game to be like, oh this
is this is kind of fluky. Now you saw the
(11:55):
special teams lapses, You saw the fumble in the red
zone at a big play, which that's where you can
look at it. But you know, Utah just dominated them
up front. They brought a ton of pressure and they
played really tight. Man. And if I'm being completely honest,
if a team's gonna do that, and they're gonna be
(12:15):
able to do that, like Arizona, I think they're playing
on playing a lot of man, But I don't know
if they have the horses that Utah has. If a
team's gonna do that, U see is gonna have trouble
in all honesty, and it's not because they're not a
talented team, But I just don't know if they're up
to that level of talent that the Utahs and Texas
Tech have so far. So I'd be really interested to
(12:39):
see what a Texas Tech versus U SEE showdown would
look like in Dallas. That's a Big twelve championship because
it's kind of the that's kind of what everyone is
looking forward to. It's the most likely scenario, But yeah,
I don't know if that was fluky. I still think
that they're gonna go free and o in these last
three games and they're gonna play for Big Twelve championship.
Despite I think k Ford today said there's an eighty
(13:03):
five percent chance they go one and two down the stretch.
But I think this is a really, really good Cincinnati team.
Just other certain teams in the Big Twelve offer a
matchup that don't really give them a great chance to
be able to come out victorious health wise.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Does it feel like they're close to back being where
they need to be? Golda was banged up, Dante Corleone's
been banged up, Evan Pryor didn't play coming out of
the by. Does this team feel healthy.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Evan Pryor was questionable and Caleb Goodie was questionable and
the latest availability report, so we're going to be looking
up for those guys and seeing if they're playing, at
least in the game day update. So I think that
they're definitely getting healthier. Golde is fine, and I think
d Day Crollon is. I actually think Dante croleone is
(13:52):
going to really pop off in these last three games.
I think he's going to have kind of that that
mindset of these are my last three games as a Bearcat.
We've got in front of us to kind of etch
our name down in history and get to that Big
twelve championship game, be the first team to get to
a Big twelve Championship game. So I think I think
he'll have a big three games. Maybe he gets to
(14:13):
one hundred percent health and like I said, Goade's one
hundred percent healthy, So I think they're trending in that direction.
But those two question marks of Goody and Evan Pryor,
those are two big names that we're going to be
looking out for on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
So many people all they want to do is talk
about the BYU game next weekend and here comes an
Arizona team that took BYU to overtime. They had a
ten point lead in the fourth quarter, lost eventually in
ot Houston beat him at the gun at Houston. Houston
is eight and two. They have a loss at Iowa State.
This is a good defense in Arizona. It's a quarterback
(14:48):
in Noah Fafida who's got over twenty two hundred yards
passing in twenty three touchdowns with only four interceptions. I
caution I have cautioned a lot of Bearcat fans that
this is a good Arizona team. How much of a
challenge does this team possess this Cincinnati bearcatch group on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, if I'm completely honest, I think they have a
better chance of losing to Arizona at Bold than they
do of losing to TCU on the road. Like Scott
Saderfield said it, Jason Sheer, who covers Arizona for two
poor seven, I talked to him and he said it.
This team's six points from being eight and one. Like
a lot of fans have talked about UC over the
(15:28):
past couple of years, and in those one four games,
that's how close they were. This team is that close
to being tied with Texas Tech and Cincinnati for the
lead in the Big Twelve and BYU and it's those
close games. It's it's the last second things, it's the
(15:49):
small plays. So I think Noah Fafida is a veteran
quarterback who's having a really really good year despite losing
Tetero McMillan, which is probably one of the best US
wide receivers in Arizona history, who's playing with the Carolina
Panthers now and having a really great rookie season. The
defense is I think number nineteen in points per game
(16:10):
and number thirty in yards per game, so they're playing
really well and the offense is around the same numbers.
So it's a really really good team. The weakness is
the rush defense, and that's where I'm going to look
for Scott Satherfield to establish the run game on Saturday
and then hit those play action shots. So what I'm
looking for is defense, step up, get a couple stops
(16:33):
to start the game, and then the offense just takes
that traditional two possession maybe even three possession lead at halftime,
and then the opposition is obviously gonna like come back
and call back and they're going to. I think Arizona
will be in a spot where there it's turnover away
from maybe time to game, like we've seen the UCF
in Iowa State. But that's where Brendan Sorozy's talent and
(16:57):
how good he's playing comes in and then you see
feels a thirty four or twenty four victory. That's my prediction.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Higher likelihood you see winning the final three in football
or uc beating Louisville next Friday.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Night winning the final three in football. Okay, And that's
not me saying that you see is is not a
good basketball team, because I think they are, and if
I had to pick right now, I think that they
would make the tournament. But I think Louisville is a
legit Final four contender, and I think they're going to
have a really, really good season. They're well coached and
(17:31):
they have a ton of talent.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Kegan, you're the best, well, you're the second best out
of your family. But we enjoy your time here for
Bearcat journal dot com. What's the easiest way people can
follow along with everything you got coming out?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Follow Kay Nicholson forty two on Twitter and then also
make sure you subscribe to Barricott Journal. Check out my
story I did on Jack Grant and Jack Griffith and
the football teams player personnel Department, one of my favorite
stories I've ever written at DCJ. Those are great and
they've done a great job of flipping the football program
since they took over. So had a ton of fun
(18:05):
right now, real.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Real quick on that, just a brief overview because I
saw the piece. I don't think people realize the detail
that they've brought to their jobs at the University of Cincinnati.
Just tease that piece a little bit for people that
may not be familiar.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Yeah, it's basically centered around the how they attack the
transfer portal and how they're doing it differently than other schools,
kind of like a in a moneyball aspect of if
we look at the transfer portal like Georgia and Ohio
State and LSU, it's not going to be good. So
we have to do something differently to find a different approach.
(18:42):
And basically their biggest thing is time on task and
watching filmy. They evaluated and scouted twenty two seventy eight
players from the end of the twenty twenty four season
or from the beginning of the twenty twenty four portal
to the end of the twenty twenty five portal when
they took twenty one of those players. Wow, and now
(19:02):
twenty two thousand, Boston College twenty two thousand, So they
watched the tape and that now you have Boston College's
head coach Phil O'Brien going in from the media and saying, yeah,
the portal is really hard. We don't really know how
to attack it. You don't, I mean, there's just no
way to really get a gauge for anything. And then
sinc Natty sees that and says, you could just work really,
(19:24):
really hard, and then if someone happens to go on
the portal, you know that this is a guy you
can attack and watch. So that's basically the long and
short of it. It was a ton of fun. Those
guys are great, and make sure you try to go
read that awesome, awesome stuff. Keegan.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
We're always appreciating your time, man. I look forward to
seeing you this weekend. Have a great rest of the week.
Careful what you eat?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Yeah, thanks, Tonny, I'll try.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Thanks Keegan. That's Keegan nickoson Bearcat Journal dot com.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
That's that's cool man. How about that though, have you
ever had food poisoning.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yes, that's the worst.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
How about twenty two thousand players in order to get
what twenty one or twenty two of them?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
That's very impressive. That's a ton of work, man, and
it is.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
It's true, like you don't have the resources that the
top dogs have, so the only way you're gonna do
it is to work harder.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Good on them for trying to come up with a
plan that works to their advantage. And you know, fits
kind of their style of play. I wonder if Nick
Krawl was.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Consolable get crawled, get crawled.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Maybe Whitta, we come back.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Let's keep the ball rolling.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
It's Thursday.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Our friends at the University in Cincinnati and novacare always
willing to help us out talk some injury things happening
across the National Football League. Brian Growi of Novacare joins
US next on the home of the Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station
Is Tony Pike Cincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in hard by Penn Station East Coast Subs, handcrafted,
hot grilled subs, fresh cut fries in lemonade. It's all
about good taste. Penn Station East Coast Subs orderum line today.
(00:20):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you to Penn Station. As we get underway here
our number three, ESBN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Let's
talk Bearcats. A huge one at Nipperts Stadium on Saturday.
Bearcat basketball plays on Sunday, and then of course a
huge matchup against Louisville at Heritage Banks Arena next Friday night,
and then BYU comes into town. So picking up here
(00:50):
for the Cincinnati Bearcats. So let's spend time talking about
said Bearcats. Austin's favorite, my second favorite, Nickoson. It's Keegan
Nickoson joining us right now from Bearcat Jenneral Hi Kegan.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Hi, Tony Keg.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
And you sound healthy, you sound well, You sound much
better than the flu game that you had to push through.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well that that's ironic because I actually had food poisoning yesterday.
So I'm I'm really. Uh, my recovery rate is very
good in terms of them being out for a day.
But I'm doing solid.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Do you know, like what it was that you ate?
You don't have to give like a name brand or anything,
but do you know what it was?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
There's no one in this world I fear more than
Zack Stipe, So I'm not going to bring it up.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I'll take that and run.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Kagan.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Let's let's talk about what was at fitth third Arena
against the Dayton Flyers, because I feel like you could
be on both sides of this one. Sloppy twenty four turnovers,
Dayton makes seven percent of their threes, but on the
other end, you still find a way to win the
game by twelve points, and talking about a win while
(02:09):
having things to fix is a lot better than a loss.
How did you view the I would say, how do
you view the effort that you saw from this Bearcat
team against Dayton?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I think you see was just the better team at
the end of the day. I think they were bigger
and better And basically I would say every facet except
for turnovers. And you know, if you want to put
a spin zone on it, you can say, well, we
know the one thing they have to work on over
three games because the turnovers have been like that kind
of really bright flashing warning sign, and I think it's
(02:46):
it's mainly due to the fast pace that they're playing with.
It's different than what u SE's played with in the
past two years. And Wes Miller is not someone who
is going to see the struggles with the pace and
then kind of changed course. He sounds like he's really
committed to it. So it's definitely something that they have
(03:08):
to flesh out with that kind of increased chemistry. But
maybe the turnovers are just something that it's not going
to be twenty four is I think company they had
against Stayton. It's not going to be like that every night.
But that could be a weak spot for this team.
But when you get to that eight minute mark of
the second half and you're wearing down the opposition, that's
(03:29):
when they can kind of take over. And that's what
you saw against Dayton. So they played well. I think
they shot it pretty well when they actually couldn't shoot
the ball and didn't turn it over because I think
at some point they had turned it over in twenty
or fifty possessions, which isn't great, but you know they
I think they were just more talented.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
The talent level is high on this team. What do
you make of the style in which they've been able
to play through the first three Again, the level of
competition will pick up, but it does feel like a
team last year they were just searching. At times, you
could see the possession unfolding where there wasn't much ball movement.
It became a rough shot at the end. I thought
(04:10):
at times against Dayton they might have had one or
two passes too many. But it does feel different the
way this team operates offensively in trying to push it
if it's not there. They do share the ball.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Well, Yeah, there's a lot of ball movement, definitely more
than what I've seen in the past couple of years.
And that really starts with per Crisa. And you even
see him kind of making those no looks behind the
back passes that end up going straight out of bounds
because he's expecting a teammate a teammate to be somewhere
that they aren't. But I think when you talk about talent,
(04:42):
you talk about style, you have to go to Seanabia
and Babla Miller. Those two guys that are kind of
raising the roof and getting the fans really excited. A
Bayav hits two turnaround threes, one while he's hitting sound
and literally falling into the lap of someone that was
sitting half or just like really really great plays, and
(05:03):
Baba Miller's reaching all the way back and getting an
al oop. I think, and I've mentioned it before, but
those three players and Miller, Abiah and Seam are gonna
be kind of the catalyst of what the Cincinnati team
can be. Sham's kind of struggled a little bit, at
least offensively, but you see his ability on the defensive end,
(05:24):
kind of similar to his E's mandego, where you just
see his arm reach out and you wonder, like, I
don't know how anyone shoots over That guy hasn't raped
up the blocks as many as people might have thought
that he would so far, but I think that you'll
start to see that kind of increases he gets more comfortable.
But yeah, those three are great. Kerkkrisa been really good.
(05:47):
And then another guy who isn't getting into a lot
of notice is Jalen Celesting, but he just comes in
and he hits those few threes and big spots, and
he hit one that kind of sparked a run and
gave him some momentum when they were struggle and against Dayton,
and it helped the time.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Is there anything you can do personally keeking to help
this team with their free throw shooting?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
You know, I really don't think so. You kind of
almost have to bake in that they're going to make
under sixty five percent of the free throws in your
game plan, so you have to go somewhere else. Wes
Miller was actually talking about it at his radio show
last week, and I think it was after the Western
Carolina game. He turned around to Dan Horde and Terry
(06:30):
Or it might have been Dan Hord Mo during that
game and said, is there like a curse on the
Cincinnati free throws? And I think that he kind of
just didn't believe it after the first four years, but
now that it's been five, he's like, Okay, this is
actually like out of our control. So I'm not sure
when guys like Shanabaya or mising them Bass when it's
(06:51):
more obvious because he's supposed to be like one of
the best shooters. Jeordie Rodriguez, other guys who were just
supposed to be really, really good shooters. It almost feels
like they're as a curse. But you know, I think
it was the first player to make all at least
ten of their attempts make all of them. Dayde Thomas
did it against Dayton. The other time was in twenty twelve. Yeah,
(07:15):
So when you don't have that kind of consistency, maybe
there's some voodoo or crazy stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I have to ask because this is always fascinating to me,
and I know early in the season you play a
lot of guys when all is said and done with
this team, like we saw Jordi Rodriguez and Keishan Tillery's
minutes were eliminated in the second half against Dayton, and
they did not play particularly well. Both had two turnovers
in a short amount of time in the first half.
(07:41):
When all is said and done, What do you think
the ideal number is for a rotation in the Big
twelve to have the most success.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I think Wes has actually said before that the rotation
actually needs to grow instead of shrink when you get
the conference play. I think it needs to be around nine,
but that has to be nine guys who can really
really compete and help you, Like, it's not putting someone
on the floor that's going to struggle just for the
(08:10):
sake of having a longer rotation that gives some guys
some breeders and some breaks. I think it's nine to ten,
and you know, I don't really know it's weird. I
would go with nine to ten and then just kind
of always try to have your best players on the
floor as much as possible, because you've seen how that's
(08:33):
worked for Uce. So yeah, I would go nine to ten.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
The matchup against Louisville. Louisville's a great basketball team. We
just watched what they did to Kentucky on Tuesday night.
Everyone knows Pat Kelsey's got a very talented team. How
far could a win next Friday go for Wes Miller
and this team and the trajectory because it feels like
one of those wins against an opponent that has just
eluded Wes Miller. You're essentially playing it at your back
(08:59):
yard heritage bank. But how far would it go to
find a way to win that game on Friday night
for not only this team, but for Wes in general.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
It would be absolutely huge. I think it would do
a ton for their kind of their trendiness around the
country and what people think of this team, because you know,
they're not ranked in the AP top twenty five. They're
around like thirty six or thirty seven in terms of
Ken palm where he's looking at him. So I think
(09:29):
it would do a ton. Louisville is legitimately a Final
Four contender. I mean, that's how good that team is.
And you saw what they did to former Bearcat Eric
Martin the South Carolina State team. I think it was
like some like fifty to like eight at halftime or
something like that, just a blowout. And I mean Pat
(09:51):
Kelsy is a great coach, Michael Brown is a really
really good guard who a lot of people are talking
about as a lottery pick. But this is a game
where Sin Sandy just kind of had to establish your identity.
If you're going to be eat a team that plays
with a ton of pace, go and wear Louisville down
for some mistakes and have a really good shooting night,
maybe have a really good shooting night from the free
(10:11):
throw line once once in your life, and just kind
of wear away at that Louisville team. But you know,
it'd be a great thing to kind of get people
back on West's side. A lot of people, including myself,
don't really know what this team's going to be, and
through three games we don't have that much more clarity.
We've got some kind of like you know, Shana Bay.
(10:32):
It's been pretty consistently good. Baba Miller could be one
of the better players in the entire Big Twelve. But
beating that Louisville team, especially in like an old rivalry
type game, it would put Cincinnati on the map, especially
in front of your home crowd, even though I would
expect it to be close to fifty to fifty, if
at the very least sixty forty. With Louisville fans.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Talk a little bit, Let's let's switch to the football
side a few more minutes. You with Keegan nickoson Bearcat
journal dot com. Everyone asked over the bye, Keegan, what's
different about this year's team compared to last year's team,
the team that started five and two and then lost
their final five. I thought, I don't know if it
was much as being exposed against Utah, but receivers struggled
at times to get open. Brendan Swerzby didn't have his
(11:16):
best day. The special teams unit resorted back to what
we've seen in the past, and that was not great defense,
couldn't get the stops when necessary. What gives you more
confidence that the Utah game was more of just a
one off and not something that's going to be the
norm going forward.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, I don't really know about that game being a
one off. If I'm being completely honest, if they play
Utah on a nutral site, hypothetically, I think Utah probably wins,
and probably wins by seven to ten. Like, I didn't
take much from that game to be like, oh this
is this is kind of fluky. Now you saw the
(11:55):
special teams lapses, You saw the fumble in the red
zone at a big play, which that's where you can
look at it. But you know, Utah just dominated them
up front. They brought a ton of pressure and they
played really tight. Man. And if I'm being completely honest,
if a team's gonna do that, and they're gonna be
(12:15):
able to do that, like Arizona, I think they're playing
on playing a lot of man, But I don't know
if they have the horses that Utah has. If a
team's gonna do that, U see is gonna have trouble
in all honesty, and it's not because they're not a
talented team, But I just don't know if they're up
to that level of talent that the Utahs and Texas
Tech have so far. So I'd be really interested to
(12:39):
see what a Texas Tech versus U SEE showdown would
look like in Dallas. That's a Big twelve championship because
it's kind of the that's kind of what everyone is
looking forward to. It's the most likely scenario, But yeah,
I don't know if that was fluky. I still think
that they're gonna go free and o in these last
three games and they're gonna play for Big Twelve championship.
Despite I think k Ford today said there's an eighty
(13:03):
five percent chance they go one and two down the stretch.
But I think this is a really, really good Cincinnati team.
Just other certain teams in the Big Twelve offer a
matchup that don't really give them a great chance to
be able to come out victorious health wise.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Does it feel like they're close to back being where
they need to be? Golda was banged up, Dante Corleone's
been banged up, Evan Pryor didn't play coming out of
the by. Does this team feel healthy.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Evan Pryor was questionable and Caleb Goodie was questionable and
the latest availability report, so we're going to be looking
up for those guys and seeing if they're playing, at
least in the game day update. So I think that
they're definitely getting healthier. Golde is fine, and I think
d Day Crollon is. I actually think Dante croleone is
(13:52):
going to really pop off in these last three games.
I think he's going to have kind of that that
mindset of these are my last three games as a Bearcat.
We've got in front of us to kind of etch
our name down in history and get to that Big
twelve championship game, be the first team to get to
a Big twelve Championship game. So I think I think
he'll have a big three games. Maybe he gets to
(14:13):
one hundred percent health and like I said, Goade's one
hundred percent healthy, So I think they're trending in that direction.
But those two question marks of Goody and Evan Pryor,
those are two big names that we're going to be
looking out for on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
So many people all they want to do is talk
about the BYU game next weekend and here comes an
Arizona team that took BYU to overtime. They had a
ten point lead in the fourth quarter, lost eventually in
ot Houston beat him at the gun at Houston. Houston
is eight and two. They have a loss at Iowa State.
This is a good defense in Arizona. It's a quarterback
(14:48):
in Noah Fafida who's got over twenty two hundred yards
passing in twenty three touchdowns with only four interceptions. I
caution I have cautioned a lot of Bearcat fans that
this is a good Arizona team. How much of a
challenge does this team possess this Cincinnati bearcatch group on Saturday.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, if I'm completely honest, I think they have a
better chance of losing to Arizona at Bold than they
do of losing to TCU on the road. Like Scott
Saderfield said it, Jason Sheer, who covers Arizona for two
poor seven, I talked to him and he said it.
This team's six points from being eight and one. Like
a lot of fans have talked about UC over the
(15:28):
past couple of years, and in those one four games,
that's how close they were. This team is that close
to being tied with Texas Tech and Cincinnati for the
lead in the Big Twelve and BYU and it's those
close games. It's it's the last second things, it's the
(15:49):
small plays. So I think Noah Fafida is a veteran
quarterback who's having a really really good year despite losing
Tetero McMillan, which is probably one of the best US
wide receivers in Arizona history, who's playing with the Carolina
Panthers now and having a really great rookie season. The
defense is I think number nineteen in points per game
(16:10):
and number thirty in yards per game, so they're playing
really well and the offense is around the same numbers.
So it's a really really good team. The weakness is
the rush defense, and that's where I'm going to look
for Scott Satherfield to establish the run game on Saturday
and then hit those play action shots. So what I'm
looking for is defense, step up, get a couple stops
(16:33):
to start the game, and then the offense just takes
that traditional two possession maybe even three possession lead at halftime,
and then the opposition is obviously gonna like come back
and call back and they're going to. I think Arizona
will be in a spot where there it's turnover away
from maybe time to game, like we've seen the UCF
in Iowa State. But that's where Brendan Sorozy's talent and
(16:57):
how good he's playing comes in and then you see
feels a thirty four or twenty four victory. That's my prediction.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Higher likelihood you see winning the final three in football
or uc beating Louisville next Friday.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Night winning the final three in football. Okay, And that's
not me saying that you see is is not a
good basketball team, because I think they are, and if
I had to pick right now, I think that they
would make the tournament. But I think Louisville is a
legit Final four contender, and I think they're going to
have a really, really good season. They're well coached and
(17:31):
they have a ton of talent.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Kegan, you're the best, well, you're the second best out
of your family. But we enjoy your time here for
Bearcat journal dot com. What's the easiest way people can
follow along with everything you got coming out?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Follow Kay Nicholson forty two on Twitter and then also
make sure you subscribe to Barricott Journal. Check out my
story I did on Jack Grant and Jack Griffith and
the football teams player personnel Department, one of my favorite
stories I've ever written at DCJ. Those are great and
they've done a great job of flipping the football program
since they took over. So had a ton of fun
(18:05):
right now, real.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Real quick on that, just a brief overview because I
saw the piece. I don't think people realize the detail
that they've brought to their jobs at the University of Cincinnati.
Just tease that piece a little bit for people that
may not be familiar.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Yeah, it's basically centered around the how they attack the
transfer portal and how they're doing it differently than other schools,
kind of like a in a moneyball aspect of if
we look at the transfer portal like Georgia and Ohio
State and LSU, it's not going to be good. So
we have to do something differently to find a different approach.
(18:42):
And basically their biggest thing is time on task and
watching filmy. They evaluated and scouted twenty two seventy eight
players from the end of the twenty twenty four season
or from the beginning of the twenty twenty four portal
to the end of the twenty twenty five portal when
they took twenty one of those players. Wow, and now
(19:02):
twenty two thousand, Boston College twenty two thousand, So they
watched the tape and that now you have Boston College's
head coach Phil O'Brien going in from the media and saying, yeah,
the portal is really hard. We don't really know how
to attack it. You don't, I mean, there's just no
way to really get a gauge for anything. And then
sinc Natty sees that and says, you could just work really,
(19:24):
really hard, and then if someone happens to go on
the portal, you know that this is a guy you
can attack and watch. So that's basically the long and
short of it. It was a ton of fun. Those
guys are great, and make sure you try to go
read that awesome, awesome stuff. Keegan.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
We're always appreciating your time, man. I look forward to
seeing you this weekend. Have a great rest of the week.
Careful what you eat?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Yeah, thanks, Tonny, I'll try.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Thanks Keegan. That's Keegan nickoson Bearcat Journal dot com.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
That's that's cool man. How about that though, have you
ever had food poisoning.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yes, that's the worst.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
How about twenty two thousand players in order to get
what twenty one or twenty two of them?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
That's very impressive. That's a ton of work, man, and
it is.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
It's true, like you don't have the resources that the
top dogs have, so the only way you're gonna do
it is to work harder.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Good on them for trying to come up with a
plan that works to their advantage. And you know, fits
kind of their style of play. I wonder if Nick
Krawl was.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Consolable get crawled, get crawled.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Maybe Whitta, we come back.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Let's keep the ball rolling.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
It's Thursday.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Our friends at the University in Cincinnati and novacare always
willing to help us out talk some injury things happening
across the National Football League. Brian Growi of Novacare joins
US next on the home of the Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station
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