Jizzle James has one year of eligibility remaining for the 2026-27 college basketball season. The son of NFL Hall of Famer Edgerrin James wants to return to Cincinnati after a bizarre and unexplained exit from Charlotte.
He still has to talk to the new coach.
It will be interesting to see how the next few days, weeks and months shake out for the rising senior point guard. James’ college basketball career is not void of drama through his first three years and this latest saga is no different.
Jizzle James Will no longer play for Charlotte or head coach Wes Miller.
Wes Miller was hired as the men’s basketball coach at Cincinnati in 2021 after a highly successful run at UNC Greensboro. There was a lot of buzz about the future of the Bearcats. They never met expectations. His five-year tenure was an overwhelming disappointment.
Jizzle James joined the team in 2023. He was a four-star recruit and one of the top-100 players in his class. He was supposed to be the missing piece that could lead the Bearcats back to relevance. That did not happen.
Cincinnati did not make the NCAA Tournament in any of Miller’s five seasons as head coach. It finished with less than 20 wins in three of those five seasons. Its best finish was a back-to-back losses in the NIT Quarterfinals in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
James averaged 10.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in three seasons. When he was good, he was very good.
However, his career has been plagued by drama. James was dismissed from the team last August without much of an explanation. He was ultimately reinstated in December after threatening to transfer. And then he hit the transfer portal in April.
James announced his commitment to Charlotte shortly thereafter. Miller was fired by Cincinnati in early March. He took over the 49ers in late March. James and Miller were reunited in April.
They have since split!
James created even more drama earlier this week with a cryptic post on Instagram. It did not appear as though he was in North Carolina for the start of classes. It does not seem like he is going to play for Charlotte. His status remains unclear.
Edgerrin James’ son wants to play college basketball at Cincinnati, again.
A new update on Thursday night helped to provide clarity on Jizzle James’ future. Kind of. As things currently stand, he is not going to play for Charlotte and wants to return to Cincinnati. He shared the following image on Instagram:
He also changed his bio to say that he is a point guard at @gobearcatsmbb, the official account of Cincinnati men’s basketball. Except he isn’t. James said it is “not official yet” because he still needs to talk to the Bearcats’ new head coach, Jerrod Calhoun.
If that was not confusing enough, the rising senior went live on Instagram on Friday morning. I’ll be honest, I could not keep up with the conversation, but it sounded like he said he is traveling to Europe and Tokyo with some of his friends and some security. Does that mean he is not enrolled in classes? What does that mean for his eligibility?
To go even one step further, a commenter asked James whether he would be willing to come off of the bench for Cincinnati. He did not sound open to it.
“If I don’t start a game at Fifth-Third (the Bearcats’ home gym), man, I swear…” and then he trailed off.
James is already talking about starting when he isn’t even on the team. And Charlotte still lists him on the roster…