CBB Rank 2025: No. 49, Cincinnati Basketball

After a shockingly bad season last year, it’s a big year for Wes Miller, who looks to take Cincinnati basketball to the tournament for his first time since taking over.

The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Cincinnati basketball.

Last year, there was a lot of hype surrounding this Cincinnati basketball team, being ranked 20th in the preseason poll. The question wasn’t whether they would make the tournament; it was how far they would go. Unfortunately, this team crashed and burned once it hit conference play, finishing 7-13 and finishing nowhere near the bubble.

This year, the team looks pretty different for the most part, highlighted by the late departure of Jizzle James, who was released from the team in late August for personal reasons. James led the team in scoring last year, so obviously, that’s a huge loss so close to the season. They do return Day Day Thomas, though, who averaged 10 a game for them and will be the team’s on-court leader this season.

They bring in a lot of size, most notably Baba Miller and Moustapha Thiam, to replace Dillon Mitchell and Aziz Bandaogo. Defensively, this team should be lethal between those two, as well as Sencire Harris and Day Day Thomas. Offensively, they add a top 25 recruit in Shon Abaev, who is lights out from deep.

You can’t forget about Kerr Kriisa, who starts his 6th season in college basketball. While he can’t replace James’ production, he’s another guy who can improve the offense when the ball is in his hands. The experience is definitely there with this team; it’s just about translating on the court.

It’s year five for Wes Miller, and Cincy fans are growing restless. Zero tournament appearances with the amount of talent is not up to standards, so this is a huge year for both Miller and this program.

Head coach: Wes Miller (5th season at Cincinnati, 15th season overall)

2024-25 record: 19-16 (7-13)

2025 postseason finish: CBC Quarterfinals Exit

Notable departures: 

• Jizzle James (12.7 PPG, 3.5 APG, 3.0 RPG)
• Simas Lukosius (10.3 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.2 APG)
• Dillon Mitchell (9.9 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.7 APG)
• Dan Skillings Jr. (9.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.5 APG)
• Aziz Bandaogo (7.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 0.7 APG)
• Josh Reed (4.8 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 0.8 APG)
• Connor Hickman (4.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.2 APG)

Notable non-conference games: 

• vs. Dayton (Nov. 11)
• vs. Louisville (Nov. 21)
• at Xavier (Dec. 5)
• vs. Georgia (Dec. 13)
• vs. Clemson (Dec. 21)

Projected Rotation

PG: Day Day Thomas (6-1, 190, Gr.-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 10.2 PPG, 2.7 APG, 2.7 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 41.2 FG%, 40.2 3P%, 76.6 FT%

SG: Sencire Harris (6-4, 180, Jr.)

2024-225 stats: 5.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 1.7 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 39.7 FG%, 75.0 FT% (West Virginia)

SF: Shon Abaev (6-8, 210, Fr.)

2025 247Sports #22 ranked recruit

PF: Baba Miller (6-11, 225, Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 11.3 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.7 BPG, 0.8 SPG, 48.6 FG%, 34.2 3P%, 64.3 FT% (FAU)

C: Moustapha Thiam (7-2, 250, So.)

2024-25 stats: 10.4 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 0.7 APG, 2.6 BPG, 0.5 SPG, 49.8 FG%, 66.7 FT% (UCF)

6: Jalen Haynes (6-8, 250, Gr.-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 14.1 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 55.4 FG%, 60.4 FT% (George Mason)

7: Kerr Kriisa (6-3, 185, Gr.-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 4.4 PPG, 3.8 APG, 2.4 RPG, 0.4 SPG, 9 GP (Kentucky)

8: Jalen Celestine (6-7, 220, Gr.-Sr.)

2024-25 stats: 7.1 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.6 SPG, 38.0 FG%, 35.4 3P%, 78.6 FT% (Baylor)

9: Keyshuan Tillery (6-0, 190, Fr.)

2025 247Sports #57 ranked recruit

10: Jordi Rodriguez (6-6, 195, Fr.)

Played 2024-25 season for Grupo Ureta Tizona Burgos and Joventut Badalona in the Spanish ACB and Primera FEB leagues

Cincinnati Basketball team MVP: Day Day Thomas

From November to January, Day Day Thomas scored in double figures just twice in those 18 games. Then, he entered the starting lineup, and in those 15 games after, he scored in double figures in all but two games. Cincinnati was 2-7 in conference play before Thomas entered the starting lineup, and 5-6 after.

Make no mistake, Thomas will be starting on game one, and should be on game 30. He’s a confident scorer with James gone; he’ll be the first option when he’s on the court. While the offense is good, the defense is even better. He averaged 1.8 SPG last year and, in general, did a good job limiting the performance of his opponent. Any coach loves a player who is great on both sides of the ball, and he embodies that.

Cincinnati Basketball make-or-break player: Shon Abaev

Abaev comes to Cincinnati as the 2nd highest recruit ever per 247sports, behind a guy you may have heard of, Lance Stephenson. Abaev can shoot the lights out, as he showed time and time again playing in Overtime Elite this past season. Last year, Wes Miller relied on Simas Lukosius to be that specialist, but he shot just 35% from deep. Not to say he was the reason for the struggles, but the three-point shooting was definitely lacking, which limited the offense.

If Abaev can fit that role, Cincinnati is covered with all of their roles. They have a pass-first guard in Kriisa, a lockdown defensive guard in Harris, a stretch big in Miller, and a rim protector in Thiam. They also have capable scorers off the bench and Thomas, the on-court leader. If Abaev can be the three-point specialist, watch out for this team.

He is, of course, a freshman, and translating his game against guys who are physically and fundamentally better can be tough, and if he struggles, then that leaves a big gap on the team that they’ll have no one to fill.

Key analytic: Defensive efficiency

Evanmiya ranks Cincinnati as the 11th-best defense in the country for this upcoming season. For reference, the top 11 last year all comfortably made the tournament, with the worst team being 7-seeded Kansas. Cincy has two of the top 50 defenders in the country in Harris and Thiam, and four of the top 100 in Thomas and Miller. Besides Kriisa, everyone on their team is a plus defender.

Does defense win championships? We’ll see. Cincy finished 23rd in the category last year, and we know how that went. As long as they can finish top 50 in offense, this team should walk into the tournament with the talent they have.