How is Darian DeVries Doing So Far?

[HoosierHoopster]

Measuring yr 1, imo DeVries is right now very much on target, and while starting late with a completely bare cupboard of 0 players and assistants didn’t do him any favors, and the roster isn’t good (athletic, balanced, deep) enough to compete at the top, his choices and coaching show promise.

- Identified, focused on and beat UK for Wilkerson. such a key decision and effective move, a fantastic addition. What he’s doing in lighting up the outside including setting IU records is also good for future HS and portal recruiting- that shouldn’t be overlooked. Shooters now will look hard at IU -
The season after 4 years of Woodson’s complete disregard of perimeter shooting- the impact of that is completely ignored in this thread.

- while he couldn’t otherwise land top tier portal talent, for reasons which should be obvious (late timing, IU’s image after 8 years of mediocrity, 0 players on roster), he built a core of winning veterans, guys who stood out and won at their level and who were high character guys who would play well together as a team, and including Alexis, championship experience and toughness up front - his value was on high display against Wisconsin, and strong point guard play. 

- Adjustments, late game play calling, winning in OT against good teams and on the road in the B1G — and unlike prior coaches’ end of season collapses, we’re watching the team win 4 of their last 5 including the road and in games which together we’re probably necessary to make the tourney. Not there yet, important games still to play, but as of now? Definitely a tourney team and DeVries’ coaching, lineup decisions, and the roster he built is all part of that. 

I think (and hope) the team will close the season well enough to make the tourney, they look tourney quality right now. Under all these circumstances, that’s a good 1st year for me.

Next offseason is going to be important for sure. Returning probably Dorn, Sisley, Miles — maybe Harris, with Alexander- Moody, Karvala and Manhetz is decent, and particularly if we make the tourney and look decent in it (I think we will), ability to land higher level portal players is right there, and this time DeVries will have time to recruit the portal with an intact roster to complement the portal players being recruited. 

So all of this is why I just find the initial purpose of this thread ridiculous. The team is on the right path right now, gotta have at least some patience to let it play out.
 

 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

14 minutes ago, HoosierHoopster said:

Measuring yr 1, imo DeVries is right now very much on target, and while starting late with a completely bare cupboard of 0 players and assistants didn’t do him any favors, and the roster isn’t good (athletic, balanced, deep) enough to compete at the top, his choices and coaching show promise.

- Identified, focused on and beat UK for Wilkerson. such a key decision and effective move, a fantastic addition. What he’s doing in lighting up the outside including setting IU records is also good for future HS and portal recruiting- that shouldn’t be overlooked. Shooters now will look hard at IU -
The season after 4 years of Woodson’s complete disregard of perimeter shooting- the impact of that is completely ignored in this thread.

- while he couldn’t otherwise land top tier portal talent, for reasons which should be obvious (late timing, IU’s image after 8 years of mediocrity, 0 players on roster), he built a core of winning veterans, guys who stood out and won at their level and who were high character guys who would play well together as a team, and including Alexis, championship experience and toughness up front - his value was on high display against Wisconsin, and strong point guard play. 

- Adjustments, late game play calling, winning in OT against good teams and on the road in the B1G — and unlike prior coaches’ end of season collapses, we’re watching the team win 4 of their last 5 including the road and in games which together we’re probably necessary to make the tourney. Not there yet, important games still to play, but as of now? Definitely a tourney team and DeVries’ coaching, lineup decisions, and the roster he built is all part of that. 

I think (and hope) the team will close the season well enough to make the tourney, they look tourney quality right now. Under all these circumstances, that’s a good 1st year for me.

Next offseason is going to be important for sure. Returning probably Dorn, Sisley, Miles — maybe Harris, with Alexander- Moody, Karvala and Manhetz is decent, and particularly if we make the tourney and look decent in it (I think we will), ability to land higher level portal players is right there, and this time DeVries will have time to recruit the portal with an intact roster to complement the portal players being recruited. 

So all of this is why I just find the initial purpose of this thread ridiculous. The team is on the right path right now, gotta have at least some patience to let it play out.
 

 

In all likelihood we need 3 or 4 starters out of the portal.  Dorn is the only starter level player to return.  Maybe Sisley. Especially if shooting improves. He’s gotta get that FT to 70%. I like Miles but see him more as a role guy.  Not sure if that’s how he sees himself.  Prince Moody projects to play.  Karvala maybe/likely.  Manhertz.  Idk. 
 

Harris, Ristic??  The rest?  Redshirt guys, who knows what they will do. 
 

Hopefully we have some stock to get high level guys because Portal is going to be active. 
 

Will need a 1 and 5 for sure. 

[Goober]

28 minutes ago, HoosierHoopster said:

Measuring yr 1, imo DeVries is right now very much on target, and while starting late with a completely bare cupboard of 0 players and assistants didn’t do him any favors, and the roster isn’t good (athletic, balanced, deep) enough to compete at the top, his choices and coaching show promise.

- Identified, focused on and beat UK for Wilkerson. such a key decision and effective move, a fantastic addition. What he’s doing in lighting up the outside including setting IU records is also good for future HS and portal recruiting- that shouldn’t be overlooked. Shooters now will look hard at IU -
The season after 4 years of Woodson’s complete disregard of perimeter shooting- the impact of that is completely ignored in this thread.

- while he couldn’t otherwise land top tier portal talent, for reasons which should be obvious (late timing, IU’s image after 8 years of mediocrity, 0 players on roster), he built a core of winning veterans, guys who stood out and won at their level and who were high character guys who would play well together as a team, and including Alexis, championship experience and toughness up front - his value was on high display against Wisconsin, and strong point guard play. 

- Adjustments, late game play calling, winning in OT against good teams and on the road in the B1G — and unlike prior coaches’ end of season collapses, we’re watching the team win 4 of their last 5 including the road and in games which together we’re probably necessary to make the tourney. Not there yet, important games still to play, but as of now? Definitely a tourney team and DeVries’ coaching, lineup decisions, and the roster he built is all part of that. 

I think (and hope) the team will close the season well enough to make the tourney, they look tourney quality right now. Under all these circumstances, that’s a good 1st year for me.

Next offseason is going to be important for sure. Returning probably Dorn, Sisley, Miles — maybe Harris, with Alexander- Moody, Karvala and Manhetz is decent, and particularly if we make the tourney and look decent in it (I think we will), ability to land higher level portal players is right there, and this time DeVries will have time to recruit the portal with an intact roster to complement the portal players being recruited. 

So all of this is why I just find the initial purpose of this thread ridiculous. The team is on the right path right now, gotta have at least some patience to let it play out.
 

 

Very well said! I’m cautiously optimistic.

[AH1971]

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

In all likelihood we need 3 or 4 starters out of the portal.  Dorn is the only starter level player to return.  Maybe Sisley. Especially if shooting improves. He’s gotta get that FT to 70%. I like Miles but see him more as a role guy.  Not sure if that’s how he sees himself.  Prince Moody projects to play.  Karvala maybe/likely.  Manhertz.  Idk. 
 

Harris, Ristic??  The rest?  Redshirt guys, who knows what they will do. 
 

Hopefully we have some stock to get high level guys because Portal is going to be active. 
 

Will need a 1 and 5 for sure. 

I’d like to see a ball dominant, scoring 1 guard similar to what he had in Javon Small in his one year at West Virginia. I like what Enright has brought to the team, but think you need a guy who can manufacture offense when shots aren’t falling. I believe they thought Conerway could be that guy, but he’s wildly too inconsistent as a scorer. Get a guy like that and space the floor with Dorn and another high level shooter and things should look up. A defensive 5 is a must for next years team. Non-negotiable. 

[Brass Cannon]

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

In all likelihood we need 3 or 4 starters out of the portal.  Dorn is the only starter level player to return.  Maybe Sisley. Especially if shooting improves. He’s gotta get that FT to 70%. I like Miles but see him more as a role guy.  Not sure if that’s how he sees himself.  Prince Moody projects to play.  Karvala maybe/likely.  Manhertz.  Idk. 
 

Harris, Ristic??  The rest?  Redshirt guys, who knows what they will do. 
 

Hopefully we have some stock to get high level guys because Portal is going to be active. 
 

Will need a 1 and 5 for sure. 

This. If we get a stud 1 and 5. I think we can make do. If we can make a roster work. I think Sisley is gonna work out nicely looks like a guy who will put it together. 1 more starter would make me feel better

[HinnyHoosier]

8 hours ago, Golfman25 said:

Make the tournament and all arrows are pointing up.  Especially with this flawed roster.  Return Dorn, Miles and Sisley. Add the incoming HS players, and fill out the roster with some key portal additions.  We’ll be cooking with gas.  

While I appreciate your outlook, a word of caution:

Some folks have been known to have severe allergic reactions when exposed to external optimism, sometimes in the form of spontaneous human combustion.

[iu2win]

I was a bit uneasy about Coach DD and this team a couple of weeks ago. However, I began thinking back to Archie and Woodson's first year for comparison and this team is far and away better.  No big losses to Indiana State caliber teams.  Wish there were no home losses at this point but still comparing first year achievements, this team is much better and therefore I think the future is much brighter than under either of the previous two coaches at IU.

[JF87]

1 hour ago, iu2win said:

I was a bit uneasy about Coach DD and this team a couple of weeks ago. However, I began thinking back to Archie and Woodson's first year for comparison and this team is far and away better.  No big losses to Indiana State caliber teams.  Wish there were no home losses at this point but still comparing first year achievements, this team is much better and therefore I think the future is much brighter than under either of the previous two coaches at IU.

Unfortunately, for Devries, he is not just being compared to our two previous coaches.  Devries is also being compared to Dusty, who many of us wanted after 3 years of Woodson.  I Ilke Devries and I think he will be solid, but it will be frustrating if Michigan has a better program over the next 8 years.  

[Shooter]

Just now, JF87 said:

Unfortunately, for Devries, he is not just being compared to our two previous coaches.  Devries is also being compared to Dusty, who many of us wanted after 3 years of Woodson.  I Ilke Devries and I think he will be solid, but it will be frustrating if Michigan has a better program over the next 8 years.  

IU whiffed on Dusty May. That is not debatable. I was also screaming to move on from Woodson and go get May. Even when much of this board was focused on "established" guys like Bruce Pearl.

That being said, Devries had nothing to do with that decision. He should be compared to not just May, but all of the guys hired by major programs in the past few seasons. And he's pretty much right on track with most of that group. 

[IU_FanClub]

I probably shouldn’t be but I’m surprised at some of the negativity.

Year 1 of his tenure and with 7 games to go DeVries has us in a solid spot to make the tournament and playing some good ball with a chance to improve seeding while also already getting 4 solid high school commitments. He had to put together an entire staff and roster on the fly because of this new era of college basketball and the roster clearly has some holes and yet down the stretch of the season we’re playing meaningful basketball. Who wouldn’t take that in year 1???

[AZ Hoosier]

3 hours ago, Shooter said:

IU whiffed on Dusty May. That is not debatable. I was also screaming to move on from Woodson and go get May. Even when much of this board was focused on "established" guys like Bruce Pearl.

That being said, Devries had nothing to do with that decision. He should be compared to not just May, but all of the guys hired by major programs in the past few seasons. And he's pretty much right on track with most of that group. 

IU most definitely DID NOT whiff on Dusty May. BoT Chair W Quinn Buckner refused to consider moving on from his boy, the arrogant one, Michael Dean Woodson. That's a vastly different scenario. Buckner stacked the deck and refused to allow AD Scott Dolson the ability to do his job. 

The fix was in from the start. I will never forgive Buckner for his inbred nepotism, and it will forever mar his (and Woodson's) legacy as members of the Indiana basketball fraternity.

With that said, I have no real issue with CDDV and his progress. He got a bit of a late start with building his staff, and that resulted in a slow start with the roster build. But to see where we are today, I can say that it's a darn sight ahead of where the arrogant and incompetent Mike Woodson was at this point, and will DeVries far surpass Mediocre Mike's results in short order.

[Shooter]

11 minutes ago, AZ Hoosier said:

IU most definitely DID NOT whiff on Dusty May. BoT Chair W Quinn Buckner refused to consider moving on from his boy, the arrogant one, Michael Dean Woodson. That's a vastly different scenario. Buckner stacked the deck and refused to allow AD Scott Dolson the ability to do his job. 

The fix was in from the start. I will never forgive Buckner for his inbred nepotism, and it will forever mar his (and Woodson's) legacy as members of the Indiana basketball fraternity.

With that said, I have no real issue with CDDV and his progress. He got a bit of a late start with building his staff, and that resulted in a slow start with the roster build. But to see where we are today, I can say that it's a darn sight ahead of where the arrogant and incompetent Mike Woodson was at this point, and will DeVries far surpass Mediocre Mike's results in short order.

That's what I'm saying man. IU should have gone and brought Dusty home, and we didn't.

But it's water under the bridge. Nothing to do now but support the guy we have, and enjoy the ride.

[Home Jersey]

1 minute ago, Shooter said:

That's what I'm saying man. IU should have gone and brought Dusty home, and we didn't.

But it's water under the bridge. Nothing to do now but support the guy we have, and enjoy the ride.

100% agree.

Just worth noting at every opportunity what Quinn Buckner has gotten away with as BoT chair at the expense of the basketball program. Defining part of his IU legacy to fans who didn't witness him as a player. 

[Golfman25]

31 minutes ago, IU_FanClub said:

I probably shouldn’t be but I’m surprised at some of the negativity.

Year 1 of his tenure and with 7 games to go DeVries has us in a solid spot to make the tournament and playing some good ball with a chance to improve seeding while also already getting 4 solid high school commitments. He had to put together an entire staff and roster on the fly because of this new era of college basketball and the roster clearly has some holes and yet down the stretch of the season we’re playing meaningful basketball. Who wouldn’t take that in year 1???

That wasn’t the case several games ago when this thread was started.  We had lost to Minn, gave up a big lead at home to Nebraska, and just got smacked at home by Iowa of all teams.  (All covered up by Cig and the football team winning the championship).   They were headed in the wrong direction.  It has been a very nice turnaround since that time.  Almost as if CDV read the thread and said “oh chit.”   :)   

[Jeff Flabjohns]

Yeah, it was pretty bleak a few weeks ago…

The 1-2-3 punches of Neb blown lead, 28-7 MSU run to end the game, and then being thoroughly beaten at home by McCollum’s squad felt like a knockout blow.
 

During previous regimes it would have been. Credit to the staff and these players for turning it around

[str8baller]

3 hours ago, iu2win said:

Wish there were no home losses at this point but still comparing first year achievements, this team is much better and therefore I think the future is much brighter than under either of the previous two coaches at IU.

It’s hard to say how we finish out exactly, but one likely scenario is winning the 3 easy home games and losing the rest. For example, we’ll probably be small underdogs at home to MSU and @OSU and fairly big dogs @Purdue and @Illinois.  
 

In a scenario like that we’d probably just sneak into the tournament very similar to Woodys first team. We could also do much better than that, and I suppose it is possible, although not probable, we could do worse.   
 

For all Woodys faults he did a serviceable job getting us into the tournament for the first time in 5 years. Of course, that really shouldn’t be much of an accomplishment at IU but after half a decade of not going I guess it somewhat is. It’s definitely a positive for Devries future pitch to recruits, NIL boosters, and portal players to avoid the mild ignominy of missing the tourney year 1. 

[Old Friend]

With an entirely new roster and coaching staff, my response and opinion boil down to one thing :  We're getting better.  Improving.  And have won a few games late we wouldn't have previously.  That improvement didn't happen under Mike Woodson.   

Is the roster perfect?  No.  Not close.  But I can't find great fault in DeVries because we're improving and he is likely going to make the NCAA Tournament with a very different set of circumstances than Woodson had.  DeVries didn't have the luxury of a group that had spent ANY time together.  TJD, Race Thompson, Phinissee, Galloway, Leal, and Geronimo were all at the very least familiar with each other.  

DeVries isn't perfect like Cignetti has been, but I am definitely encouraged.

[Asha’man]

24 minutes ago, Old Friend said:

With an entirely new roster and coaching staff, my response and opinion boil down to one thing :  We're getting better.  Improving.  And have won a few games late we wouldn't have previously.  That improvement didn't happen under Mike Woodson.   

Is the roster perfect?  No.  Not close.  But I can't find great fault in DeVries because we're improving and he is likely going to make the NCAA Tournament with a very different set of circumstances than Woodson had.  DeVries didn't have the luxury of a group that had spent ANY time together.  TJD, Race Thompson, Phinissee, Galloway, Leal, and Geronimo were all at the very least familiar with each other.  

DeVries isn't perfect like Cignetti has been, but I am definitely encouraged.

As someone who is not a IU football fan, but enjoyed them winning, the Cignetti comparisons are funny to me. I see national people saying every school think they have e chance bc IU did it. Um no they don’t. Cignetti is a unicorn, once in a generation coach AND he went to a school with deep pockets to help fund it. Kansas St can’t do that. Arizona St can’t do that. 
 

I agree with you on being encouraged with DeVries. I’m not even upset we didn’t get Dusty. College basketball can have multiple good coaches and I think DeVries is a good coach. Let’s make the dance and see how he cooks in the portal this offseason. But I’m looking forward to a March Madness with IU in it. 

[Old Friend]

2 hours ago, Asha’man said:

As someone who is not a IU football fan, but enjoyed them winning, the Cignetti comparisons are funny to me. I see national people saying every school think they have e chance bc IU did it. Um no they don’t. Cignetti is a unicorn, once in a generation coach AND he went to a school with deep pockets to help fund it. Kansas St can’t do that. Arizona St can’t do that. 
 

I agree with you on being encouraged with DeVries. I’m not even upset we didn’t get Dusty. College basketball can have multiple good coaches and I think DeVries is a good coach. Let’s make the dance and see how he cooks in the portal this offseason. But I’m looking forward to a March Madness with IU in it. 

It wasn't a comparison.  Just a reference.

[Asha’man]

7 hours ago, Old Friend said:

It wasn't a comparison.  Just a reference.

For sure. I was just running with it. I was listening to a Mississippi State fan talk about how if IU could do it then anyone can. lol. No way Mississippi State can do what IU just did.