BGleas

Beat them by 2 in 1997 when he was an assistant at West Liberty before getting the head job!

And on top of all of that, he's been amazing supporter of IU basketball even after being fired.

I think you'd get more of what you're looking for if they did another one of these in maybe a month and a half or two months when the staff is filled and at least most of the roster is filled out. Then DeVries could speak on specific staff members and what they'll bring to the table and talk specifics on players and how they'll be used in his system. Would love to see another one of these sometime in mid-May or something.

Can we throw a bag at Bennett Stirtz and steal him from McCollum?

Completely agree, especially on the not IU part. He's just not a winning basketball player.

Quick Mbako story. I took my oldest two kids to the game at the Palestra this season. We had a few hours to kill before our train so hung around in the gym afterwards and were able to work our way down onto the court while the players were coming out postgame. My kids got pics with every player, except I think Carlyle. The guys were so nice, all smiled, said hi and took pics with them. This is a small thing, but I think still shows his character. We get over to Mbako and he agrees to take a pic with my son, but refuses to actually look at the camera. I was waiting to take the pic an awkward amount of seconds and saying, "ok ready?", until I realized he wasn't going to look. We have all these pics of the kids with each players where they're all smiling and engaging, and them this random pic with Mbako where he's refusing to look. Again a small thing, but to me it showed his character.

It is pretty nice for us as fans and for DeVries that he automatically brings a stud with him just by having his son. It's a great start before you even have to do anything as a coach.

Saw that. Was hoping Pagliuca's group would win the bid to minimize change, but glad to hear the winning bidders are from Massachusetts and are lifelong Celtics fans. That is great news!

I'm cautiously optimistic. I was hoping Dolson had a bigger fish, and I had become partial to McCollum. But at the end of the day I had said consistently that I wanted IU to hire a real, legit college basketball coach that is a grinder, is a winner, and has a history of building culture and identity. I think we've got that with Devries. I'm not 100% sure, but I think we do. I also remember watching Drake in their conferences championship game last year and thinking, "i wish IU played like that and i wish we had players like that (Tucker Devries and a couple of their guards)"

Go hire the best basketball coach available. That's it. This is embarrassing. 9 of 22 years in the tournament!!!! https://x.com/daily_hoosier/status/1901408172809531427?t=yDJGcEccrTunmMx1Ssuqgw&s=19

I still maintain we're going to be happy with this hire. I still don't believe it's Stevens, but this search has been too weird and quiet (up until today) for it to be Brownell. IU has too much going for it (resources, NIL, etc.) for this to be Brownell. I think Dolson has something up his sleeve that will make us mostly all happy and surprise us.

Agree. Can't imagine OSU is in, but I still think that comment bodes well for IU.

I think we're in. Gavitt is being interviewed on CBS. Said injuries during the season will be a factor (we didn't have Reneau for several games) Said people often don't realize they look more at Q1/Q2 combined more than just Q1. Said when looking at victories in the top 2 quads, not every win is created equal. Road win vs a highly ranked team (we have the @MSU win) is better than a home win. Finally, he was asked about how they'll handle the SEC with seeding since conference teams aren't supposed to play early on, and he began his answer with, "well the SEC isn't the only conference with 10 teams in the tournament." I think all of those favor IU, and that last one almost confirms it. Am I off here?

All good! I didn't think you were calling me out or referring to me, was just using your post as a jumping point to clarify where I stand.

LOL...no :)