'Best conference is getting even better': Cincinnati basketball enters Big 12 this year

• Cincinnati basketball coach Wes Miller addresses questions of statewide interest.
• Answers a question about embattled ex-Bearcats coach Bob Huggins.
• National stage is aim, along lines of long-ago Cincinnati wins over Ohio State in NCAA finals.

CLEVELAND − Former Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins is laying low in the wake of using a homophobic slur.

Current Bearcats coach Wes Miller is out and about on a "Day One Tour," with stops in Cleveland, Columbus and Chicago as the university basks in joining the Big 12 Conference.

"We're entering into the best basketball conference in America," Miller said at Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland last month. "The best conference is getting even better."

The Big 12 includes Huggins' current team, West Virginia, which switched to the Big 12 in 2012.

Huggins, who was fired after his 16th year at Cincinnati, talked his way into trouble recently after his 16th season at West Virginia.

On May 8, he gave a speech in Canton prior to a radio appearance in which his homophobic slur aimed at Xavier fans resulted in a three-game suspension and a $1 million pay cut.

During an interview in Cleveland, Miller was asked about Huggins' punishment.

"No comment on that situation," he said. "I can just tell you that as the sitting coach at Cincinnati, I have so much respect for the people that came before me and what they accomplished. Our program's in a better position for players and coaches that built this program up over the last 70, 80 years.

"Obviously coach Huggins is a Hall of Fame coach. We're proud that he coached at Cincinnati. In terms of recent events, no comment."

Cincinnati was the best program in the country 60 years ago. The Bearcats reached Final Fours in 1958, 1959 and 1960, won national championships in 1961 and 1962, and lost in overtime in the 1963 national finals.

Things ebbed from there, bottoming out with a 3-25 record in 1983-84 during a 14-year absence from the NCAA tournament.

The drought ended in 1993 when the Bearcats reached the Final Four in Huggins' third year after leaving Akron.

"We had a chance to win a national championship − or would have won a national championship going away − until Kenyon Martin hurt his leg," Huggins told the Hall of Fame Luncheon Club in Canton on May 8, shortly before his ill-fated radio appearance.

During a run to 14 straight NCAA tournaments under Huggins, the Bearcats enjoyed a seven-year stretch in which their combined record was 193-43.

Cincinnati didn't reach an NCAA tournament in the first five years after firing Huggins, but then got in for nine straight years under Mick Cronin, who left for UCLA in 2019.

Cincinnati kept John Brannen only two seasons, replacing him with Miller, who was 185-135 in 10 years as North Carolina-Greensboro. The Bearcats have gone 18-15 and 23-13 under Miller, who aims for a return to the glory years.

"(Big 12 membership) has completely change the fabric of our recruiting," he said, "When you're part of the best league in the country, it's going to attract the best players.

"We're trying to compete on the national stage and in the Big 12, and get a program that consistently competes for national championships."

Xavier was the best college team in Ohio in 2022-23. The Muskateers beat Cincinnati 80-77 and won two NCAA games before falling to Big 12 member Texas. Ohio State routed Cincinnati 81-53 on Nov. 22 in Hawaii but wound up 16-19.

Cincinnati lost three conference games to Houston, which also is jumping to the Big 12, but got to 23 wins while advancing to the third round of the NIT. Kent State narrowly lost to Houston and took a 28-6 record into the NCAA tournament.

Through history, Cincinnati and Ohio State ignored each other. The Bearcats beat the Buckeyes in the 1961 and 1962 national championship games, the only two meetings until 2006, after Huggins was gone. Since then, they have played four more times, Ohio State winning each time.

"The way we think about it competitively," Miller said, "we're trying to be the best basketball program in the country."

Ohio opponents on the Bearcats tentative 2023-24 schedule are Dayton, Miami (Ohio) and Xavier.

Miller takes a local-national approach to recruiting.

"We want to recruit our backyard," he said. "We're not just saying that. We can show it in our recruiting efforts."

Forward Rayvon Griffin led Cincinnati Taft to the 2022 OHSAA Division III state title. Incoming point guard Jizzle James played for an AAU team coached by Cincinnati native Steve Reese. Transfer CJ Frederick, who started 15 games for Kentucky last season, played high school ball in Covington, Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati-Xavier rivalry was part of a national story after Huggins crossed some lines.

During his stop in Cleveland, Miller was far from inflammatory when asked about Xavier.

"It's so neat," he said. "It's one of the greatest rivalries in college basketball, in sports.

"I've really enjoyed learning about it and participating it in the last two years. We embrace that it's a great rivalry, but there's also a high level of respect for (Xavier coach) Sean (Miller) and his program.

"Rivalries are rivalries. You want to beat them, especially when they're in the same town."

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP