What Jizzle James' Dismissal From Cincinnati Means for Bearcats Basketball

James, the son of NFL Hall of Fame running back Edgerrin James, led Cincinnati in points (12.7 per game) and assists (3.5 per game) last year, while starting all 35 games for the Bearcats and playing 27.1 minutes per night.

Heading into his junior season, James was expected to once again be a focal point for coach Miller's offense, with the staff working hard to surround him with talented players including transfers Moustapha Thiam (UCF), Baba Miller (Florida Atlantic), Sencire Harris (West Virginia), and Jalen Celestine (Baylor).

Instead, the Bearcats will need to replace James at the point guard position, likely with Kentucky transfer Kerr Kriisa. Kriisa has extensive college basketball experience, having started 94 career games in a five year career - three spent at Arizona before he transferred to West Virginia in 2023-24 and Kentucky in 2024-25.

Kriisa only appeared in nine games for the Wildcats before suffering a season-ending knee injury, although it was reported in early July the guard from Estonia has been cleared to return to the court.

If coach Miller can get Kriisa back to full strength, this could end up working out for the Bearcats. Kriisa is a far better outside shooter than James, boasting a 36.2% mark from beyond the arc with 248 career makes - compared to 28.4% from James and just 69 made threes.

Kriisa's veteran experience, floor spacing ability, and passing make him a perfectly capable replacement at point guard for the Bearcats, although he does not possess the same score-first mentality as James nor is he as impactful on the defensive end of the floor.

Ideally Cincinnati will be able to tolerate a weaker defensive guard due to the talented frontcourt defense of Thiam and Miller, especially with Kriisa bringing desperately needed outside shooting to the starting lineup.

Depth of course becomes an issue with James' departure, with incoming freshman Keyshuan Tillery now in line for a bigger role in his first collegiate season.