CJ Fredrick, Jamille Reynolds Earn Rave Reviews as They Aim to Elevate UC Basketball

Wes Miller had great things to say about the two players as the regular season sits a little over a month from tip off.

CINCINNATI — Wes Miller has plenty of new players to lead into the 2023-24 season, including a pair of names who've thrived as transfers throughout summer and fall workouts: Guard CJ Fredrick and forward Jamille Reynolds.

Fredrick has dealt with tough injury luck in recent seasons. Now, he just completed his first completely healthy offseason in a few years. It could be just the on-ramp needed to launch him back atop the national three-point shooting ranks.

"He really does have a plethora of experience," Miller said. "That gives him the ability to mature and lead. Another thing about him is he has a great way of connecting with everybody around him. One of those guys that comes in and does a good job connecting with the whole team. So he brings something different than Jizzle (James) or Rayvon (Griffith) because they're coming from such different perspectives, but he's done a nice job of working with our whole team."

Those ailments led to Fredrick shooting 31.8% from three on 4 attempts per game last season, but he was a nasty 46.6% three-point shooter at Iowa.

"I'm sure this is what people following him are gonna ask," Miller said about Fredrick's health. "He's had a really healthy summer and a healthy preseason. I think it's his first summer in a couple of years he's been able to participate. I didn't realize this until I met him in the spring. He wasn't cleared for live basketball until the first day of practice last year. He's healthy now Day One and I think that puts him in a position to really perform for us."

Miller had great things to say about Reynolds as well, a former big, bruising center, turned versatile frontcourt weapon for UC.

"He's lost a ton of weight. Looks great," Miller said about Reynolds. "He's running the floor as good as anybody on our team. He's really the best passer I've coached in the frontcourt and certainly has an ability to shoot three-point shots, which is wow, he can actually really shoot the basketball. Scoring in the box is well documented and he's certainly a presence defensively. I'm trying to get him to get out there on guards. I think he thought I was crazy the first couple of weeks he was here in the summer asking him to do that. There's some possessions in practice where I go, 'Wow.' If he can do that consistently, which I believe he's capable of. I think he's gonna turn not just the heads of our fans, the people that watch our team. I think he'll turn heads all across basketball."

Miller noted Reynolds has lost roughly 45 pounds in the Monster Factory since transferring from Temple. Reynolds (2022-23 averages: 10.1 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 0.7 Ast) checked in at 6-foot-10, 285 pounds last season.

"I don't want to share too much information, but I want to say he's lost like 45 pounds in three months," Miller said.

If Reynolds and Aziz Bandaogo get their transfer waiver approved by the NCAA, UC should easily have the deepest and most talented roster of the Wes Miller era.

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