Now, the Bearcats have quite a difficult challenge to overcome heading into this one as they travel across two different time zones through elevation to take on the Cougars. The last time the Bearcats traveled to Utah they came out on the short end of the stick after their loss to Aziz Bandaogo and Utah Valley last season in the NIT.
However, for Miller he has no worries that strength and conditioning coach Mike Rehfeldt will have the team prepared and ready come Saturday. “He is like a mad scientist,” Miller said. “He is always doing something to prepare our guys physically. One of the great aspects to having him as your strength and conditioning coach is that you don’t have to get involved in that.”
Miller noted that former Cincinnati and now current UCLA head coach Mick Cronin shared a similar story with him about coach Rehfeldt. “Mick Cronin told me this about Rehfeldt, and it just happened to be very true, with coach Rehfeldt, you don’t have to worry about strength and conditioning as the head coach, because you know it is being done at the highest possible standard, and that is true. I am sure Mike is doing something to prepare our guys for this week. I don’t get involved in it because I know I don’t have to because that’s how good he is.”
Now for the Bearcats they not only have their biggest challenge of the season come Saturday, but for the next month as five of their next six opponents are currently sitting in the top 25. For Miller, he is not looking ahead as his sights are set on BYU and nothing further at the moment. “I can honestly say that if my life depended on it, I could not tell you our next six games,” said Miller. “I know we play BYU Saturday, Texas on Tuesday, but I could not tell you who comes after that, I just know this, it is someone really damn good. This league is really damn good.”
Now for the Cougars, they know they have a test on their hand with the Bearcats frontcourt due to the size and physicality of Aziz Bandaogo, Viktor Lakhin, Jamille Reynolds and Ody Oguama. The Bearcats enter this contest 6th in the country in rebounds per game (43.85) while the Cougars are slightly ahead of them averaging (44.38) rebounds per game, good for third in the nation. “There’s several teams that have been very committed to the offensive glass. Cincinnati is one of them,” Pope said. “They have been outstanding on the defensive glass. They have really special length, guys that not only have great length but very good rebounders as well.”
“Cincinnati is one of the top defensive rebounding teams in the country,” BYU guard Spencer Johnson said. “One of our strengths is offensive rebounding, we have to be a locked in on that.” Cougars guard Trevin Knoll also chimed in on Saturday’s matchup vs the Bearcats by saying, “We are trying to keep the standard, the standard and our mental mindset into Cincinnati. It is going to be a tough game. Cincinnati is a very tough team, but we can’t get too amped up because it is Big 12 play.”
However, for both teams as they prepare for their first season in the Big 12, the conference has made it clear over recent years that this league is simply the best basketball conference in all of American, no questions asked. As of right now, the Big 12 as of right now is projected to put at least nine teams in the NCAA Tournament to recent bracket projection, yes you read that right, nine teams. That is nearly 64% of teams in the conference set to make the big dance, that in itself shows how talent in the Big 12 conference.
This is unlike years in the past where you could circle some games on the schedule as “Automatic” wins, but this year, you simply can’t do that with the parity and talent across the Big 12. West Virginia last season is a prime example of that, despite losing their first eight conference games, they still were able to make it to the big dance as an 11 seed.
For Miller, and the Bearcats they know this last half of the season won’t be easy but are willing to embrace the challenge of Big 12 basketball. “There is not one game left on our schedule that is considered an easy winnable game, regardless of where that team is meteorically,” Miller said. “Our guys know how good the Big 12 is, everyone has talked about it around here for the last year and change.”
For those looking to following along with Saturday’s contest, Tipoff is slated for 10 pm on ESPN2 as both teams search for their first ever Big 12 conference victory.
