John Brannen identified and landed yet another piece to the puzzle for the 2019-20 Cincinnati Bearcats on Friday morning as grad transfer point guard Chris McNeal became the latest addition to the revamped roster.





McNeal has been a bit of a basketball nomad over the past four years, with stops at Western Kentucky, New Mexico and Tennessee Tech as well as a year on the junior college level. His journey has been well traveled, but his experience should mean a lot on a team that was devoid of a lead guard at the start of the week.

McNeal was a bit off the radar following a sit out year at Tennessee Tech a season ago, but new Cincinnati assistant Jayson Gee made the Tennessee native a priority early in his tenure and the new Bearcats staff was able to close the deal following an official visit over the holiday weekend.

“When those guys identified me, especially coach Gee, I feel like I’ve built a genuine trust with the staff,” McNeal told Bearcat Journal of his decision. “They trusted my ability as a player and a leader and I trust their abilities to help me grow into a better young man and a basketball player. That’s why I decided to pick Cincinnati.”

McNeal had a chance to take the full tour of campus, get familiar with the city and spend some time with what are now his new teammates. Each part of the visit process helped him come to a decision.





“I was very impressed with the setup of the campus and the city as a whole,” said McNeal. “I was very impressed with everyone I met on my visit, especially the players. They were very generous and welcoming of me and looked forward to me coming to the school so that was a big thing.”

As McNeal broke down why he decided to attend Cincinnati, the conversation once again turned to Gee. The basketball lifer that gave John Brannen his first college coaching job 20 years ago was front and center on his first addition to the program and his impact on McNeal was critical.

“Coach Gee is a great guy,” McNeal said. “He preaches faith and he has great energy. He’s one of the most energetic guys I’ve met, that was my first impression of him. He had a lot of life about him and I felt like that’s a guy I want to be around on an everyday basis. He’s just a good person and his energy is contagious.”

The foundation built by Gee behind the scenes played a major role in setting up the official visit, and once he was on campus McNeal quickly to a liking to Brannen and how he would be used as a floor general in his final season of college basketball.

“When I met coach Brannen for the first time, I just felt he had a high IQ for the game, especially how the game is going,” McNeal explained. “The way he broke down everything for me through the plays and film work was very impressive and as a point guard you want to have a great relationship with your coach and I feel he’s a guy I can learn a lot from.”

Available playing time is always a major factor in the recruiting process, and it was no different for McNeal. The roster was filled with talented wings and bigs, but the departures of Jenifer, Broome and Johnson (who is in the transfer portal) made Cincinnati a very desirable situation throughout the process.

“It was very important,” said McNeal of his decision. “I knew going into this process that my biggest thing was going to a place that had a winning culture. A place with winning guys where I could be trusted with the ball and have that trust with the coach to run his system and run it to the best of my abilities. After talking to the coaches I knew this was the place to go because of my development as a point guard.”

Another important factor was the decision of reigning AAC Player of the Year Jarron Cumberland deciding to return. While the two didn’t get a chance to meet over the official visit, McNeal had a full understanding of what it meant to play his final season alongside one of the top players in the country.

“I haven’t met him yet, but when you’re a player of that caliber and have received the accolades like player of the year in the conference, with that alone I could tell he has a lot of confidence,” Mcneal explained. “That really rubs off on a whole team, so the more confident your better players are it’s just more contagious to the whole team. His skill and talent are huge, but his confidence to make this team something special was important in my decision. It’s going to be big for us in the long run.”

McNeal last saw action for New Mexico in the 2017-18 season and averaged 9.5 points and 2.7 assists in 24 minutes a game.

“As a player I feel like I can do a lot of things,” said McNeal. “I have a tight handle, I can shoot the ball very well and I’m a good passer. The one thing I can say is that the best part of my game is I play to win. I can do the things of a high skill player, but I pride myself in giving off energy and being a good teammate. I’ll dive on the floor and make the hustle plays as well as being a guy that can bring great leadership to the team.”