A summer sneak peek at Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball

They've only been together for a couple of months but early returns on Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball for the coming season are positive.

Since finishing a 23-13 season in the quarterfinals of the NIT, Coach Wes Miller's roster has seen seven players depart, eight players return and seven newcomers come with the blessing of Jordan Brand sneakers.

Tuesday, newcomers C.J. Fredrick, Jizzle James and Rayvon Griffith, plus Dan Skillings Jr. made an appearance at a Pro Camps clinic at the Spooky Nook Champion Mill complex in Hamilton. Later that evening, the current Bearcats got some scrimmage work in with UC's entry into the TBT (The Basketball Tournament), the Nasty 'Nati.

"I'm surprised at how good it's gone," Griffith said of his new UC teammates. "We bonded so early. We all really enjoy each other."

Said James, "I love it here! Great energy, great environment, someplace I'm glad to call home."

For Fredrick, who prepped at Covington Catholic and Griffith, who played three years at Taft, they're already home. Here's a rundown of the 2023-24 roster:

UC's recent arrivals

From the high school ranks, there's 6-foot-1 James from Orlando and 6-foot-7 Griffith who won a state title here with Taft's Senators before spending his senior season with Arizona Compass.

From Kilgore Junior College comes 6-foot junior Daveon "Day Day" Thomas who will battle for the point guard position and displays an incredible vertical leap for his size.

Via the transfer portal, UC picked up former Cov Cath star Fredrick who played two seasons at Iowa after a redshirt year, then a season at Kentucky after missing his redshirt junior season with an injury. The 6-foot-3 Fredrick is a graduate student in his final season. Bearcat fans may remember him for lighting UC up for 21 points in 2019 with the Hawkeyes at Chicago's United Center.

"I've had a couple people message me since I've been back about that," Fredrick said. "It's just been fun to be back in Cincinnati, playing in my hometown. Playing in front of my family and UC fans is going to be awesome."

Fredrick, like Griffith, is also a former state champion leading Cov Cath's Colonels to a 2018 Kentucky state championship.

Helping on the wing is 6-foot-8 junior Simas Lŭkosius from Lithuania who spent the last two seasons at Butler under former Xavier coach Thad Matta. He also has experience against Xavier having once scored 27 points against them in the Big East tournament in New York City.

The Bearcats added two big bodies to the frontcourt in 6-foot-10, 280-pound Jamille Reynolds from Temple and 7-footer Aziz Bandaogo from Utah Valley University. Both played against the Bearcats last season. Reynolds had 11 points and three rebounds in a late-season game at Fifth Third Arena and 12 points and five rebounds against the Bearcats in the opening round of the AAC tournament in Fort Worth (UC won both).

Bandaogo was one of several thorns in UC's side in their NIT quarterfinal loss to Utah Valley with 15 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.

Both bigs are appealing for immediate eligibility as both have transferred twice. Reynolds was previously at UCF before Temple and Bandaogo was at Akron prior to Utah Valley.

As second-time transfers, they must meet specific NCAA criteria of having an injury, illness, mental health condition or exigent circumstances.

"We're going through the process the way the NCAA has laid out for a waiver for both of them," Miller said. "When you look at the criteria, we believe as we got to know them, that they meet that criteria. Out of respect for them personally, there's not a whole more I can say about it."

Miller says he doesn't have a timetable for an answer from the NCAA but doesn't expect an answer until sometime in the fall.

UC's departures from last season

David DeJulius, Rob Phinisee and Kalu Ezikpe all graduated. Landers Nolley II declared for the NBA Draft and signed as a free agent with the New Orleans Pelicans. He reports to training camp in September.

Lost via the portal were Jeremiah Davenport to Arkansas, Mika Adams-Woods to St. Bonaventure and Jarrett Hensley to Southern Illinois.

Those who stayed put with Wes Miller

John Newman III, who started 31 of 32 games after coming with Miller from UNC-Greensboro, played just a few minutes of UC's opener last year before being injured. The 6-foot-5 wing averaged 6.9 points and 4.2 rebounds in 2021-22.

Starter 6-foot-11 Viktor Lakhin is now a redshirt junior and joins a group of loaded post-players. That includes 6-foot-9 Ody Oguama, now a grad student, and 7-foot-1 sophomore Sage Tolentino.

Skillings is but a 6-foot-6 sophomore who returns after a strong finish to the season and 6-foot-7 Josh Reed is also but a sophomore with a lot of promise. Walk-on junior guards C.J. Anthony and Chase Kirkwood round out the returning players.

Bigger, stronger, faster

Among the staff promotions at UC, basketball strength coach Mike Rehfeldt is now an Associate AD for Sports Performance, something Miller and the players believe is highly deserved.

"We do have the best strength and conditioning program in the country," Miller said. "I can't imagine there's a better strength coach/performance coach than Mike Rehfeldt. If you look at the guys that have worked with him in a short period of time, they're improved. The guys that have worked with him over a long period of time, it's incredible!"

Jamille Reynolds who transferred in at 280 pounds has had his body redistributed and transformed. Of the four at the Pro Camps Clinic (Skillings, Griffith, James, Fredrick) all had added weight. In the case of Skillings, he came in a year ago at 189 and now says he's at 216.

"The staff there has us working hard, they got our meals right," Skillings said. "He's getting me ready. He (Rehfeldt) is really good at what he does. He got me faster and I jump higher even though I gained 20-some pounds."

Griffith in his short time has gone from 188 to 205. Fredrick has added five pounds. As for freshman James, he's up from the 190s to 205.

"Jizzle physically is not a freshman," Miller said. "He has a real physical impact on the game at his position. Some guys walk in the door as freshmen and their bodies maybe look young. Jizzle doesn't. He looks physically like he belongs against anyone he's going to line up against."

Mixing the ingredients for success

Miller likes the attitude and mentality of the team. Some of the players have commented that the chemistry has exceeded expectations. Somehow master chef Miller must now take three grad students, two seniors, five juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen and stir the pot in the Big 12. The league can be unforgiving as UC's respectable 63 NCAA NET ranking last season would put them only above Oklahoma who was No. 70. The Bearcats trailed nine Big 12 teams in that category in 2022-23 along with Houston from the AAC who was No. 1 overall in the tally.

"They've come in humble and ready to do things the way that we do in Cincinnati," Miller said. "C.J. Fredrick is an example. He's played in NCAA tournaments. He's had a lot of success. He's played with great coaches and great players. For him to come in humble and ready to learn from the guys that have been in this program, that's been important to building the right kind of culture on this team."

Should the current roster stick, the Bearcats have depth and the ability to play different line-ups. In arguably the best league in basketball, depth will be important.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Wes Miller's UC Bearcats will look different heading into Big 12