The Reactionary Take: Taking Stock of IUBB

Dec 13, 2025; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Darian Devries watches the action across the court during the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images This is my first foray into writing about IUBB. It's a sport I've followed since well before my IU fandom. It wasn't that I couldn't write about it at my old blog...I was just always more into the lovable loser football team and their path. But with a new coach and a new era, I wanted to take a more macro look at where the IU basketball team is at after another rough loss on the road at Rupp Arena against a Kentucky team that looked like it was very beatable. IU had the lead at half 39-32 and led 49-42 with 13:41 left before the wheels fell off. IU scored 11 points in the final 13:41 and looked totally lost on both ends of the floor to fall to 8-3 while having lost 3 of their last 4 games. I guess I'm of two minds here on how I saw this season going: I expected IU to have some rough patches early given the injuries and the entirely new roster. IU should be 10-1 based on the teams they've played...I don't really care if it's early, they're working through injuries or have an entirely new roster. IU lost two very winnable games on the road at a bad Minnesota team and a struggling Kentucky team. They should have won both games. Period. This is also a senior laden team. They shouldn't get rattled on the road to a point where they just can't get any stops or run effective offense and we've seen that now for stretches in three of the six high major games they've played. The other major issue is that, while this can be an elite shooting team, they lack size and high major athleticism to make up for if they're not hitting shots. And they also have had more trouble getting off those threes against high major athleticism. Against Marquette (neutral), at home against Kansas State and PSU, IU had no issues getting the shots they wanted in the flow of the offense and played tenacious defense on the other end. The ball moved and players moved, especially on the weak side offensively while still being able to pressure the ball, force turnovers and generally put a stop to anything those teams were trying to do defensively. You can see the vision on both ends with how they played...But that all happened when shots were going down. The other thing about those two wins is that PSU, Marquette and KSU seem destined to not make the tournament in March. In both high major games with teams that are likely to be in the tournament, IU lost by double digits. And, in both games, it was different issues that popped up. Coach Darian DeVries went with adding lower level stars to a high major program without bringing in any real athletes, especially down low, to help make up the gap if the shots aren't falling. And Louisville and Kentucky's length and athleticism on the perimeter really bothered IU. One of the places that has gone under the radar where the athleticism is really an issue is with IU's fouling problems on defense and finishing in the lane on offense. We'll get into this a bit further down. Beyond the athleticism, the offense is getting bogged down because they have guys like Conor Enright playing a ton of minutes who are basically no threat to shoot the ball from three. Reed Bailey has a bunch of trouble with size. If he could be even a semblance of a deep threat, he'd pull another defender away from the basket. I'm not advocating for these two to start jacking up a bunch of 3s but when you can play 5-10 feet off of them knowing they're unwilling to shoot when they get an open look in the flow of the offense, it just makes you much easier to guard. The other problem that's been cropping up is the turnovers, and specifically from Tayton Conerway and Conor Enright. Against Kentucky, IU had a season high 18 turnovers and gave up 23 points off of those turnovers...which was basically the game. But both Enright and Conerway are above 20% turnover rate now for the season with Conerway's being at 24.2%...not good numbers for your main ball handlers even with the above average assist rates they have. Again, this is another spot where they could have used another ball handler but also where athleticism has hurt them. Defensively, IU needs to figure out how to play aggressively on defense with out fouling. The Kentucky game kind of ended when Lamar Wilkerson picked up his 4th foul early in the 2nd half and DeVries decided to sit him for a long stretch. I agreed with the decision at first because IU was up but by the time he got back out there, it was took late and the crowd and UK we're rocking. Guys like Wilkerson, Tucker DeVries and Conerway, specifically, are way too valuable to be fouling like they have. I know they preach pressure but from watching, it looks like they're reaching a lot and that probably has to do with being less athletic and tired. IU needs them on the floor to win games In IU's two "quality" games this year, they have a 108.6 offensive rating (per BartTorvik) which is good for *117th* in the country. Their defense hasn't been great 97.9 (44th) but the offense has been the issue. Those numbers and the above issues must get remedied or it's going to be a long winter for IU basketball fans. So, what's ahead for IUBB IU plays two games in the next 3+ weeks (Chicago State and Siena), then they have Washington, @ Maryland and Nebraska at home. Outside of PSU and Minnesota, that's about as soft an opening couple games as you can have in this league. Can IU go 5-0 and get to 13-3? It's also be a good thing for this team to get a mini vacation for a couple weeks to hopefully regroup, get more healthy and get their main guys, who've been playing pretty heavy minutes, a rest. The margin for error is so much thinner now and IU is going to have to beat some of the big dogs at home if they really want to be a bubble team... via Bart Torvik Still, their overall advanced numbers (above) are still pretty good, despite how they've played lately. It's early and the more high major games still to go, we'll see which team actually shows up and if they can keep these metrics in the respectable range. One good thing is that the style IU plays is very conducive to looking good in the metrics. After the Kentucky loss, and, as bad as the losses to Louisville and Minnesota were from a visual perspective, here are IU's ranks by the computers: NET 26th / ESPN's BPI 16th / KenPom 26th / Torvik 19th The other thing is that anyone who's watched a team that plays this style -- shooting lots of the threes -- knows that going cold can happen. As a Celtics fan, I watched them shoot 24% from 3 in their first 6 games this season, going 1-5. They're now 15-10 shooting nearly 37% from three. It happens. Pacer fans saw this first hand last year as they shot an insanely high amount of threes...When it's going good, you look elite. I think we all kind of knew this was a big gamble, roster construction wise. IU really needed another big and probably another athletic guard to feel better about itself. I do, actually, think IU still has the guys to get it back on the track, against high major teams, enough to make the tournament. Do I wish they had another guard and big? Sure, but I'm still sticking to my prediction that they're a bubble team who will make the tournament. I think IU is going to be a Jekyll and Hyde type team. They're going to win games they probably shouldn't because of the shooting and lose games the same way. The big question is, can they figure out how to overcome their athletic deficiencies to win games in a really good Big Ten? The jury is definitely still out.

The Reactionary Take: Taking Stock of IUBB

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