It's still a bizarre thing to have not 1 player on our roster for the upcoming year, that was in our roster last year.  Not that I wanted any of them back.  It's just a new weird reality of college sports.  

@hoosiers94 I agree. Now Senior Night won't mean much. If my father was alive today it would be hard watching a game with him because he would keep asking, "who is that?" The fact is I might do the same thing for a while.

@vanpastorman 

lol. I hear you. 

Posted by: @vanpastorman

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@hoosiers94 I agree. Now Senior Night won't mean much. If my father was alive today it would be hard watching a game with him because he would keep asking, "who is that?" The fact is I might do the same thing for a while.

having players in a program 4-5 yrs is going to be very rare from now on.  

I will never get on board with the reality of having to buy a roster every year. It sucks and always will suck.

@the-watson Hopefully this roster will be the last one for a while, where the entire roster had to be put together.  Hopefully we return 4-5 guys, if not all 6, from Dorn, Miles, Drake, Harris, Sisley, Rictsic.

Get 2-3 incoming frosh, a couple multiple year transfers, and then the following year maybe have 6-7 guys that could return.  And so on.

I do think it's going to be fairly normal, for most programs, to have to fill 6 or so spots nearly every year.  

so, just like for football, i have a roster/depth chart for basketball (as you can see in the original post but here is the latest version of that.

i really think jasai miles starts. i know i've seen a lot of nick dorn hype but i really just think he's a catch and shoot guy and with wilkerson and devries already starting, you need another slasher to add to conerway. i think miles is that guy.

what are your thoughts?

here's a link...each player with a bart torvik page is linked (otherwise their iu page) and the link shows the most recent highlights.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QSbdwAvpnWn3RxYcJjDWh9w2u49GM1bLtqrJCrYPCYo/edit?usp=sharing

Jamie, once again, you are amazing. Thanks for putting these together. 

One thing I really like about this team is the HEIGHT. Only three players are under 6'4" and even then they're 6'3" and 6'2"

Posted by: @evanalvarez8

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Jamie, once again, you are amazing. Thanks for putting these together. 

 

One thing I really like about this team is the HEIGHT. Only three players are under 6'4" and even then they're 6'3" and 6'2"

as a diehard celtics fan, the idea (and cliche) of positionless basketball where you can switch 1-4 is something i'm very excited about with this team. 

now, do i want devries switched onto a pg? no, but as long as he's doing the miller kopp/luke goode thing of just staying in front of the player and giving up a non, in rhythm 3 to a college kid, rather than a lay up for said player or a big, that counts as a good switch to me.

i also think people are really sleeping on sam alexis. if someone told you that iu got a 6'8 pf/c (with a longer wingspan) from chattanooga that averaged a double double and more than 2 blocks per game, i'd be ecstatic...

this team isn't going to be great defensively but they have length...they are going to need everyone to rebound, especially the guards and hope they can get out in transition.

it should be a much different brand of basketball, not even based on devries coaching style, but just the personnel. 

@iureactionary another factor that will play out is how well the main rotation guys adapt to DeVries specific version of the pack line defense.  There are elements of that defense that can effectively mask athleticism limitations.  In short, just because a guy like Jasai Miles wasn't a very good, or efficient defender at North Florida... does not, at all, mean he won't be a good defender at IU.  Just like offensive systems can make or break players, so to can defensive systems and coaching.

@iunorth I think it might be the case that DeVries', or any coach, comes up with a system that masks a guy who's a bad defender (I thought Alford was like that, where he wasn't a great 1 on 1 defender but he was at least adequate because of the system and how RMK used him), but I think it would be pretty unusual for a guy to be a bad defender and then become a really good one. I feel like D is just largely something innate that guys either "get" or they don't. Who are some guys that you think were bad defensively that became really good defenders? I guess I could see it if someone just was never well-coached, but at this point guys are going to get decent coaching somewhere along the way.

@kkott Vic was pretty bad defensively his freshman year.  AJ Moye improved a ton during his time at IU, defensively.  Jeff Newton another example.

Case by case type of thing.  There are obvious individual elements that need to be there, including motor, pride, attention to detail, etc... But coaching, and then overall program culture, can play a huge role as well.

Using my own experiences as an example...all things obviously relative to competition level.  In high school, frosh through junior, I was pretty awful as a defender.  Lazy, disinterested, afterthought, etc...  The coach didn't emphasize that end a ton, the culture wasn't really based on the defensive side, so I played a lot, thrived offensively, and was largely just hidden defensively.  New coach my senior year, defense was much more of a focus, program wise, but personally I still didn't feel the importance of it.  I got better, naturally, because the team was focusing more on it, but I was still largely hidden on the other teams worst perimeter player.

College ball comes around.  The program I played for didn't have as much of a budget as most of the other teams in the conference, so we weren't as big, overall as most teams.  But defense, defensive intensity, grit, toughness was the central binding force in the program.  I hardly played my freshman year.  I REALLY struggled getting up to speed physically, and more importantly, struggled transitioning to defense being a focus.  Early in my sophomore year preseason practices, we were doing a 2 on 2 closeout checkout drill.  It was one of those days where everyone was in a good mood, everyone was loud, intense, practice was going great.  Up until then I was AWFUL at that drill.  Always closing out too far, always a step slow, always reacting.  Coach stops practice, puts our fastest point guard opposite me, and proceeds to tell the entire team that he's kicking me off the team if I don't keep my man out of the lane.  For some reason, that worked, I found the extra attention, the motor, and I stood him up 3 times in a row.  Changed my entire viewpoint on the game.  I battled through injuries my sophomore year.  But I became our defensive stopper, always guarded the other teams best player.  And it helped my offensive output too.  Became an all conference/all american level player.  All mindset, decision to take it seriously, pride, all that.

So... a guy like Jasai Miles... if North Florida was a program that didn't focus on various important defensive principles, and/or if it wasn't a core focus for that coaching staff... And then it is for DeVries...AND if Jasai personally decides its important... he can become a completely different player.  As one example that seems to make the most sense in my mind because N Florida was horrible defensively, and Jasai certainly has the physical tools to be really good defensively.  

Some are concerned with the roster DeVries has assembled but let's give these guys some time to get a few games under their belt. The coach needed to fill an entire roster and did his best under the limits posed. The experts don't always have the right answers. Last year, Indiana loaded up with top ranked portal players and we know how that worked out. The "experts" from On3 rated John Tonje the 296th ranked portal transfer player last year. They definitely screwed up as Tonje turned out to be a unanimous first team All Big 10 Conference player. I have a feeling there may be a couple Hoosiers that will surprise us with some great play during the 2025/26 season.

@bigmike Yep.  Our portal class was ranked around #10 this year.  Last year UK was #5 or #6 and UL was mid-twenties.  So at least by the rankings we have a class within the range of the two total rebuild teams from last year that had good seasons.

It's early August with a whole new team.  The staff is in the middle of the prep/development process with these guys, and it can be a little ugly early on.  The games that count are still three months away. Personally, barring something extreme, I'm not ready to get excited or worried until I see a handful of games played in November.