Cincinnati Bearcats coach Wes Miller scouts San Francisco, plus WNIT, baseball news

For the second straight year, University of Cincinnati Bearcats basketball will host an opening-round National Invitation Tournament game as they face the San Francisco Dons Wednesday night.

The Dons are out of the West Coast Conference and won 23 games. UC has only played them once, back in 1976 when coach Gale Catlett wore interesting sports coats and the Dons featured future NBA first-rounder Bill Cartwright, a 7-foot-1 center. Historically, both programs boast Naismith Hall of Famers with UC featuring Oscar Robertson and Jack Twyman and San Francisco known for Boston Celtics greats Bill Russell and K.C. Jones.

UC coach Wes Miller and Aziz Bandago discussed the Bearcats postseason plans Tuesday afternoon.

Dishing on Dons

"We have an unbelievable amount of respect for anybody that's still playing at this point," Miller said. "Offensively, they can hurt you in a variety of ways. They're huge. I think that people that come out on Wednesday night will be really surprised at how big they are one through five."

Why play in NIT?

"I can't imagine having an opportunity to coach these guys and turning that down," Miller said. "I can't imagine not playing. I'm extremely disappointed we're not playing in the NCAA tournament, but as down as I am about that, I'm not going to miss an opportunity to do what I love to do."

Full complement of Bearcats?

"The transfer portal's going to be open for a long time," Miller said. "Our players want to play. There's a ton of disappointment we're not in the NCAA tournament, but I think everybody in our program has put that into perspective quickly and we're excited to take the floor."

Thoughts on NCAA NET?

UC's was 37, as was their KenPom.com rating. Last year's 23-13 NIT quarterfinal team finished at No. 70. Among teams bypassed by the NCAA tournament, Indiana State had a NET of 28, St. John's a 32, with the Bearcats next at No. 37.

Miller, like Rick Pitino of St. John's has some NET questions.

"I'm not quite sure what the NET means," Miller said. "I have no idea what the NET's in place for. If we're not going to utilize the NET to select teams in the tournament, then we are going to utilize Quad 1, Quad 2, Quad 3, Quad 4 that's determined by the NET, that just seems wildly contradictory to me. Quads are determined by NET rankings, but yet NET rankings don't matter in a true form when you're selecting teams. That's when I get very confused."

In addition to St. John's, Pitt at No. 40 and Oklahoma with a NET of 46 declined an NIT invite. In the current NIT field, UC's NET is better than 17 of the squads.

Big 12 experience

"What an unbelievable basketball league!" Miller said. "It was fun, challenging (and) awesome if you're into competition and you love college basketball. I'm so pleased for our University and our fans that we get to be in the best league in college basketball."

Late leads lost hurt

UC was 7-3 in games where they had the lead with 5:00 to go and 1-9 when they trailed at five minutes. In the first meeting with UCF, they were tied at the 5:00 mark and won. Backbreakers were losing at West Virginia, vs. Oklahoma State and at Oklahoma with leads at 5:00 of seven, five and seven, respectively.

"We've got to look in the mirror," Miller said. "I'm not complaining about the selection process because we didn't get in. We had our chances. "

Portal disadvantages?

"We really like our players," Miller said. "If you don't like your players or your players don't want to play, I can see maybe we shouldn't play in this thing. Let's go get a new roster. That's not our goal. We think there's great foundation for next year's team sitting in the locker room right now. The portal's going to be wacky. It'll be wacky every single day 'til it closes. Then, that doesn't mean recruiting's over, it means nobody else can go in."

UC center Bandaogo dealt with the portal last year at Utah Valley before becoming a Bearcat.

"Everything can happen in a second, so just be ready to know what your situation is," Bandaogo said of the experience. "If you want to be in the portal make sure you go for a good reason. A lot of people will tell you what you want to hear, but they would do the opposite, so be careful who to trust."

UC makes WNIT

Despite a 14-17 record in year one under Coach Katrina Merriweather, the Bearcats made the 48-team field, one of six sub.-500 teams included. UC will play in the second round at a date and site to be determined between March 23-26. They'll play the winner of Eastern Kentucky at Purdue-Fort Wayne.

"I think it speaks volumes for the respect that the program has and the season that we had," Merriweather said of the bid. "We'll take it. Any postseason game is good for me."

EKU's gym is being worked on so should the Colonels win, UC could host their game.

"I think our administration is working really hard to put us in a position to host if that's how it works out," Merriweather said.

Boba Bearcat Bischel-ball

UC pitcher Tommy Boba who took a no-hitter into the ninth in UC's Saturday win over Kansas, has racked up some honors. DI Baseball, the Big 12 and Perfect Game recognized him as pitcher of the week after allowing just one hit over eight innings and striking out eight Jayhawks. Later Monday, the Big 12 followed suit. The no-hitter was spoiled by a lead-off bunt single in the ninth but UC hung on for their first Big 12 victory at home under first-year coach Jordan Bischel.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: NIT basketball: Cincinnati vs San Francisco Dons in first round