Mac mini late 2014 officially just now upgraded to Ventura! WHY?!!

I also have a late 2014 Mac mini. It is not showing Ventura as an option. By the way, I would never install a new OS until it's been out for at least three months. On my other Macs, I am waiting at least for 13.2.

There is certainly nothing wrong with waiting as you suggest. However, I can say that with all of the upgrades I've done, including Ventura, I have never had a problem. Before a new OS is released it is installed, used and tested by a large number of volunteers who offer to test each beta release, so you can say that the OS is well tested and updated prior to final release. I have determined that sometimes (for some people) the installation of an OS update or upgrade does cause problems but they are virtually always caused by a conflict with some other (junk) software that has been installed. It usually turns out to be the other software that has caused the conflict. When it is removed or updated the problem is often solved.

Just to add, the second group of people that have problems with upgrades is that they fail to check before hand whether their mission critical apps or external hardware are compatible with the OS upgrade or fail to update them to be compatible.