Fire Darian DeVries? Lol

[Uspshoosier]

12 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

I’m gonna wait for little more than a good 3 game stretch

I would hope so just like I would hope people would wait after a bad 4 game stretch in the first 3 months of a coaching tenure 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

18 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Nick Dorn is really good at basketball. A nice thing to make a coach look good.

No doubt. He’s been a savior.  Entirely new dynamic when you possibly have 3 of the best shooters in the country on the floor together. It’s covering up a lot of flaws. But also,  the defensive effort is much improved. 
 

Credit where due.  DeVries has done some interesting things defensively with Enright and game planning.   
 

It reminds me so much about the things Woodson never figured out.  He was so stuck in his ways.  Trying to platoon a second unit.  Not riding a hot hand. Not subbing for bad play.  Not going 2 for 1. Just super basic stuff.  At the moment, I see none of that stuff. 
 

My biggest thing with DeVries is can he with our resources, get enough talent to compete at the top.   I think and have thought we were 2 pieces away from a top level team, especially after Dorns arrival.  
 

 

Edited yesterday at 12:34 AM by WayneFleekHoosier

[Brass Cannon]

4 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

I would hope so just like I would hope people would wait after a bad 4 game stretch in the first 3 months of a coaching tenure 

It wasn’t just a bad 4 game stretch.  We had a terrible showing in the OoC which was preceded by a lackluster offseason. 

[Uspshoosier]

9 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

We had a terrible showing in the OoC which was preceded by a lackluster offseason. 

IU beat 2 power 5 teams and blasted every Q4 team by 20 + except 1 and started the NET out as 11th overall.  People see what they want to see.  Getting Wilkerson over him  going to Kentucky is far from lackluster.  I’m sure IU will lose 1 that they shouldn’t so people can jump on the fire train again 

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

No doubt. He’s been a savior.  Entirely new dynamic when you possibly have 3 of the best shooters in the country on the floor together. It’s covering up a lot of flaws. But also,  the defensive effort is much improved. 
 

Credit where due.  DeVries has done some interesting things defensively with Enright and game planning.   
 

It reminds me so much about the things Woodson never figured out.  He was so stuck in his ways.  Trying to platoon a second unit.  Not riding a hot hand. Not subbing for bad play.  Not going 2 for 1. Just super basic stuff.  At the moment, I see none of that stuff. 
 

My biggest thing with DeVries is can he with our resources, get enough talent to compete at the top.   I think and have thought we were 2 pieces away from a top level team, especially after Dorns arrival.  
 

 

Allow me to pump the breaks juuuust a little :)

We are certainly not as bad as we looked during that losing streak, and we also likely are not as good as we’ve been during the three game winning streak.

Now if we had a glass cleaning, intimidating big? Then we’d be one hellacious contender with this group. (but we don’t)

[Home Jersey]

Before the season people said if we split 2 / 4 between Marquette KSU UK and UL it would be "meeting expectations" 

Marquette and KSU didn't turn out to be good wins but hard to hold that against the coach. Plenty of valid criticism for DDV but I think it's very revisionist to say OOC was a "terrible showing."

As of now we're competing and that's all you can ask IMO. Our 6 seniors make by far the most $$ on the team and we have 3 freshmen coming in. Should be plenty of money to get a starting backcourt and front court in the spring portal IMO. Make the tournament with this group and we should be able to make a pretty great pitch.

Can't really expect to win the offseason before you win on the court so don't see how a "lackluster" offseason can be held against him. Unless you expect every hire to turn things around like Cig. Which is extremely misguided. There's only one Cig.

9 more B10 games. We'll see how they shake out. 

[str8baller]

10 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Now if we had a glass cleaning, intimidating big? Then we’d be one hellacious contender with this group. (but we don’t)

Lack of a defensive rebounding big isn’t what is causing our offense to gum up and lose leads late or in second halves.  People defending Devries like to hand-wave everything away as just portal misses and something that more time will solve. I think that’s what is getting pushback in this thread. 
 

If Devries wants to ultimately be successful here, he’ll have to be better than what he has been so far. He’s young, relatively speaking for a D1 HC, and seems smart enough so I don’t see why that can’t be the case.
 

We’ll probably get to see him navigate a big obstacle here whenever Conerway is healthy enough to be back in the starting lineup. Dorn has been playing over 20mpg since Nebraska. He didn’t just show up 3 games ago. But he did just get inserted as a starter 3 games ago. 

[Shooter]

12 hours ago, Brass Cannon said:

Glad to see the same exact people that acted holier than though when people criticized Crean, Archie and Woodson are gonna be holier than though again. 

I was high on DeVries but dude basically crapped the bed until 10 days ago.  I’m gonna wait for little more than a good 3 game stretch before I am convinced that’s the real DD and not the 9 months of mediocrity that preceded it. 
 

 

I thought Woodson was a bad hire when he was announced. I gave him a chance. By the end of year 3 it was clear he wasn't the guy and I wanted us to move on.

If you can't see the differences between Woodson after year 3 and Devries halfway through year 1, I'm not sure what to tell you.

To be clear I'm not saying Devries is the man. He might have a great career at IU. He might not. I'm saying none of us know yet.

[iu eyedoc]

11 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Allow me to pump the breaks juuuust a little :)

We are certainly not as bad as we looked during that losing streak, and we also likely are not as good as we’ve been during the three game winning streak.

Now if we had a glass cleaning, intimidating big? Then we’d be one hellacious contender with this group. (but we don’t)

Reed Bailey has been there all season. The inability to bring out his inner Shaq has been a huge indictment of this coaching staff.

[Shooter]

Thought it'd be interesting to compare Devries to the other major programs who have made hires in the last two years. For the 2024 hires, I listed their numbers as they stood on Feb 1 of their first season. Sorted by Kenpom rank.

 

Dusty May, Michigan: 15-5, (7-2 Big Ten). Kenpom #21

Mark Pope, UK: 15-5, (4-3 SEC). KP #22

Jake Diebler, Ohio St: 13-8, (5-5 Big Ten). KP #25

Pat Kelsey, Louisville: 16-5, (9-1 in a very down ACC). KP #26

Darian Devries, IU: 15-7, (6-5 Big Ten). KP #33

Sean Miller, Texas: 13-9, (4-5 SEC). KP #34

John Calipari, Arkansas: 12-8, (1-6 SEC). KP #61

 

Our guy is not really an outlier in the positive or negative direction. Time will tell

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, str8baller said:

Lack of a defensive rebounding big isn’t what is causing our offense to gum up and lose leads late or in second halves.  People defending Devries like to hand-wave everything away as just portal misses and something that more time will solve. I think that’s what is getting pushback in this thread. 
 

If Devries wants to ultimately be successful here, he’ll have to be better than what he has been so far. He’s young, relatively speaking for a D1 HC, and seems smart enough so I don’t see why that can’t be the case.
 

We’ll probably get to see him navigate a big obstacle here whenever Conerway is healthy enough to be back in the starting lineup. Dorn has been playing over 20mpg since Nebraska. He didn’t just show up 3 games ago. But he did just get inserted as a starter 3 games ago. 

My post stating that we need to pump the breaks before stating that we are as good as we've looked during the winning streak, and adding that the staff should have (but didn't) get a defensive, rebounding big ... even that makes me a Devries defender?

Aye caramba... Guilty! (I guess... lol)

 

ps: Devries is 50; he's not that young - a year older than Dusty and a decade older than Todd Creepy-Golden.

[Stuhoo]

24 minutes ago, iu eyedoc said:

Reed Bailey has been there all season. The inability to bring out his inner Shaq has been a huge indictment of this coaching staff.

Skinny Shaq!

reeeeally skinny Shaq.

Kidding aside, Bailey is now playing great ball and doing things that it didn't appear he was capable of - adding edge and physicality halfway through his senior season is pretty excellent. But he will never be a player whose best attributes are size and physicality. WIsh we had a less skilled, beat em up guy on the roster, but we tried and struck out on a few of that type.

[iu eyedoc]

4 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Skinny Shaq!

reeeeally skinny Shaq.

Kidding aside, Bailey is now playing great ball and doing things that it didn't appear he was capable of - adding edge and physicality halfway through his senior season is pretty excellent. But he will never be a player whose best attributes are size and physicality. WIsh we had a less skilled, beat em up guy on the roster, but we tried and struck out on a few of that type.

Yeah, just a little morning sarcasm. The worst thing Cig did was create Cig like expectations for every sport. Expecting a top 5-7 B1G team from an entire 100% thrown together team was always unrealistic. A .500  record in the B1G and making the tourney would be a good first step for DeVries. He already is proving to be a good recruiter and the brand of basketball is of the 21st century variety, so that's good.

Checking in on the other options IU may have had:

McCullom(IOWA) - similar 16-5 with not a single top 25 win

Buzz Williamson (MARYLAND) 1-9 in the B1G and an abject disaster

Bucky McMillan(T A&M)  7-1 in the SEC but 6 wins are against teams in the bottom 7 of the SEC and they are ranked below IU in NET

Richard Pitino (XU) best described as floundering.

Will Wade(NC St) Doing well in conf, but again against, except for Clemson, all sub .500 conf bottom feeders.

 

As an apologist, I will wait into year 2 at the very least to light my torch and grab my pitchfork.

 

 

[Pagoda]

34 minutes ago, iu eyedoc said:

Yeah, just a little morning sarcasm. The worst thing Cig did was create Cig like expectations for every sport. Expecting a top 5-7 B1G team from an entire 100% thrown together team was always unrealistic. A .500  record in the B1G and making the tourney would be a good first step for DeVries. He already is proving to be a good recruiter and the brand of basketball is of the 21st century variety, so that's good.

Checking in on the other options IU may have had:

McCullom(IOWA) - similar 16-5 with not a single top 25 win

Buzz Williamson (MARYLAND) 1-9 in the B1G and an abject disaster

Bucky McMillan(T A&M)  7-1 in the SEC but 6 wins are against teams in the bottom 7 of the SEC and they are ranked below IU in NET

Richard Pitino (XU) best described as floundering.

Will Wade(NC St) Doing well in conf, but again against, except for Clemson, all sub .500 conf bottom feeders.

 

As an apologist, I will wait into year 2 at the very least to light my torch and grab my pitchfork.

 

 

I see the great Chris Beard is #79 in the NET right now.  And he has top-5 player payroll in the SEC per reports.

Interesting.  Many were convinced he was the savior…

;-)

As for CDD, I can’t tell yet.  Hoping for the best.

[Stuhoo]

12 minutes ago, iu eyedoc said:

Yeah, just a little morning sarcasm. The worst thing Cig did was create Cig like expectations for every sport. Expecting a top 5-7 B1G team from an entire 100% thrown together team was always unrealistic. A .500  record in the B1G and making the tourney would be a good first step for DeVries. He already is proving to be a good recruiter and the brand of basketball is of the 21st century variety, so that's good.

Checking in on the other options IU may have had:

McCullom(IOWA) - similar 16-5 with not a single top 25 win

Buzz Williamson (MARYLAND) 1-9 in the B1G and an abject disaster

Bucky McMillan(T A&M)  7-1 in the SEC but 6 wins are against teams in the bottom 7 of the SEC and they are ranked below IU in NET

Richard Pitino (XU) best described as floundering.

Will Wade(NC St) Doing well in conf, but again against, except for Clemson, all sub .500 conf bottom feeders.

 

As an apologist, I will wait into year 2 at the very least to light my torch and grab my pitchfork.

 

 

A very interesting summary of other options.

• BuckyBall going really well! 
• Scott Drew? No bueno. Not good at all.
• Chris BeardtheBobKnightDisciple? Hoo buddy - bad bad bad.
• Brad "the IU fanbase HATES that idea" Brownell? Incredibly excellent year, again.

Another interesting summary of notable 'other options' is that Bruce Pearl, Jay Wright, and Brad Stevens are currently un-de-freakin-feated this season.

[Jeff Flabjohns]

Ryan Odom is doing the best of first year hires. KP and NET top 20…but he was always a Virginia guy

[Brass Cannon]

USC is prepping to run us off the court. Not just beat us. Run us off the court in a game advanced analytics had us favored in. 
 

They lost a star player and do we seize opportunity and step on their throat. Nope we take bad shots and don’t value the ball.  We firmly plant our feet as we wait for rebounds to come. And panic every possession. 
 

Devries had a good 3 game stretch.  But he’s far from proven anything 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

55 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

USC is prepping to run us off the court. Not just beat us. Run us off the court in a game advanced analytics had us favored in. 
 

They lost a star player and do we seize opportunity and step on their throat. Nope we take bad shots and don’t value the ball.  We firmly plant our feet as we wait for rebounds to come. And panic every possession. 
 

Devries had a good 3 game stretch.  But he’s far from proven anything 

Still too early.  We built a bubble team, and we are playing like a bubble team. Hopefully we can sneak into the tournament then pray we aim for better next season. (not holding my breath).  If we miss the tournament and then underwhelm in the off season with like results, this page will have merit.  

[Brass Cannon]

1 minute ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Still too early.  We built a bubble team, and we are playing like a bubble team. Hopefully we can sneak into the tournament then pray we aim for better next season. (not holding my breath).  If we miss the tournament and then underwhelm in the off season with like results, this page will have merit.  

I don’t think the board will agree. People still have it in their heads that it takes 4 years it seems. 
 

Iowa, Michigan and Virginia can all do it year 1. But for some reason we are special and it takes 4 years 

[str8baller]

16 hours ago, Shooter said:

Thought it'd be interesting to compare Devries to the other major programs who have made hires in the last two years. For the 2024 hires, I listed their numbers as they stood on Feb 1 of their first season. Sorted by Kenpom rank.

 

Dusty May, Michigan: 15-5, (7-2 Big Ten). Kenpom #21

Mark Pope, UK: 15-5, (4-3 SEC). KP #22

Jake Diebler, Ohio St: 13-8, (5-5 Big Ten). KP #25

Pat Kelsey, Louisville: 16-5, (9-1 in a very down ACC). KP #26

Darian Devries, IU: 15-7, (6-5 Big Ten). KP #33

Sean Miller, Texas: 13-9, (4-5 SEC). KP #34

John Calipari, Arkansas: 12-8, (1-6 SEC). KP #61

 

Our guy is not really an outlier in the positive or negative direction. Time will tell

We know how most of those turned out, so not really any point in the midseason comparison. Currently, CDD is on pace for barely making the tournament which I think would have him in the “meets expectations” column of the first year job review. But by the slimmest of margins unless he makes a really nice run here to close out conference play, or possibly a surprise BTT or S16 run. 
 

FWIW tho, this was about the time Michigan headed into their late season swoon and some fans were disgruntled with him for losing games late and taking them out of the B1G hunt. And most UK fans were pretty much over the moon for Pope. So a lot can change in one year.