How is Darian DeVries Doing So Far?

[Goober]

Just wondering how many married couples are on here going back and forth. 

[Stuhoo]

7 minutes ago, Goober said:

Just wondering how many married couples are on here going back and forth. 

Chalk it up to 'group think' or 'similar conclusions' based on the current state of the program, but:

The many posters in this thread, absent one or two, are not arguing much and are very satisfied with how things are going. Having that outlier opinion that things are bad is 100% fine to express (and for others to push back on), but there's not a lot of differing opinions currently; this corner of the fan base is really happy with the state of IU Basketball.

[Golfman25]

1 hour ago, iu eyedoc said:

Fact is he absolutely does not need to make the tourney this year and probably not next year either.

Not next year?  How long we got to wait?   

[iu eyedoc]

5 hours ago, Golfman25 said:

Not next year?  How long we got to wait?   

Hopefully we never find out, but if you think merely missing the tourney his first 2 yrs will get him axed, I've got some bad news for you. Looks like after all the pearl clutching he most likely has his first team headed to the tourney and his current 26-27 roster looks even more promising. 

[Brass Cannon]

Some of this fanbase is still living in the 80s 

[Dave from Dayton]

7 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Chalk it up to 'group think' or 'similar conclusions' based on the current state of the program, but:

The many posters in this thread, absent one or two, are not arguing much and are very satisfied with how things are going. Having that outlier opinion that things are bad is 100% fine to express (and for others to push back on), but there's not a lot of differing opinions currently; this corner of the fan base is really happy with the state of IU Basketball.

Now wait a gosh-darned minute.  Really happy?  NO!

Anecdotal postings and discussions with fans show more relief than happiness that this team is gelling.  They seem to have embraced the understanding that to win requires 40 minutes of effort.  And they are getting better near the end of the regular season.  They are not getting out of position as much on defense.  Assists are back.  And more than one player is scoring.  Credit to Enright, Wilkerson, and our bigs are in it to win it.

As the season began, many of us wondered about many things including the lack of going after some player to plug the inside on defense.  I always am concerned about our point guard situation.

And Coach DV is still an unknown, to me.

A vote on very satisfied or not will come after the season.  Maybe after the second season.

It is an upward trend...seemingly.  4 wins out of 5 in the B1G late in the season is sweet.  Really sweet. 

I am still trying to get my head around the one-year rent-a-player, who are these guys (?) state of the game.

It is entertaining.  Now.  A relief.  Not so much 5 games ago.  

How will we feel in a week or so?  

We are entering into a meat grinder for the next two games.  

[Old Friend]

On 2/9/2026 at 6:11 AM, Asha’man said:

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. 

Anyone who says that has absolutely no idea why Cignetti and IU succeeded.   It's an easy take....lazy, but easy

[gfeltner28]

4 hours ago, iu eyedoc said:

Hopefully we never find out, but if you think merely missing the tourney his first 2 yrs will get him axed, I've got some bad news for you. Looks like after all the pearl clutching he most likely has his first team headed to the tourney and his current 26-27 roster looks even more promising. 

You think next year looks more promising? How!?

[Brass Cannon]

7 minutes ago, gfeltner28 said:

You think next year looks more promising? How!?

My guess based on we need a lot fewer pieces in the portal. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

15 minutes ago, gfeltner28 said:

You think next year looks more promising? How!?

Wishful thinking and good vibes.  It’ll be a fight for real impact makers amongst all the best schools. We need about 3 of them. 34 minute type guys. We return very little and have a recruiting class with good long term projections.  We aren’t starting square 1 but without serious portal wins we won’t sniff preseason top 25 next year.  Lots of schools will be WAY ahead of us with what they return. Many schools will have more cash to spend. I guess we will see what the portal giveth. 

[Uspshoosier]

8 hours ago, gfeltner28 said:

You think next year looks more promising? How!?

Well for one the head coach will be on the job for over a year with a full staff instead of being on the job for less then a month trying to put a roster together at the beginning with  1 full time assistant working out of the players lounge since the last head coach still had the keys when he first got hired.   Now he has a full year a tape to show portal kids how his offense and defense looks.    He can show shooters that a first year transfer has scored 40 or more points twice in his first year(2 or the 5 highest in assembly hall history) and he can show Bigs the whole that the team had at the position and where they would fit.   Anyone including me that’s says they can see the future and tell you why is going to happen is lying to you.  No one knows until next year what is going to happen.   

[Pagoda]

There is some logic to next year looking better given the job is not has hard as it was a year ago:

March 18, 2025: We effectively had no staff and no team.  Basically had six weeks to assemble a whole program.  Pain in the @$$ until the last moment Woody had not moved out of his office yet and CDD had a makeshift office in the lounge.
March 18, 2026: We will have a whole staff in place and, while still thin, a small core of a team.

That's a big difference.

We should be more prepared for the portal.  We don't need as many players.  We should be able to do more advanced scouting in terms of who's available (via agents) and their fit.  And we should be more prepared to sell them on IU.  And IU looks reasonably appealing right now with our style of play.

Will this matter?  Logically I think it will, but who knows, I can only guess and there are so many variables.  I don't know what our roster budget will be next year (I'd think at least similar to '25).  We could have repeat errors like Reed and miss on top targets.  We also need our returning guys and freshman to work out.  We'll just have to wait and see...

[str8baller]

3 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

We also need our returning guys and freshman to work out. 

I know this is new for people and lots of college fans don’t pay attention to the pros’s, but this is a big factor when dealing with a salary pool. And it’s not so much a recruiting thing as it is a leveraging the salary pool”cap” thing. 
 

1) you need to get outsized production out of guys you are paying less than average. In that case, it will be our returning bench guys and freshman. It’d be ideal if one pops as a productive starter.  
 

2) you can’t have big misses in the portal. We’ll probably pay upwards of $1-2mil each for a lead guard and big. Getting a big to replace Alexis/baileys production should be doable (mostly because they’ve been average). But even landing a top guard we’re going to be treading water trying to replace Wilkerson’s production.   
 

Lots of opportunity out there for IU. Last year we got two productive starters because CDD coached them before. Hopefully there’s some connections like that with the staff. 

[Pagoda]

2 minutes ago, str8baller said:

I know this is new for people and lots of college fans don’t pay attention to the pros’s, but this is a big factor when dealing with a salary pool. And it’s not so much a recruiting thing as it is a leveraging the salary pool”cap” thing. 

1) you need to get outsized production out of guys you are paying less than average. In that case, it will be our returning bench guys and freshman. It’d be ideal if one pops as a productive starter.  

2) you can’t have big misses in the portal. We’ll probably pay upwards of $1-2mil each for a lead guard and big. Getting a big to replace Alexis/baileys production should be doable (mostly because they’ve been average). But even landing a top guard we’re going to be treading water trying to replace Wilkerson’s production.   

Lots of opportunity out there for IU. Last year we got two productive starters because CDD coached them before. Hopefully there’s some connections like that with the staff. 

Spot on imo.

It's an extreme example, but Keaton Wagler as a #200+ ranked HS kid isn't getting paid much this season, he's got to be 3% to 4% of their roster cost, but he's delivering huge production.

And retained players cost something like 10-20% less than their portal replacements.  What makes Cig's player retention so damn great is it saves IUFB something like $3-5M/yr, which he can turnaround and spend on very productive and impactful guys.

Good scouting and player dev is still as vital as it ever was.

And lastly, Kenny and Rod need to earn need to earn their $ in the portal this year.  Our staff budget is top-10 and needs to produce.

 

[Stuhoo]

11 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Spot on imo.

It's an extreme example, but Keaton Wagler as a #200+ ranked HS kid isn't getting paid much this season, he's got to be 3% to 4% of their roster cost, but he's delivering huge production.

And retained players cost something like 10-20% less than their portal replacements.  What makes Cig's player retention so damn great is it saves IUFB something like $3-5M/yr, which he can turnaround and spend on very productive and impactful guys.

Good scouting and player dev is still as vital as it ever was.

And lastly, Kenny and Rod need to earn need to earn their $ in the portal this year.  Our staff budget is top-10 and needs to produce.

 

In sports they coined the phrase "Moneyball."

The concept applies throughout sports, in building a business, hiring new employees, when you go to buy a car or a house, invest in equities; everywhere.

In college sports, now that it's far more a free market economy, it's more applicable than ever.

[iu eyedoc]

9 hours ago, gfeltner28 said:

You think next year looks more promising? How!?

Dorn, Sisley, Miles are solid returning pieces that should all improve along with other younger pieces with a year of college coaching vs 0 returning players  from the previous season.

Three top 100 HS recruits vs the single Sisley commitment. Class rank 100 spots higher (17 vs117)

A coaching staff that is already in place scouting transfers and making connections with  future recruits  vs DeVries working alone trying to recruit, scout, and hire a staff at a card table in a broom closet in mid March.

Now, how does it  look to not be more promising?

 

[CSP]

2 minutes ago, iu eyedoc said:

Dorn, Sisley, Miles are solid returning pieces that should all improve along with other younger pieces with a year of college coaching vs 0 returning players  from the previous season.

Three top 100 HS recruits vs the single Sisley commitment. Class rank 100 spots higher (17 vs117)

A coaching staff that is already in place scouting transfers and making connections with  future recruits  vs DeVries working alone trying to recruit, scout, and hire a staff at a card table in a broom closet in mid March.

Now, how does it  look to not be more promising?

 

Harris, too. 

All of that... along with Drake and Euros-- coupled with the NIL we will get from our SRs (which should absolutely be substantial)... 

Zero doubt next year looks more promising. TDV, Wilkerson NIL alone is some nice coin to spend--- Alexis, Conerway, Bailey, Enright are all getting some money, too.

[Stuhoo]

24 minutes ago, CSP said:

Harris, too. 

All of that... along with Drake and Euros-- coupled with the NIL we will get from our SRs (which should absolutely be substantial)... 

Zero doubt next year looks more promising. TDV, Wilkerson NIL alone is some nice coin to spend--- Alexis, Conerway, Bailey, Enright are all getting some money, too.

Of those six players that are getting paid well and will be leaving, three; Bailey, Tucker, and Conerway, are in line to be replaceable with better players for a similar price, and three; Enright, Lamar, and Alexis, will be difficult to replace with equal production for the price.

[iu eyedoc]

32 minutes ago, CSP said:

Harris, too. 

All of that... along with Drake and Euros-- coupled with the NIL we will get from our SRs (which should absolutely be substantial)... 

Zero doubt next year looks more promising. TDV, Wilkerson NIL alone is some nice coin to spend--- Alexis, Conerway, Bailey, Enright are all getting some money, too.

Bailey's NIL was like lighting  $1-2M on fire, TDV has not played to up to his NIL cost, he has contributed as much as he can with great effort but he is just way too slow for the B1G. Conerway, Enright, Alexis have been about as expected. Wilkerson's replacement is the biggest concern for me. 

[Home Jersey]

I think it's too soon to say next year looks more promising already, but there's plenty of good reason to believe it should and will be better.

6 seniors departing, 3 freshmen coming in. Should have plenty of funds for the portal. And a full strength staff.

Dorn is the only returning starter. Hopefully Sisley improves a lot over the offseason. Don't know if we can count on him taking a big enough step to be a starter or not. Miles likely also will have a bigger role, but probably not as a starter right away.

PAM may be in the rotation as a freshman. Manhertz probably redshirting? Maybe Karvala too (maybe not)...

Then there's Harris/Andrej and Drake/Ristic. You probably need at least one of each pairing to be able to play off the bench. If we need to free up scholarships for the portal, I'd think it comes out of this group. Assuming these guys can be serviceable, the bench is in fine shape and plenty of dough to add difference makers in the portal. 

1 - PG transfer

2 - CG transfer 

3 - Dorn 

4 - Stretch big transfer

5 - C transfer 

Bench: Sisley, Miles, PAM, Andrej/Harris, Ristic/Drake

With the freshmen, if we add 4 transfers, someone needs to transfer out. If we add 3 transfers, we probably need Sisley, Miles or Harris to surprise us and step up as a starter.