Shooter

Alexis and Bailey played about 25 min each tonight - so they played together a decent amount. Harris DNP - is that coach's decision, or is there an injury there? Miles only played 10 minutes, but he was on the floor for IU's last offensive possession.

Yep. The biggest obstacle to Trent's PT this season is that he plays the same position as the coach's kid (and maybe our best player). But those two led the team in minutes tonight, 30 for Devries and 28 for Sisley. Maybe Trent is good enough that they just play together and figure out the fit later.

IMO, it remains to be seen if Miles is actually a plus shooter, or just a guy who took a lot of threes in a crazy system. Career 32% 3PT and 65% FT. I do like his plus rebounding from the wing, on a roster that will need that. I'm a bit higher on Dorn for a few reasons, including that some big players like UNC and Gonzaga wanted him. But I admit I have never watched either of them play a full game, so I'm not an expert on either guy.

Now that we have almost a full roster... Three point shooting is going to be unreal. I'm assuming we start Wilkerson, Dorn, and DeVries at the 2-3-4 - not many teams with a group of shooters like that. Plus the potential return of Goode. Defense and rebounding still a big question mark. Bailey-DeVries projects as one of the weakest rebounding/rim protection frontcourts in the conference. Surprised we did not add a big big as a change of pace from Bailey's skilled game. Maybe staff sees Alexis as that guy? Excited to see this play out. It will certainly be a different style of ball than we've seen the past several seasons.

Yep, he's clearly a big. Top 100 nationally in O-Reb Rate, D-Reb Rate, and Block rate at Chattanooga as a soph. Seems like a solid depth pickup.

Nice trend here... T. DeVries: 2X Missouri Valley Player of the Year Conerway: Sun Belt Player of the Year Wilkerson: 2X Conference USA First Team All-Conference Bailey: A-10 First Team All-Conference

On Miles - rebounding numbers are really impressive for a 6-6 wing. That, plus some nice dunks on the highlight reel suggest he has the athleticism to step up a level. High volume shooter last year, but not particularly high efficiency. Career 32% from 3PT, 65% FT. North Florida played a super fast pace last year and was absolutely horrible defensively. This kid seems like he has the tools to be a solid defender, but will probably need a lot of coaching coming from that environment.

I'm not sure Miles is a starter at IU. But if coach sees a role for him here, I hope we land him.

There is a stretch in there from his conference championship game. 8 minutes left, team down 5. Three straight possessions he takes it to the rim and finishes. Absolutely love seeing a guy who gets it done in high leverage situations.

Don't know about angst. It's just the fun part of planning and building a roster. It's more fun to me than discussing who liked who on Instagram, or what some Twitter burner said. Anyway, the thing with Bailey is not so much about individual post defense. It's about a weakness in rebounding and shot blocking from our projected 5, and how we could gameplan and roster build around that.

I agree that seems most likely. And if we're planning around Bailey at C, that means we need big forwards to help rebound, and perimeter guys who can contain dribble penetration.

I share your concern, but here are our options: A. Play a center with Devries and Bailey. (Which means Devries guards a wing) B. Play a big wing with Devries and Bailey. (Which means Bailey guards a center) C. Don't play Devries and Bailey together at all. D. Play zone. It's not gonna be option C. I doubt it's D. Maybe Devries is more athletic than I think and capable of guarding 3s full time. But if not, Bailey is going to have to play some center for those two to get on the court together.

Devries-Freeman-Bailey would be an incredibly talented and versatile frontcourt. If we start Bailey at 5, we need big wings like those two to help him rebound. Would still want a sturdier rebounder/screener/shotblocker type of C in the rotation as well.

The first three responses to my question were all different, which makes this a fun discussion topic. It depends on how you see Devries and Bailey. I go back and forth between a long athletic wing, or a rebounder-screener big. Really, I want both of those guys on the roster to give coach flexibility depending on matchups.

I imagine Wilkerson, Devries, and Bailey are locked in as projected starters. Let's assume the starting PG is in the Conerway/Enright mold (defensive minded distributor). What are you looking for to round out that lineup?

Big time pick up. Wilkerson, Devries, and Bailey are going to be a really fun trio on offense. Conerway would be a great fit to bring needed toughness and defense to that group. Let's make it happen.

Yea, not sure how I'd feel about adding a Purdue guy, but he's definitely someone I'd like in the rotation. 3&D wing archetype.

Probably goes without saying, but Conwell, Dix, and Bidunga would be an A+ start to next season's roster. It seems like we have a real shot with all three. Once we fill out the rotation, would love to see us take a couple of developmental guys like Briscoe from Crispus Attucks to round out the roster.

Bidunga had great rebounding and block numbers at Kansas. Top 15 nationally in block rate. Top 100 nationally in offensive and defensive rebounding percentage. Similar size to Reneau but totally different games. Bidunga is more athletic, less skilled offensively. More comparable to Tugler from Houston.

TJD was third team All American as a sophomore. I'll take some more "raw" dudes like that!

Only 1 or 2? That will be an improvement

Agree. This is McCollum's first season ever in D1. Otherwise his entire playing, assistant, head coach career was in D2. DeVries played D1 and was a longtime assistant under Altman and McDermott. Multiple trips to NCAA tournament as a head coach. One year experience in a big conference. I think there's less risk of the non-basketball parts of the IU job being "too big" for DeVries.

McCollum is super impressive. But I'd be a little concerned about him in the IU fishbowl if we went that direction. This is his first season associated with Division I basketball in any capacity. Not as a player, assistant, nothing. Jumping from that right into the IU job would be a massive change. I have zero concerns about him from a coaching basketball standpoint. The dude can coach.

Yea, it's pretty clear that Woodson cultivated an "us vs the world" mentality in the locker room, and "the world" included IU's own fans and media. He played up things like Ballo getting death threats, or TJD getting that awful letter in the mail (both absolutely horrendous, but the work of a few isolated idiots). He used those to try and deflect legitimate criticism of his coaching from fans or media with a "see, they're all crazy" siege mentality. So glad that era is over.

Devries would be a B- hire. Young-ish coach who has done very well relative to expectations so far in his career. That said, he's entirely unproven at the level we want to be at. Has never had a single digit NCAA seed or coached a top 50 Kenpom squad. His accomplishments at Drake were also partially influenced by his son, who was a borderline top 100 recruit and the most talented player in the league. So he had a talent advantage relative to his rivals. I would be cautiously optimistic if he's the guy.