With this roster, DeVries has squeezed every ounce out of what he has. The style of play has been enjoyable to watch; guys are playing hard, sharing the ball, and shooting it well. That said, as others have pointed out, the roster itself is flawed, and that ultimately falls on DeVries. If he can’t accurately evaluate talent and build a balanced, competitive roster, then his tenure here will be a short one.
However, IF he can elevate the talent level and build a properly balanced roster, while still squeezing every ounce out of his players, then championships could follow.
I would tend to agree with you. Has to clean up some of the sloppiness and poor decision making but that could be talent related somewhat. I question his ability to attract NBA talent. Have to have 2-3 of those guys to win big
did you watch Iowa St vs Houston. That type of talent.
his first year I would argue NIL was not in full swing. Last year.. Woodys last year was the first year of the Wild West.
I wish these budgets were published.
Perhaps, but Pitino had a top 10 transfer class that first season. He did not get that cheaply.
Those numbers cant be true. We have heard over and over, all season, how great coaches absolutely kill it right away....
UK first year: 14-14, 7-9 (banned from postseason but wouldn't have made it)
UL first year: 19-13, 8-8 (NIT)
Iona first year: 12-6, 6-3 (bounced first round during covid year)
SJ first year: 20-13, 11-9 (No NCAAT berth, declined NIT)
Pitino is a great coach and I'm sure would have done very well here if hired at any point in his career but the above isn't anything above what DDV is doing in year 1.
\UK first year: 14-14, 7-9 (banned from postseason but wouldn't have made it)
UL first year: 19-13, 8-8 (NIT)
Iona first year: 12-6, 6-3 (bounced first round during covid year)
SJ first year: 20-13, 11-9 (No NCAAT berth, declined NIT)
Pitino is a great coach and I'm sure would have done very well here if hired at any point in his career but the above isn't anything above what DDV is doing in year 1.
I think you are right but IU would have had to add a budget line item for disinfectant.
@hoosiers94 I see the Excuse Machine is working overtime. Hope it doesn't short-circuit.
But he does not own the room when he walks in... did you ever meet RMK..: I had the pleasure ..several times. He owned the room. Met many other coaches that were winners , which I can list if you want. They owned the room , and that is how you get a roster , not just a check book.
What about Dusty in that regard though? He doesn't strike me as the "own the room" type of guy. Nice enough, pleasant, not much different from DD. That's only based on the few times I've heard him on TV and interviews.
@hoosiers94 It just seems overly negative... is where most of the flack comes from. I think this upcoming offseason and next year will give everyone quite a lot more evidence to make more educated guesses on the likelihood that CDD will win B10s and compete for FFs, at IU.
As someone that tries to stay balanced, and see both sides of all these things... its been frustrating that our fan base and way more posters than just you, aren't seeing or acknowledging that this could be the best basketball Indiana has played since 2016. Why, on earth, aren't people more excited about that? Its not perfect. Its way too inconsistent. It surely isn't competitive for a B10 title or a FF... But holy hell... Lamar Wilkerson is one of the more fun players to watch we've had...ever. Tucker is a really, really good basketball player. Conor Enright should be a fan favorite type player. And contrary to your label, Darian DeVries is NOT a doorknob. Archie was a doorknob. Woodson, on the sidelines, was a doorknob, and he was a notoriously lazy coach. Crean was a manic spaz. DeVries is a fine amount of even keeled, animated, fiery, funny. Yet all 3 of those Coaches had A LOT more support and excitement in their first years than CDD has? Its weird, to me.
I have a concern that you could end up being right. Altman, McDermott... his mentors... haven't really ever challenged at doing anything great. But that doesn't mean that he won't. And I don't think there's really any actual evidence, yet, from his Drake or WVU days, that he isn't capable of it.
and where are those who discredit Dusty's run to the F4 Less lucky than Davis'
What did he do the next year at FAU? Returned the same team with three future pros. Rated as high as 7th nationally. Lost to Bryant, lost to Florida Gulf Coast in non con. Finished 2nd to South Florida in a trash ass conference, then lost in the first round to Northwestern. Yeah it was luck...
He's nothing but a better slightly less weird version of Tom Crean. Better and slightly less weird are both arguable. The only thing going for him is the biggest check book in the conference.
@scam-likely Michigan is #1 and you're yapping about May's time at FAU? Thank you for the post; I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time.
Dusty is more charismatic than DD, he's no RMK...but he can carry the room ...just an aura....DD looks like he's in Speech class as a freshman... just not a natural on camera...doesnt stutter or stink it up but he's vanilla
@hoosiers94 I just don't like it when people carry extreme opinions and views, without really much evidence to justify it... is all. And then claiming that when people like me bring up the positive things...we're "sunshine pumpers"... despite countless posts talking about frustrations and concerns.
And yes, I did meet Coach DeVries at an AAU event this past summer. It was a 1 minute conversation. I came away thinking he was nice, and surprisingly attentive. And contrary to your assessment, and really most anyone else that's ever worked with him or known him and talked about him, he does have a "presence". In fact, he reminds me of most successful CEOs and/or Presidents in my industry. Eye contact, actual attentive engagement, ability to come across as very genuine, intense in nature...
I also have some close friends that played against, and coached against him in his high school and college days. He has a VERY competitive and commanding personality.
I do share the ceiling concerns you have though. I'm just looking forward to having a solid, smart, college basketball coach for a while. And seeing if he can combine his skills, with what will hopefully become an advantage with IU's resources (he hasn't had much of that yet, it sounds like)... to get back to winning big. You really have to have blinders on to not see how good his system could be, with just a couple of guys like the ones you mention (Houston/Iowa State type guys). He had a few of those guys at WVU. Its strange he chose to not target many at IU. But I don't think we really understand the challenges and scope of what he faced when he arrived in Bloomington. And again, I think this next offseason will tell a much more clear story than anything we've seen thus far.
Obviously he isn't like RMK. Basically no one else was or is. But RMK, and his style, aged out in the mid 90s. If he came along today, and tried to coach how he did, with all that "aura" and presence you talk about... 1) he'd get fired before the end of his first season 2)he would never get a group of talented modern teenagers to buy in to his approach.
@hoosiers94 It just seems overly negative... is where most of the flack comes from. I think this upcoming offseason and next year will give everyone quite a lot more evidence to make more educated guesses on the likelihood that CDD will win B10s and compete for FFs, at IU.
As someone that tries to stay balanced, and see both sides of all these things... its been frustrating that our fan base and way more posters than just you, aren't seeing or acknowledging that this could be the best basketball Indiana has played since 2016. Why, on earth, aren't people more excited about that? Its not perfect. Its way too inconsistent. It surely isn't competitive for a B10 title or a FF... But holy hell... Lamar Wilkerson is one of the more fun players to watch we've had...ever. Tucker is a really, really good basketball player. Conor Enright should be a fan favorite type player. And contrary to your label, Darian DeVries is NOT a doorknob. Archie was a doorknob. Woodson, on the sidelines, was a doorknob, and he was a notoriously lazy coach. Crean was a manic spaz. DeVries is a fine amount of even keeled, animated, fiery, funny. Yet all 3 of those Coaches had A LOT more support and excitement in their first years than CDD has? Its weird, to me.
I have a concern that you could end up being right. Altman, McDermott... his mentors... haven't really ever challenged at doing anything great. But that doesn't mean that he won't. And I don't think there's really any actual evidence, yet, from his Drake or WVU days, that he isn't capable of it.
1. I'm well aware that Knights exact tactics as far as handling kids wouldn't work today .. I don't live under a rock ... I actually have coached AAU and local teams from 2017-2024
2. you mention u can't stand when people have such strong opinions without evidence. ..: none of us have much evidence , this is 99% conjecture in this forum .. so is sports talk radio, which in a way is what this is. What evidence we do have is the roster .. we don't know why it was chosen or how much he had or any circumstances and we also have the current record and where we sit. And what we each see from game to game. Which honestly is also opinion. And our record and our roster are not top shelf at this point. which you have also voiced concern over. I would not put you in the sunshine crowd entirely .. you're more positive than me but you also question certain things as well
3. you come to a site where opinions are the rule of the day and get upset when someone doesn't have the same opinions as you. If that gets you all wrangled then maybe don't visit, you're a glutton for punishment I say that kindly and with some humor... honestly I like to read your comments as I can see your passionate ... but it doesn't make you right and smart and everyone else wrong and dumb. Watching fun basketball with no results isn't fun. It's a consolation. Now win with fun modern basketball , different story. I owned car dealerships. I had several brands. The folks from Toyota and Honda and Mercedes were far more charismatic than the folk from Chrysler.. I still call it that.. can't call it Stellantis, or Kia/Hyundai. The folks from Ford and GM were in the middle, Some were , some weren't. Met all those CEO's and Presidents over the years and many Politicians , Athletes, Coaches, and celebrities..DD is more in Chrysler and Kia mold than he is the other brands.
Thats my take, doesn't mean I'm right but it doesn't mean I'm wrong either.
And I don't mind if you disagree with me, that's what makes the world go round.. the part that's questionable to me is the dismissing or branding of those of us who don't buy the sales pitch , well, we're dumb. If that's the case we are all dumb.
A lot of people on here think that we could have hired Dusty if we’d only fired Woodson a year earlier and went after May. I can tell you with certainty that would not have happened.@hoosiers94 Dusty May was THE name in the coaching pool that year. To get him, you were going to have to make promises and provide resources. I don't know, but my sense is that CDD probably had less in financial support and NIL to work with than his predecessor, and a lot of support was swinging to football and it was a terrible year to have to deal with those circumstances and recruit an entire roster, because from what I saw NIL deals jumped 25-50% last year. A perfect storm of bad circumstances for CDD.
I'm not arguing that CDD is going to get it done here, I'm just saying the circumstances I believe were very different between UM's hiring of May and IU's of CDD. I think he did OK roster-wise, and just seriously neglected post players for the B10. I'm more interested to see what the roster he puts together for next year looks like. If he he short changes post depth again, and intends to "play small" I think that will spell trouble. OK to make a mistake, but you better learn from it.
When Dusty was on Mike White’s staff at Florida, the Florida fan base was pretty crazy like the IUBB fan base. Because they were not winning like the fans wanted Mike and his family began to receive death threats. Mike had to remove his family from the Gainesville area. Dusty took note of that.
The IUBB fan base is at least as crazy as the Florida BB fan base and maybe worse. Dusty felt that if he had a tough year here there would be similar threats. Dusty could remove his immediate family but he he has too much extended family in the area that could not be easily removed. He was not willing to risk those people and therefore would not have considered the IU job even if offered.
@hoosiers94 It just seems overly negative... is where most of the flack comes from. I think this upcoming offseason and next year will give everyone quite a lot more evidence to make more educated guesses on the likelihood that CDD will win B10s and compete for FFs, at IU.
As someone that tries to stay balanced, and see both sides of all these things... its been frustrating that our fan base and way more posters than just you, aren't seeing or acknowledging that this could be the best basketball Indiana has played since 2016. Why, on earth, aren't people more excited about that? Its not perfect. Its way too inconsistent. It surely isn't competitive for a B10 title or a FF... But holy hell... Lamar Wilkerson is one of the more fun players to watch we've had...ever. Tucker is a really, really good basketball player. Conor Enright should be a fan favorite type player. And contrary to your label, Darian DeVries is NOT a doorknob. Archie was a doorknob. Woodson, on the sidelines, was a doorknob, and he was a notoriously lazy coach. Crean was a manic spaz. DeVries is a fine amount of even keeled, animated, fiery, funny. Yet all 3 of those Coaches had A LOT more support and excitement in their first years than CDD has? Its weird, to me.
I have a concern that you could end up being right. Altman, McDermott... his mentors... haven't really ever challenged at doing anything great. But that doesn't mean that he won't. And I don't think there's really any actual evidence, yet, from his Drake or WVU days, that he isn't capable of it.
I have stayed away from this board and mostly will til the season is over but I will answer this one. You are wondering why people are not more excited? We are 8-7 could easily be 7-8 that Wisconsin win was very very lucky the refs often through the whistle away the last minute of the game. So are are basically about 500 and will probably make the tourney as a low seed. And I can remember during Archie's first year I heard alot ofhe is better than crean he knows how to coach, etc. We hear it with every new coach because people badly want to believe this is the coach who will finally get it done here. People even tried to convince themselves Woodson was better than Archie in year one. People have been through this so many times now that they are numb and its going to take alot more than an 8-7 big ten record to get them excited. Next year will have to be the prove it year to actually get people on board imo.
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