Speaker 1: This is the Wes Miller Radio Show live from the
Speaker 1: original Montgomery In. Brought you in part by Skyline Chilly
Speaker 1: feeling good. It's Skyline Time and by the original Montgomery
Speaker 1: In and the Montgomery In at the boat House, home
Speaker 1: of the world's Greatest Ribs. Now here's Dan Horde, It's
Speaker 1: Terry Nelson and you SE's head coach, Wes Miller.
Speaker 2: It is show time, very pleasant, good evening, everybody. Greetings
Speaker 2: from the original montgomery And home of the world's Greatest Ribs.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the West Miller Radio Show on Dan Horde
Speaker 2: alongside former Bearcats stand out Terry Nelson and the star
Speaker 2: of the show, the head coach of your you See Bearcats.
Speaker 2: Let's hear it for Wes Miller.
Speaker 3: I think we both agree with your intro. That's pretty good.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Tried to bring the energy for you Tel
Speaker 2: and I like it. I know that you are quick
Speaker 2: to criticize if you're not. Feel like it's not just me.
Speaker 2: The org level is.
Speaker 4: No room, bills led down if Dan Horde doesn't bring
Speaker 4: the energy, all.
Speaker 2: Right, the energy is here tonight. I'm fired up. I'm
Speaker 2: ready to all great victory last night for the Bearcats.
Speaker 2: Eighty nine sixty two over the Lipscomb buys Ins. I
Speaker 2: know what some people are thinking, Lipscomb, they're in the
Speaker 2: Atlantic Sun, big deal. Well, they led Duke in the
Speaker 2: second half about two weeks ago. They went to the
Speaker 2: NCAA tournament last year. That's a good team. It's not
Speaker 2: a Big twelve opponent, but it's a good team. That
Speaker 2: was a quality win for your team last night.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know said that, the same thing you just
Speaker 5: said in the press conference last night. I'm not going
Speaker 5: to sit here and act like that's a power for team.
Speaker 5: But that's a really good team.
Speaker 6: And it's one of those.
Speaker 5: Deals that over Christmas, you know, you open the laptop
Speaker 5: and start watching tape and it's the game after Christmas
Speaker 5: break right, and you scheduled that game. And I'm not
Speaker 5: going to say you want a cupcake, but you know,
Speaker 5: you tell your you tell your staff schedule in the game.
Speaker 5: Fine one that if these guys ate too much food
Speaker 5: at home a Christmas or like, find one that we
Speaker 5: can work through some of the kinks from Christmas holidays.
Speaker 5: And the staff failed because I'm watching the tape and
Speaker 5: they're beating Duke in the second half and they've won.
Speaker 5: I think they'd won six to seven coming into our game.
Speaker 5: They're picked to win every single game the rest of
Speaker 5: the year and win their league. But also just they
Speaker 5: have the shooting, you.
Speaker 6: Know, they really move the ball.
Speaker 5: They play a funky style of defense that is given
Speaker 5: some people that have more gifts than they do problems.
Speaker 5: So it was one of those games that you're a
Speaker 5: little bit more nervous about than you should be coming
Speaker 5: off a Christmas break.
Speaker 6: I thought our guys played well last night.
Speaker 4: Some similarities here, Kenyon Martin, Jason not Jason, Maxill close,
Speaker 4: three other post players I'm trying to think of, Trey
Speaker 4: Scott and Gary Clark. These are all the latest guys
Speaker 4: that have twenty rebound games, and Boba Miller. It seems
Speaker 4: like it was so effortless. It's almost like guys were
Speaker 4: getting out of the way because they knew it was
Speaker 4: effortless to try to grab a rebound. What's it like
Speaker 4: when you have a guy you know on the defensive end,
Speaker 4: we'll grab every rebound for you.
Speaker 3: And you only give them one shot.
Speaker 5: Well, when somebody's rebound and the way Baba was, it's
Speaker 5: a great thing. I told the guys at halftime, terry
Speaker 5: that you know. I said, Hey, let's point this out.
Speaker 5: Baba has thirteen rebounds. I said, but hell, you guys
Speaker 5: going to compete with them a little bit? I mean,
Speaker 5: And the one statistic that I believe you can be
Speaker 5: selfish with as a player and it's still good for
Speaker 5: the team is rebounding. You know, you can be selfish
Speaker 5: with rebounding and it's still good for the team. I said, Hell,
Speaker 5: somebody else will get one, but twenty one something I
Speaker 5: had somebody when I first got here. I won't give
Speaker 5: a name player on the team my first year or so,
Speaker 5: said coach.
Speaker 6: Coach, take me to Rubies like you you take me
Speaker 6: to Rubies.
Speaker 5: And I said, I will if you get twenty rebounds
Speaker 5: in a game.
Speaker 6: I said, that's my rule.
Speaker 5: I'll take anybody to Rubies they get twenty rebounds in
Speaker 5: the game, so me and in one game or a season,
Speaker 5: because I would have went at the.
Speaker 6: End of the year one game in one game.
Speaker 5: So I told the team last nsks, I'm taking Boba
Speaker 5: the Rubies. I'm sure there's some instead of a violation,
Speaker 5: but I hadn't done it yet.
Speaker 4: He can pay for you, He can pay for your
Speaker 4: meal exactly but.
Speaker 5: The guy said, do we get to come to I said,
Speaker 5: if you get twenty days bound, you do you know
Speaker 5: what type of thing?
Speaker 2: All right, next time somebody gets twenty rebounds, we will
Speaker 2: mention the Ruby rules.
Speaker 3: Here's our struggle for the steak thing to that.
Speaker 2: One of us has to get twenty rebounds. You never
Speaker 2: you're never getting mistake team. Now you might not get
Speaker 2: one anyway based on occurrence standard.
Speaker 3: Correct. Let's talk about Mustapha Chohm.
Speaker 2: He had eighteen points last night that tied his career high,
Speaker 2: eight field goals and a couple of free throws. You
Speaker 2: said something really interesting on the postgame show, basically kind
Speaker 2: of saying, you know what, when I've really been stressing
Speaker 2: that I wanted him to do, wasn't working out so well.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna let him do what he's comfortable doing.
Speaker 2: And it seems to have kind of brought the confidence
Speaker 2: back for Mustafa.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I want him to put his seven
Speaker 5: to two frame on the rim and dunk every basketball
Speaker 5: and go get twenty You know, I mean, Terry Dan
Speaker 5: and you guys have been at practice like that's the end.
Speaker 5: Then we're not gonna stop emphasizing that because when when
Speaker 5: that part of the game clicks form Mustafa, He's in
Speaker 5: an entirely different category as.
Speaker 6: A player, and I do believe it will. But he's
Speaker 6: he has a great touch, and he has a lot.
Speaker 5: Of confidence in his touch, even from the post facing
Speaker 5: up shooting a turnaround and allowed him to get back
Speaker 5: to doing that. I think has helped him and he's
Speaker 5: found some confidence again. And it was good to see
Speaker 5: the ball go in for him last night and I
Speaker 5: think it'll continue to do so. And we got to
Speaker 5: let him kind of be him with his touch from
Speaker 5: you know, fourteen to fifteen feet and in.
Speaker 4: Dayda Thomas was on a heater in the Clemson game.
Speaker 4: Follows that up he's two or five from downtown and
Speaker 4: lifts him game. But what is it like now that
Speaker 4: you know that you have an instant outlet that if
Speaker 4: you draw something up, he doesn't have to toll the
Speaker 4: three point line to make the shot, but he can.
Speaker 3: He can make shots.
Speaker 4: From all over the floor from three sort of just
Speaker 4: to loosen the defense up.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just think you got to have guys that
Speaker 5: can be elusive scoring the basketball when you know if
Speaker 5: you can find small advantages for him, they can make
Speaker 5: things happen when there is no advantage, they can make
Speaker 5: things happen.
Speaker 6: Day Day's been.
Speaker 5: One of those players, but he's emerging in a different
Speaker 5: way here in his final season.
Speaker 6: You can see the maturity and the confidence, and he's
Speaker 6: I think in.
Speaker 5: The right positions. And I think Jis Will being back
Speaker 5: out there helps him too. It takes some of the
Speaker 5: pressure off absolutely and allows him to get more comfortable
Speaker 5: in his own right.
Speaker 2: In the final twenty three minutes of the Clemson game,
Speaker 2: you outscored the Tigers fifty four to thirty. That's a
Speaker 2: twenty four point difference. Last night you won the game
Speaker 2: by twenty seven. So over the last basically six half
Speaker 2: or three halves rather you've outscored the opposition by fifty
Speaker 2: one points. Do you feel like this is the team
Speaker 2: that you thought you could have coming into the season.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't know if I've like thought in those
Speaker 5: kind of terms. Other I think it's simpler for me
Speaker 5: that I think when we play consistently, Dan, we can
Speaker 5: be a great basketball team. We're starting to figure out
Speaker 5: recently how to play more consistently. Certainly, Gisel's presence, you know,
Speaker 5: I think has helped everybody. It's not Gigsels plays great,
Speaker 5: but Gisele's presence on the floor has made other players
Speaker 5: better because there's another guy that can shot create for others.
Speaker 5: He has a calming influence with the ball and then
Speaker 5: he can go make something happens, so the defense has
Speaker 5: to respect him. He also has like physical presence defensively,
Speaker 5: which is impactful, and so I think that's elevated us.
Speaker 5: But you know, you know, they'd still like to see
Speaker 5: Jalen Haynes out there at some point.
Speaker 6: I'd like Tyler McKinley to be healthy.
Speaker 5: So I think if we could ever get to full strength,
Speaker 5: I think that'd be a lot of fun too.
Speaker 3: Kirk Resa had.
Speaker 4: A good game against Tartleton State, and then he had
Speaker 4: a good game yesterday.
Speaker 3: But yet, even though he didn't score as.
Speaker 4: Much as Tartleton State, you said yesterday was his best game.
Speaker 5: Why well, I thought he was really good defensively.
Speaker 6: You know that.
Speaker 5: I don't know what the perspective is that people that
Speaker 5: are watching, but that's a very difficult team to defend. Again,
Speaker 5: all five guys can shoot, they all cut, they're always moving,
Speaker 5: you know, and they're good at it right, And you
Speaker 5: can see how they started the year and they they
Speaker 5: hadn't found their way, and then they hit their stride
Speaker 5: and they've been really good ever since. But they put
Speaker 5: a lot of pressure on your defense. If you make
Speaker 5: one mistake defensively, they get a quality shot. I thought
Speaker 5: Kerr was really good defensively. I thought offensively he made
Speaker 5: better reads with the basketball, he protected the ball better,
Speaker 5: and then obviously, like you know, seeing him shoot the
Speaker 5: ball with confidence is important to our team.
Speaker 2: He mentioned Tyler McKinley. He was capable of playing. He
Speaker 2: could have played last night. You elected not to use
Speaker 2: him in the game. Is what he's dealing with right now,
Speaker 2: something that's likely to linger for a while. Or is
Speaker 2: he close to the point where he expected them to be?
Speaker 5: Back on the news channels nowadays, don't they bring in
Speaker 5: like the special doctor to answer these questions, like I
Speaker 5: we got to bring in you know, doctor Nelson here.
Speaker 2: I.
Speaker 6: Got it exactly, But I don't. I don't, honestly, I
Speaker 6: don't know.
Speaker 5: I know that he was trying to do some things
Speaker 5: in practice a couple of days before and shoot around,
Speaker 5: and he he didn't look right. He didn't look ready
Speaker 5: to play to me physically mentally. Tyler McKinley's ready to
Speaker 5: play every single day of every second, every day, but
Speaker 5: he didn't look right physically, and I didn't feel right
Speaker 5: about playing him the way that his leg looks. So
Speaker 5: my hope is that he looks like one hundred percent
Speaker 5: tomorrow and we have no.
Speaker 6: Issues the rest of the year because he's very important
Speaker 6: to our team.
Speaker 2: All Right, we're going to take a time out. We
Speaker 2: are live at the original Montgomery in the home of
Speaker 2: the world's greatest ribs. It's the Westmeller Radio Show on
Speaker 2: seven hundred WLUB. We are back at the original Montgomery
Speaker 2: in the home of the world's greatest ribs and the
Speaker 2: Westmeller Radio Show. Here there's Radio seven hundred WLW. We
Speaker 2: appreciate the Bearcat fans who are here tonight. We've got
Speaker 2: some stuff to give away at the end of the
Speaker 2: show as always, So gotta be here in order to win.
Speaker 2: Come out and join us normally on Thursday nights. This
Speaker 2: week on Tuesday night, since New Year's is on Thursday.
Speaker 2: Open portion of the schedule is over. Big twelve play
Speaker 2: is about to begin.
Speaker 6: You get an easy.
Speaker 2: One to begin league play the defending champion team that
Speaker 2: almost won the National championship Houston on the slate for
Speaker 2: your first league game. But I know as a competitor
Speaker 2: you are eager to test ub what your guys can
Speaker 2: do against the great Houston team.
Speaker 6: Just excited to get Big twelve play going.
Speaker 5: And as the guys in our locker room that they
Speaker 5: all came to Cincinnati to play in the Big twelve,
Speaker 5: you know we prepare to play in the Big twelve,
Speaker 5: is excited to get that portion of it going.
Speaker 6: That's what it's all about.
Speaker 3: Do you think this.
Speaker 4: You've wrapped up with the lineup chains able to now
Speaker 4: dish out a little punishment physically and with pressure opposed
Speaker 4: to before, because it seemed like before you have to
Speaker 4: make it just you have to bring in subs in
Speaker 4: order to right this ship a little bit. Now it's
Speaker 4: like you're bringing the fight to the team.
Speaker 5: I just think as we get healthier and more holes
Speaker 5: a team, there's a lot more options in terms of
Speaker 5: you know, lineups, accountability that there's just a lot more
Speaker 5: that you can do there and that part, that part's fun.
Speaker 6: Again.
Speaker 5: If you can the closer you can get to having
Speaker 5: the whole team together, the better I think we're going
Speaker 5: to be.
Speaker 2: Yep, So This Houston team that comes in on Saturday
Speaker 2: is interesting to me because, unlike a lot of other
Speaker 2: prominent teams in college basketball, they did not bring in
Speaker 2: a bunch of transfers this year. They've got a corps
Speaker 2: of guys back from the team that played for the
Speaker 2: national championship, and then three of the best freshmen in
Speaker 2: the country. So it's almost like an old school approach,
Speaker 2: at least for this year.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's interesting because they do return some really key players.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, to two backcourt players that started
Speaker 5: on a team that i mean dominated our league last year,
Speaker 5: which is almost impossible to do, and then you know,
Speaker 5: was a possession away from winning the NASH Championships. So
Speaker 5: they and then you know, an All American I was Tuggler,
Speaker 5: I think he was a defensive Player of the year,
Speaker 5: maybe an All American. You know, so three starters from
Speaker 5: that team that it's back. But then they add, you know,
Speaker 5: quite a few guys as well that are young players
Speaker 5: that are terrific that will only be there for one year. Right,
Speaker 5: They have a couple of guys, two freshmen in their
Speaker 5: starting lineup that are lottery picks or projected lottery picks
Speaker 5: that are terrific.
Speaker 6: And then they have some other returning.
Speaker 5: Players that have been in the program for a really
Speaker 5: long time that are you know, program guys. So they're
Speaker 5: again it's a little different than what you're seeing across
Speaker 5: the board in college basketball.
Speaker 4: Right now, your third iteration of the Big Twelve going
Speaker 4: into the season. Now you've had two seasons under your belt,
Speaker 4: you realize how difficult this league is and how tough
Speaker 4: it is to play on a nightly basis, not just
Speaker 4: the ranked teams but the non ranked teams. It's a
Speaker 4: quality conference from top to bottom. What have you learn
Speaker 4: from those previous two that says, Okay, we're ready to
Speaker 4: take the step the next step in third and year three.
Speaker 5: Well, I just think that you learn to value every opportunity,
Speaker 5: that every single Big twelve game is a big time game, right,
Speaker 5: Every single opponent is a big time opponent. Every single
Speaker 5: win is a big time win. And that's exciting and
Speaker 5: that's fun. I mean, who doesn't want a chance for
Speaker 5: a great win every single time you take the floor
Speaker 5: for the rest of the season. That's what you get
Speaker 5: when you play in the Big Twelve. What an awesome
Speaker 5: opportunity and viewing it that way and.
Speaker 6: Preparing the way that we prepared.
Speaker 5: You know again, I think I think we're more prepared
Speaker 5: this year than we've been going into it the last
Speaker 5: couple Are there.
Speaker 2: Any NBA draft picks out there that you can add
Speaker 2: to your roster like Baylor did last week? I mean,
Speaker 2: what did you think of that? I mean, if you
Speaker 2: can do it, more power to you. I do not
Speaker 2: blame Baylor, don't get just seems crazy.
Speaker 6: I don't have a problem with Scott or Baylor, you know, but.
Speaker 5: I just there's just been times it felt like since COVID, right,
Speaker 5: like whatever COVID hit, it's felt like whatever the rules
Speaker 5: are of college basketball.
Speaker 6: Well they make new ones, and they make new ones.
Speaker 6: It's it's like every month it changes.
Speaker 5: And and this is just another example like you can't
Speaker 5: even you can't strategize about rules because they what are
Speaker 5: the rules, you know, and every time you think there are,
Speaker 5: they change. So it's just another example of the chaos
Speaker 5: and the unpredictability and the direction that the sports it's been.
Speaker 5: It's just been chaos, and that's all I can say
Speaker 5: about it. There's another another really good example.
Speaker 4: You have went to a more full court pressure, more
Speaker 4: based on the talent that you have on the floor
Speaker 4: in the lineups you have on the floor. Obviously you
Speaker 4: do everything based on your lineups, but it seems as
Speaker 4: if you go into full court pressure sort of unlocks
Speaker 4: the gift of Buck, Harris Day Day and Gisel James.
Speaker 4: It seems like they like they communicate a lot more
Speaker 4: than any other of your back court mates. When they're
Speaker 4: on the floor together, They're always looking and pointing at
Speaker 4: each other. They're always doing mind games and talking nonverbally
Speaker 4: to each other as if they understand what other people.
Speaker 4: They understand what they're gonna do as a team. Have
Speaker 4: they worked on that in practice or just something? Is
Speaker 4: it just chemistry that they have from playing together.
Speaker 5: No. I think when we started in the summer, I
Speaker 5: think we thought that ball pressure could be a huge,
Speaker 5: a huge component of this team, and that you'd be
Speaker 5: able to play multiple guards together that could really get
Speaker 5: after the ball and pick up ninety four feet. And
Speaker 5: as you said, there's just some lineups that doesn't make
Speaker 5: as much sense, but we thought there'd be quite a
Speaker 5: few that it does. In the one year speaking of
Speaker 5: it makes quite a bit of sense for sure.
Speaker 2: Halven Zella gave you an energy boost in the Clemson
Speaker 2: game and then last night and as limited minutes six
Speaker 2: point six rebounds. Are you getting exactly what you're looking
Speaker 2: for out of him?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 5: I just think that you know, people, I think in
Speaker 5: today's age forget that. You know, these guys are still
Speaker 5: very young players. Right, there's eighteen, nineteen, twenty twenty one
Speaker 5: years old. You know, if you just keep working and
Speaker 5: they have the right mentality, they're going to keep improving
Speaker 5: that they're doing their part, We're doing our part.
Speaker 6: They're going to keep improving.
Speaker 5: He and Halvin just keeps improving. So yeah, I'm not
Speaker 5: surprised with Tyler's injury. It's been much needed production. But
Speaker 5: I think there's even more in there from Halvin. I
Speaker 5: think his finishing can improve. I think he still gets
Speaker 5: a little nervous sometimes around the basket. He's a good finisher.
Speaker 5: He actually has some ability to pass and has some
Speaker 5: skill that it hasn't come out yet. So I think
Speaker 5: there's a lot more in there. But the rebounding and
Speaker 5: the defense has been very important to us.
Speaker 4: Uh My son TJ's got this new dog and he
Speaker 4: trains it every day and he treats it like a
Speaker 4: football player, because if the dog doesn't want to train,
Speaker 4: doesn't feed it. It's like, come on, man, what's doesn't
Speaker 4: get a water or anything like that. But when I
Speaker 4: see your top dog defensively, Buck Harris, do you have
Speaker 4: to reel him in at times? Because when you unlease
Speaker 4: him out there, he wants to play aggressive from baseline
Speaker 4: or in line to inline and you almost have to say, look,
Speaker 4: let us get into the flow before you start pressuring
Speaker 4: and getting files that are seventy feet away from the basket.
Speaker 3: Do you have to reel him in or you just
Speaker 3: let him be who he is?
Speaker 6: I think it's a little bit of both, right, Terry.
Speaker 5: I think number one, I want him to be that
Speaker 5: relentless competitor all the time, and he's very capable of that,
Speaker 5: and at times he's been able to execute that. But
Speaker 5: just to be relentlessly competitive at all times, I don't
Speaker 5: want to ever reel that in. But you know, continuing
Speaker 5: to have good discipline, improve his decision making, improve his
Speaker 5: pace with the basketball, play to his strengths.
Speaker 6: I think those are the areas that we're trying.
Speaker 5: I don't know if reeling is the right word, but
Speaker 5: trying to coach, and I think at times he's shun
Speaker 5: great development there.
Speaker 2: All right, I have a very minor bone to pick
Speaker 2: with you.
Speaker 6: Are you ready I'm handling.
Speaker 2: I want to see Grant Darby Shire score. So when
Speaker 2: he's in the game. I appreciate the fact that when
Speaker 2: you're inside it thirty seconds to go, you tell the
Speaker 2: guys no more shooting. The game is over. We've won.
Speaker 2: But I think you should make an exception for him.
Speaker 2: He's never scored in his career between Kentucky and Cincinnati,
Speaker 2: so if he's in the game, that rule goes down
Speaker 2: the train. Let him shoot.
Speaker 3: How about Dan dropping this.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna tell you guys something. Don't oh, don't take
Speaker 5: this the wrong way.
Speaker 2: I can also take it.
Speaker 5: I I don't think there'll ever be a time where
Speaker 5: I'm coaching a game and I'm thinking about what the
Speaker 5: guy on the radio wants me to do.
Speaker 3: Well, then we're gonna get you at your piece. We
Speaker 3: got some good advice.
Speaker 2: But that's fair, that's very fair.
Speaker 5: But uh but but seriously, I I'd love every every.
Speaker 6: Kid on our team, and all of them.
Speaker 5: I want them all to have the greatest experience is
Speaker 5: the greatest moments. And if there's a way to do
Speaker 5: that without sacrificing the things that we're trying to do
Speaker 5: as a team. Somebody asked me in the press conference
Speaker 5: last night, you know, did you know how close Baba
Speaker 5: was to a triple double there? And if you did,
Speaker 5: why wouldn't you leave men a little longer.
Speaker 6: To try to get it? And I said, well, hold
Speaker 6: on a second, three assistance be close to a triple double?
Speaker 6: I look down. He had seven assists.
Speaker 5: I said, three assists ain't close. Man, That's a long
Speaker 5: way away, and it's hard to manufacture. And it's just listen,
Speaker 5: if if somebody was one rebound away from a triple
Speaker 5: double or something like that, or one point away, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 5: you might try something for a possession. So I'm not
Speaker 5: opposed to that kind of thing. But the real goal
Speaker 5: of this is for our team. It's for our team
Speaker 5: to be successful. It's for our team to improve, and
Speaker 5: if we can figure out a way individually without sacrifice,
Speaker 5: I'm all about it. As far as Grant, you know,
Speaker 5: I do want him to score, but it's also important
Speaker 5: we do things the right way.
Speaker 6: And when you got that kind of a lead.
Speaker 5: And the shot clock is off, you dribble the damn
Speaker 5: thing out it's just what you do, you know, and
Speaker 5: and when you've been on the other side of it,
Speaker 5: you appreciate it when it's done, and you remember the
Speaker 5: times that people haven't.
Speaker 6: Done that I've had.
Speaker 5: I've been in that I've been in that position a
Speaker 5: handful of times, more than i'd ever want to be
Speaker 5: in moving forward, and I remember every day time somebody
Speaker 5: didn't have that kind of respect for the game. So
Speaker 5: I always want to But maybe maybe you're right, Dan,
Speaker 5: and we'll draw up an action for Grant Darbyshire to
Speaker 5: get that lefty shot off.
Speaker 6: Grant.
Speaker 2: It's it's gonna happen, Grant, it just has to happen.
Speaker 2: With more than thirty seconds.
Speaker 3: You can take care of that. Put them in at one.
Speaker 2: All right, We're gonna take a time out and questions
Speaker 2: from the audience when we continue. This is the West
Speaker 2: Miller Radio Show. We're live at the original Montgomery in
Speaker 2: all of the world's greatest rips seven a WLW. We
Speaker 2: are back at the original Montgomery in home of the
Speaker 2: world's greatest ribs and the West Miller Radio Show. Here
Speaker 2: on seven hundred WLW. Joe Strecker is our engineer. Joe
Speaker 2: idellas in the studio. We appreciate the Bearcat fans who
Speaker 2: are out at the original Montgomery in with us tonight.
Speaker 2: Time for questions from the audience. Our man Elliot is batting. Leadoff, Elliott,
Speaker 2: take it away, all.
Speaker 7: Right, you need to answer this question as if this
Speaker 7: was like we're sitting at this table. It's one on one, Okay,
Speaker 7: nobody else is listening what you're saying.
Speaker 2: Oh, boy, Mark.
Speaker 7: Cuban family said he'd rather divorce his wife than get
Speaker 7: rid of Luka Doncic. Have you ever felt that way
Speaker 7: about a player, were you'd rather your divorce your wife
Speaker 7: then get rid of them just to keep them.
Speaker 5: Wow, well, I'm not married at the moment, so that
Speaker 5: doesn't really so soon you're married, I think I think
Speaker 5: the right answer here this would be good media training
Speaker 5: for you, Elliott, if you were on the other end.
Speaker 6: Of this question.
Speaker 5: The right answer is if I ever felt that I
Speaker 5: value a player, that I would make a wild statement
Speaker 5: to show how much I valued that player. Sure, I
Speaker 5: value all of our players, and certainly guys like Luka
Speaker 5: Dancic have a tremendous value, so you can make a
Speaker 5: wild statement. But if base value, I would not say that.
Speaker 7: I don't know if Nego Harrison would agree with you
Speaker 7: on that. I think he likes a day to day player, but.
Speaker 2: He's currently unemployed.
Speaker 8: All right, Elise, I'm gonna ask a question for all
Speaker 8: I'm just kidding. I don't have a question as the
Speaker 8: coach in two o seven, but I do just have
Speaker 8: a general question because I argue a lot with my
Speaker 8: significant other on I believe that Michael Jordan is the goat,
Speaker 8: no questions asked, hands down. Other people may think that
Speaker 8: Lebron who calls himself the King his own nickname, So
Speaker 8: as a former North Carolina guy, who is the goat
Speaker 8: in West Miller's eyes.
Speaker 5: I love this question because this is this is always
Speaker 5: a fun debate with the team because the players who
Speaker 5: have absolutely no idea what they're talking about that they
Speaker 5: all have the craziest opinions of this argument. But it
Speaker 5: for me, Elist, I agree with you. It's unequivocal to
Speaker 5: me that the greatest player that's ever played our game
Speaker 5: is Michael Jordan. And I would even argue as the
Speaker 5: greatest and most impactful athlete in my living, like my generation,
Speaker 5: like in the time that I've lived, I didn't watch
Speaker 5: Ali or you know, some of the others before me,
Speaker 5: so I can't speak to them, but in my time,
Speaker 5: I haven't seen anybody that had more impact on sport
Speaker 5: and society as a whole than Jordan. The next guy
Speaker 5: have is Tiger Woods in my lifetime, both.
Speaker 2: Very good choices. I'm interested with the current players. Is
Speaker 2: it strictly Lebron or Jordan or do you have some
Speaker 2: Kobe people out there that try to make the Kobe case.
Speaker 5: No, they're all so ridiculous now, Like it's like you
Speaker 5: realize how much there are children. When you have this
Speaker 5: conversation with them, they just regurgitate whatever the the argument
Speaker 5: they've heard on their Instagram account.
Speaker 6: That's probably where it really comes from.
Speaker 5: And know they you'll hear every once in a while
Speaker 5: you get a Jordan and you give them a high five.
Speaker 5: Then you'reize they didn't get to watch Jordan, right, And
Speaker 5: then you know most of them Lebron or you'll hear
Speaker 5: some Kobe and then every once in a while some
Speaker 5: of us say something just out outlandishly crazy.
Speaker 6: But it's it's a fun argument with the players.
Speaker 9: Brian Coach, You've had Gisel's obviously come back and been
Speaker 9: really really great.
Speaker 3: It's and it's awesome.
Speaker 9: I remember Steve Logan's comments that first game about what
Speaker 9: it meant to him and the chance you gave him
Speaker 9: to come back, but to come back and be impactful
Speaker 9: as awesome. So I'm just curious. I don't remember the
Speaker 9: timeline of how everything happened. I assume he was supposed
Speaker 9: to be a part of the plan early on it
Speaker 9: was gonna be like him and Day Day. I wonder
Speaker 9: what it's like for him and dayDay to be back
Speaker 9: in the back backcourt again, playing together. How are those
Speaker 9: two guys feeling about what was kind of taken away
Speaker 9: and now it's back.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think it's a great question, and there's a lot
Speaker 5: to it. I think, first off, the team and one
Speaker 5: of the reasons he's playing is because the team has
Speaker 5: accepted him and allowed him to assimilate back like I
Speaker 5: allowed him to come back to campus and.
Speaker 6: I allowed him the opportunity to earn.
Speaker 5: His way to back to practicing if the team accepted him.
Speaker 5: But they've accepted him in every way. The one thing
Speaker 5: a bunch of them said to me when I when
Speaker 5: I approached them about being okay if we play them,
Speaker 5: and a lot of them said, we all came here
Speaker 5: to play with him.
Speaker 6: When the team was.
Speaker 5: Put together, Gisel was the day they were the guys
Speaker 5: that that these guys wanted to come play with They
Speaker 5: they all made the decision to come to Cincinnati as
Speaker 5: those are cornerstone guys of the team. So I think
Speaker 5: that's been great for our team. Obviously, him and Dada
Speaker 5: have a brotherhood and a connection that's been formed over
Speaker 5: the old school way. It's been formed over three years
Speaker 5: and they've been through a lot together.
Speaker 6: So I think on a personal level, da Day is thrilled.
Speaker 2: The same question. I talked to Terror earlier, and I know.
Speaker 10: When Jizzl entered the court, you could tell the whole
Speaker 10: difference was dayDay became day Day and he didn't have
Speaker 10: to run the team anymore. Seemed to run the team
Speaker 10: at the point. So that's what I saw is Dayy
Speaker 10: could do what day they could do, and he didn't
Speaker 10: have to worry about organizing the team. Does that make sense, Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think it's even broader than that. I think Gisel
Speaker 5: has a presence.
Speaker 6: On the court.
Speaker 5: You gotta remember he's he was an honorable Mention All
Speaker 5: Big Twelve player here. He's played two years in this League.
Speaker 5: He understands the gravity of playing at Cincinnati. He understands
Speaker 5: the expectations of playing at Cincinnati. He can shot, create,
Speaker 5: he can defend. I think he makes everybody. I think
Speaker 5: he makes everybody more comfortable on the floor. He makes
Speaker 5: everybody better. I said this in the press conference. Boba
Speaker 5: Miller is a guy that when he's on the court,
Speaker 5: our team is better in every way, not just because
Speaker 5: of the things he does, because he allows other guys
Speaker 5: to do the things that they do well. Gizl has
Speaker 5: the same kind of impact. There's a calming impact offensively,
Speaker 5: he puts people in position offensively, he has presence defensively.
Speaker 5: So yeah, I think his impact isn't just good or
Speaker 5: bad play. Its presence on the floor is impactful to
Speaker 5: our entire team.
Speaker 2: All Right, who's.
Speaker 3: Next, Wes.
Speaker 11: I don't know if you've heard of Ken Palm ratings
Speaker 11: or know anything about it, but you you are currently
Speaker 11: ninth best defensively in the country, but only two hundred
Speaker 11: twelveth offensively. As you gear up towards Big twelve play,
Speaker 11: how do you look to improve upon your offense well
Speaker 11: also maintaining that elite defensive edge.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Ken Palm is uh that's that's a daily part
Speaker 5: of life as a college basketball coach, right, And I'm
Speaker 5: very well aware of those those rankings and numbers. I
Speaker 5: think we've been trying to attack the offensive thing now
Speaker 5: for a while, you know, for.
Speaker 6: The last like five or six weeks.
Speaker 5: From an analytical perspective, the five of our best six
Speaker 5: halfs analytically this year of coming our last three games,
Speaker 5: So I think we're we're trending in the right direction offensively.
Speaker 6: We have to continue to do that.
Speaker 5: Like I'm not saying we've arrived, but you know, we're
Speaker 5: starting to do some better things on offense, and we
Speaker 5: have to keep doing that.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 6: You know, you're getting into.
Speaker 5: Big twelve play and we're about to face some of
Speaker 5: the elite defenses in the country too, And we'll face
Speaker 5: an elite defense on Saturday as well. So you know,
Speaker 5: even as we as we continue to improve, we have
Speaker 5: to do it against the best teams.
Speaker 2: Chris, Yes, correct, go ahead.
Speaker 12: So this is gonna be a little off subject. I've
Speaker 12: had season tickets for twenty one years, and in those
Speaker 12: twenty one years, we have just been really bad at
Speaker 12: free throws. And Terry and I were talking a little
Speaker 12: beforehand that. Yeah, you know, the best is the rhythm.
Speaker 12: I played sports, I get that. But free throws there
Speaker 12: free because you're just not nobody's doing anything to you.
Speaker 12: And we can't make free throws. It's so frustrating sometime
Speaker 12: to watch.
Speaker 5: You imagine being the coach because those are free and
Speaker 5: those points matter. And talk about our offense if you know,
Speaker 5: we've we've been the one of the worst four or
Speaker 5: five teams in all of college basketball and free throw
Speaker 5: shooting this year. And you want to impact the offense,
Speaker 5: So we've got to take care of the ball better.
Speaker 5: We've started to do that a little better. Uh, you know,
Speaker 5: we got to get to the offensive board better. We've
Speaker 5: done that really good in stretches. We got to do
Speaker 5: it consistently. And we get to the free throw line
Speaker 5: more this year than we have the last couple of years.
Speaker 6: You got to make the dang things.
Speaker 5: And somebody told when I got here, you know, you know,
Speaker 5: Bearcat teams don't make free throw as well, and I went, now,
Speaker 5: we'll be fine there. Now I'm wondering, is there a
Speaker 5: curse somebody pull it off type of thing, But no, the.
Speaker 6: Our guys have worked at it really hard.
Speaker 5: We've actually shot it better from the line here recently,
Speaker 5: and hopefully that'll trend in the right direction.
Speaker 2: All right, where is the mic team? I want to
Speaker 2: take a break. We'll take a time out. Sure, all right,
Speaker 2: we'll take a break. More questions from the audience when
Speaker 2: we continue. This is the West Miller Radio Show or
Speaker 2: Live at the Original Montgomery in Home of the world's
Speaker 2: great Strip Signed seven hundred WLW. Final segment of the
Speaker 2: West Miller Radio Show, Live from the Original Montgomery in
Speaker 2: Home of the world's Greatest Ribs. We've got some stuff
Speaker 2: to give away to our Bearcat fans here tonight. We'll
Speaker 2: do that in about ten minutes right at the end
Speaker 2: of the show. But let's squeeze in a few more questions.
Speaker 2: You are up next, young man.
Speaker 4: How do you feel about opening opening up Big twell
Speaker 4: play at home versus Houston?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 6: Number one, I love your sweatshirt.
Speaker 5: That's that's a good sweatshirt right there are players wear
Speaker 5: that one all the time.
Speaker 6: But uh, I'm really excited.
Speaker 5: I'm really excited to just start Big twelve play. Obviously,
Speaker 5: every team in this league is going to be an
Speaker 5: opportunity to have a great win and an opportunity to
Speaker 5: have a great night. But with Houston, what they've done,
Speaker 5: you know, in the last couple of years, what they've
Speaker 5: done to start this year, that that's a big tom
Speaker 5: opportunity in our in our home arena.
Speaker 2: All right, t Neel's got mic in hand. If there's
Speaker 2: anybody else that has a question from the audience, he'll
Speaker 2: make his way to you. If not, we'll wrap things
Speaker 2: up with a few questions on our own. Anybody in
Speaker 2: the back corner. Looks like Elliott would like to ask
Speaker 2: another as well. Team l not moving as quickly as is. Heyday,
Speaker 2: all right, Elliott.
Speaker 7: So we had at Leasta's question about great is what
Speaker 7: do you think the greatest playoff run discluding twenty eleven
Speaker 7: dark is.
Speaker 6: Twenty eleven like Dallas Maverick, Yes, yes, besides.
Speaker 2: That greatest playoff run for a team for an individus.
Speaker 6: Most unexpected, but one I enjoyed the most.
Speaker 7: When you enjoyed the most, which one do you think
Speaker 7: is the greatest?
Speaker 5: The one I enjoyed the most is the San Antonio.
Speaker 5: I can't remember the exact year, but when San Antonio
Speaker 5: is Duncan was getting a little older with with that
Speaker 5: whole crew, Genobile and Parker and the team, and they
Speaker 5: beat my twenty four with Lebron Miami in the finals.
Speaker 5: That was the most I enjoyed Washington team in playoffs.
Speaker 6: I bet you can't guess which one's my favorite.
Speaker 2: The Pacers last year.
Speaker 6: It's best, It's best.
Speaker 2: In sync. That was the easiest question that West's fielded
Speaker 2: all night. All Right, we've got a few minutes left
Speaker 2: on the show. I want to ask you about a
Speaker 2: guy that's on the roster that we haven't seen this
Speaker 2: year and won't because he's red shirting. Bryson Buckingham talked
Speaker 2: to him recently. He's trying to use this year to
Speaker 2: get better in hopes that down the road he can
Speaker 2: be a guy that gets on the court in a
Speaker 2: meaningful way.
Speaker 5: He's Bryceon's a non scholarship player from Oklahoma, terrific young man.
Speaker 5: He played high school basketball for one of my great friends,
Speaker 5: guy named Adam Donier at a school in Missouri, Linky Academy, and.
Speaker 6: Terrific young man.
Speaker 5: Got a chance to be a very good basketball player,
Speaker 5: and he's had a great attitude. So it'll be fun
Speaker 5: to see him continue to work and continue to emerge.
Speaker 4: Jalen Celestine Celesting is it seems I mentioned this before.
Speaker 4: He seems to be the bailout for the end of
Speaker 4: the shot clock situations. He takes a lot of them,
Speaker 4: and he seems to make him That's not the thing
Speaker 4: I'm talking about.
Speaker 3: But have you ever seen a shot so flat?
Speaker 4: It seems that goes in consistently for him because he
Speaker 4: when he gets it off, it doesn't seem to have
Speaker 4: a lot of arc, but he's very.
Speaker 3: Accurate with it.
Speaker 6: He's a very good shooter. I like shots that go in,
Speaker 6: don't matter the arc, you know.
Speaker 5: Like, what do we say in the office the other
Speaker 5: day we were talking about somebody and somebody said he's
Speaker 5: a shooter, and and one of our other assistants said, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 5: he's a maker and that's way more important than a shooter.
Speaker 5: Uh And Jalen Celesting's a maker. He can really shoot
Speaker 5: the basketball.
Speaker 2: Have you seen a player in your years as a
Speaker 2: player or a coach significantly changed their shooting style at
Speaker 2: the college level and become much more successful?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 5: Yeah, one that everybody remember here we we we spent
Speaker 5: the whole summer working on it. Dick Lockin, you know,
Speaker 5: Victor shout out to Victory texted me the other day, Uh,
Speaker 5: you know, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 6: Which was which was which was cool.
Speaker 5: But he spent the whole summer after our first year
Speaker 5: here going into his I guess that would be his
Speaker 5: junior year, you know, completely rechanging his shot, putting arc
Speaker 5: on his shot, trying to extend it to three. And
Speaker 5: he didn't shoot any threes that year, but he worked
Speaker 5: on it every day and his free throw got better.
Speaker 5: And then that that last year he played here, he
Speaker 5: had a great start to the year shooting threes, didn't
Speaker 5: sustain it during the league play, and then he had
Speaker 5: an All acc year Clemson that his senior year and
Speaker 5: shot the heck and they made five against North Carolina
Speaker 5: one night. I think he made four against Duke one
Speaker 5: night on a really nice team. So a guy that
Speaker 5: couldn't shoot in over a three year period became a
Speaker 5: really good shooter from out to three and is now
Speaker 5: with Oklahoma City.
Speaker 3: After the Clinton game, you stayed.
Speaker 4: In the area, obviously you're I was trying to help
Speaker 4: you with your bag and you said, no, you're gonna
Speaker 4: go visit mom.
Speaker 3: You have family and friends out there. After a loss,
Speaker 3: how are you able to enjoy yourself.
Speaker 4: Around family and friends, knowing that the entire time you
Speaker 4: may be smiling in their face, but you're replaying the
Speaker 4: game in your head.
Speaker 6: Oh, there's no smiling. It's family.
Speaker 5: I mean, if you can't be who you are around
Speaker 5: your family, who can you?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 5: And so my family has been involved in my basketball
Speaker 5: journey for third thirty some.
Speaker 6: Years, right that they know me.
Speaker 5: And the neat thing is after something like that, I
Speaker 5: don't want to be around anybody. But if I'm going
Speaker 5: to be around somebody, it's family because they get it
Speaker 5: and they give me my space. So I got in
Speaker 5: the car with my mom and drove back to Charlotte,
Speaker 5: and I opened up the laptop and she asked about
Speaker 5: three questions and then she said, you know what, I know.
Speaker 6: You don't want to talk to me. I'm just gonna
Speaker 6: be quiet.
Speaker 5: And we were in silence for the rest of the
Speaker 5: driver and I watched UH and and I watched the
Speaker 5: game on my laptop. But no, I it was good.
Speaker 5: It was good to get home and see my mom.
Speaker 5: And my sister was in town UH with with with
Speaker 5: I have a nephew, at little baby nephew. So I
Speaker 5: saw them and then I was able to kind of
Speaker 5: get back and just completely rest and prepare for a
Speaker 5: couple of days to get get ready for this this
Speaker 5: push that we have in the league.
Speaker 2: Play with so many international players on the roster, what
Speaker 2: did they do for Christmas?
Speaker 6: Good question? You know, different guys did different things.
Speaker 5: But Boba Miller and Jeordie Rodriguez's families flew over and
Speaker 5: they actually spent their time in Manhattan and New York.
Speaker 5: Halven went, there's a direct flight from from UH from
Speaker 5: Cincinnati to Paris, so we we we told him he
Speaker 5: had to come back a day earlier if he was
Speaker 5: going to do that. So he actually came back on
Speaker 5: Christmas Day.
Speaker 6: He said it was great.
Speaker 5: There was nobody on the plane and he got upgraded
Speaker 5: to business class. He's ruined now, so U, but he
Speaker 5: was so excited.
Speaker 6: He said, yeah, I.
Speaker 5: Got on the plane on Christmas Day and nobody was
Speaker 5: on it and they gave me business class.
Speaker 6: And I said, oh boy, I said, you'll never You'll
Speaker 6: never want to go back to coach again. But uh
Speaker 6: so he actually went home, which I did.
Speaker 5: I don't love a guy going to Europe and back,
Speaker 5: but that was very important to him. And again he
Speaker 5: got back a day early in case there was a
Speaker 5: travel complication.
Speaker 6: But you know, Mustapha stayed in Cincinnati.
Speaker 5: He had a friend of his from high school fly
Speaker 5: up here, and he basically did nothing. And he was
Speaker 5: in he was rehabbing some knee stuff and stayed in
Speaker 5: Cincinnati the whole time.
Speaker 6: Who am I forgetting from.
Speaker 5: Kirk kerk Kerr went and spent some time with what
Speaker 5: what he would call family, uh here in West Virginia.
Speaker 6: So he he was he was with some American family.
Speaker 4: I would say, I don't think people of value. Oh,
Speaker 4: I understand the value of doing nothing. When you're an
Speaker 4: athlete or a coach, like your time is demanding, and
Speaker 4: when you get a chance to do nothing, you almost
Speaker 4: feel like you should be doing something because you're always
Speaker 4: used to doing something. Do you find yourself in that
Speaker 4: situation as a coach, You probably never get that situation
Speaker 4: during the season.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I give the analogy Terry to like vacation, you know,
Speaker 5: which is not what it's like a two hour break
Speaker 5: a couple of days at Christmas, it's not a vacation.
Speaker 6: You know, we're in the middle of it.
Speaker 5: Was. What was really nice for me at Christmas is
Speaker 5: I got a couple of days that I could really
Speaker 5: think about our team plan, you know, and see the
Speaker 5: big picture a little bit. I wouldn't say it was
Speaker 5: a break from working. It just was a break from
Speaker 5: practicing and being around the team. But I think when
Speaker 5: you get in the off season and you get a
Speaker 5: couple of days away on a vacation, by the time
Speaker 5: you're into that second day, you're going, I don't feel comfortable.
Speaker 6: Let's get back to work.
Speaker 5: And I think anybody that has a passion for what
Speaker 5: they do feels that when they get some idle time.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Bobba Miller's family. They were at the game
Speaker 2: last night. His grandfather saw him pull down twenty one rebounds. Wow,
Speaker 2: which is pretty cool. You might have to see if
Speaker 2: you can get him to stick around.
Speaker 6: If that's what it takes.
Speaker 5: We have a couple of spare bedrooms in our house
Speaker 5: and he's welcome to move.
Speaker 2: In, all right, Grandpa the other Miller. It could be related,
Speaker 2: Bobba Miller, Wes Miller.
Speaker 3: It's possible.
Speaker 5: As my dad always said, we had a great player
Speaker 5: where I coached before, whose last name was Miller, who
Speaker 5: had like a fifty inch vertical and ended up getting
Speaker 5: a cup of.
Speaker 6: Coffee in the NBA.
Speaker 5: And my dad used to always say, that's my sixth
Speaker 5: child and the only one that got all my athleticism.
Speaker 5: And he says that about Bobba Miller. Now he said, hey,
Speaker 5: he's using the same line. He said, Bobba Miller's my
Speaker 5: six child and the only one that got my size
Speaker 5: LinkedIn athleticism. So you know it's somewhere the Millers are
Speaker 5: all related, But I don't see any comparison to the athleticism.
Speaker 2: Well, I understand if it's a good line, feel free
Speaker 2: to use it over Yes, right, I'd say that to
Speaker 2: your dad for sure.
Speaker 3: Are you looking? Were you upset or just sort of?
Speaker 4: When Baba Miller and Mustafa Chan were fighting over a
Speaker 4: rebound and it goes out of bounds, I kind of
Speaker 4: felt like, that's what I want to see. I want
Speaker 4: to see both of those guys fighting, because if I'm Mustafa,
Speaker 4: I'm upset that Baba's jumping over my back and grabbing
Speaker 4: any rebound. So Baba's saying let go, Mustapha's like, no,
Speaker 4: this is my rebound, and ball goes out of bounds
Speaker 4: and they sort of hug each other afterwards, and I'm
Speaker 4: saying I want to see that. I want to see
Speaker 4: them fighting over rebounds.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm okay with us being selfish with rebounding. I
Speaker 5: think being selfish with rebounding is good for our team.
Speaker 6: And I want them all fighting for the ball absolutely.
Speaker 2: All right, that's going to do it for tonight's show. Again,
Speaker 2: We've got stuff to give away to the Bearcat fans
Speaker 2: were with us here tonight at the original Montgomery And
Speaker 2: if you're listening on the radio, thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 2: This has been the West Miller Radio show. My News
Speaker 2: Radio seven hundred double WELW