Pryght

It's hard to imagine an international guy who declared for the draft signing up for a reserve role at IU. Hope you're right, though.

Even objective measures suggest the roster is talented. The real question, and what will ultimately determine his fate, is whether he can get that talent to function effectively within a system.

That’s fair, though I think Manhertz’s length can offset some of the size concerns. It’s also been a while since we’ve had a freshman class this talented.

Why are you so down on Manhertz? Is it mainly the strength/weight concern? He has great length with a 7'0" wingspan, and he may end up being our best three-point shooter next season. I want to see the freshmen play before I go full doom-and-gloom. I’m high on all three, especially Moody and Manhertz.

We have 4 guys who can play the 1 (to varying levels of success). We have a boatload of guys who can play the 2 and 3 (to varying levels of success). We have 3 guys who can play the 4 (to varying levels of success), with most likely another 4/5 who most likely has yet to be named. We have 3 guys who can play the 5 (to varying levels of success). It's too early to tell if "it's terrible depth."

I've heard many say the same about Harris and Lindsey too. Good problem to have. Based on things I've read, Mustaf appears to be the ultimate team player, so I would guess that, assuming his talent-level is comparable with Harris, he will start the season as the 6th man.

I think we have depth, it’s just unproven depth. DeVries and his staff either genuinely believe in the freshmen, or they believe those guys need significant opportunities to develop, regardless of early results. You could argue that this approach prioritizes/maximizes 2027–28 and beyond more than prioritizing/maximizing 2026–27, which greatly frustrates many on this board.

I’m excited to see Trevor Manhertz get on the floor. He shot 42% from three (on 3.8 attempts per game), is 6'8" with a 7-foot wingspan, and can put the ball on the floor. If he adds some strength and bulks up, he has a chance to be a really intriguing player. Watching his film, it’s easy to see why programs like Louisville and Duke were so high on him.

It seems that Alabama’s Preston Murphy and Texas Tech’s Achoki Moikobu, both of whom had previously worked with DeVries, may have taken a long time to decide they weren’t interested in joining his staff. That hesitation hurt us last year. However, pivoting to Kenny Johnson may ultimately prove to be a blessing in disguise.

IU (82.6) is ranked #2 in Torvik's Projective Effective Talent ranking, right behind Duke (89.1). Projected Effective Talent is Torvik’s way of estimating the overall quality of a roster after accounting for more than just recruiting rankings. It factors in things like transfers, returning production, experience, and expected playing time to project how much talent will actually contribute on the court. A team can have highly ranked recruits, but if they are inexperienced or unlikely to play major roles, their effective talent rating may be lower. https://barttorvik.com/trankpre.php?sort=tal&conlimit=

Knowing Carr has a relationship with the coach doesn’t magically validate the rest of the story you invented. You took one small fact and built an entire narrative around it with no evidence. C'mon bro...

That’s not really “speculation” though. Speculation is connecting dots from actual information. This is just inventing a narrative with zero evidence and presenting it like insight. If you admit you don’t know whether DeVries has even scouted or spoken to the kid, then claiming he’s only trusting “Carr’s friend” is basically making things up.

But...why did DeVries refuse to watch any of the tape? Sounds like Woody, not DeVries.

DeVries signed a player without scouting him at all, refusing to watch a second of game tape? Seems irresponsible.

What else would Sokolov be?

We need a 4/5, not a 5.

If all three freshmen end up 11–13, they probably aren’t developing in meaningful ways, and in today’s portal era, those guys usually leave before you ever see the payoff. Purdue’s model works because they barely rely on the portal and actually build continuity within the program. There’s a clear developmental path and defined future role. That’s why their players are more willing to stay 3–4 years and develop within the system. And yes, the best players should earn spots. Nobody disagrees with that. But roster construction still matters. DeVries and Ryan Carr both seem to understand that a balanced approach is the only sustainable path: enough portal talent to compete now, but enough developmental runway for freshmen so you aren’t rebuilding from scratch every year.

No, that would be a mistake. If the three freshmen are ranked around 11–13 on the roster, they’d probably never see the court. You’re prioritizing the present too heavily at the expense of the future.

Good lord is he tiny. Good handle.

Probably because Tucker was too fat to guard the opponent's 3.

To me, it feels less like an overcorrection and more like an adaptation to what has consistently worked in the B1G and the NCAA Tournament. It reminds me of comments Todd Golden made recently (discussing the value of shooting fewer 3s and more at the rim 2s): That volatility has hurt DeVries too. He’s 1–3 in the NCAA Tournament, and his teams held second-half leads in all three losses. That’s part of why this shift feels less like a philosophical overreaction and more like an attempt to build a style that travels better in March.

I've seen him listed at 216lbs.

I’m glad you agree that the talent level is trending in the right direction. And objectively, isn’t signing sophomores with 2–3 years of remaining eligibility a much better long-term approach than building an entire portal class around seniors? Talent-wise, I agree, though to me this looks like a fringe Top 25 roster. If DeVries doesn’t outperform that level, then criticism of the coaching would be fair. But if he overachieves the way he did at Drake, and arguably at West Virginia given the injuries they dealt with, then hopefully IU found the right guy. Either way, we’re going to learn a lot about this staff and the direction of the program next season. There's no more mulligans.

Yes, in week 5, before we played anyone, we were a fringe Top 25 team. Objectively looking at the talent on IU’s roster, the years of eligibility remaining, the size, the playmaking ability, and the overall roster construction, it’s hard not to conclude that the program is clearly moving in the right direction. C'mon now...

Drake beat Wichita State in 2021. He's 1-3 overall.