Refreshingly honest.
Darian DeVries made one of his first public, non-recruiting appearances as Indiana’s head coach this week at the annual Hoosiers Connect event at Huber’s Winery.
Indiana coaches have won press conferences without winning games before, so he will have to back it up with wins on the court, but there was a lot to like about what the new Hoosier Head Man had to say this week.
What stood out most to me was his honesty, particularly about the lack of size at the center spot, something he addressed at multiple points.
“At the center, we’re a little smaller but every other spot I think we got some great size here,” he said in his opening comments. He expanded on it later, alluding to how he’ll try to scheme around it with team defense.
“You know, like I said, we’re a little undersized at the five spot. So, but there’s a lot of different ways. Rim protection isn’t always blocked shots. There’s a lot of ways to protect the rim.”
He didn’t rule out the possibility of adding more players ahead of this season, but is still waiting for a pair of potential returners, Luke Goode and Anthony Leal, to get decisions from the NCAA on an extra year of eligibility.
Whether Goode and Leal are back for another year at Indiana, DeVries is happy with the group he has right now.
“I like the way the roster came together. I think we got great depth in shooting the basketball which is a priority for us…I like the way I think the pieces will all connect together. They can complement each other pretty well.”
Unlike his predecessor, who openly emphasized player rankings when targeting players from the portal, DeVries approach to building a roster appears to be focused on skillsets – like passing and shooting – and scheme.
He also plans on de-emphasizing the portal going forward, now that he won’t have to rebuild an entire roster again.
He described his approach to high school recruiting as, “[A] lot of the same stuff we were just looking for in the portal. Now it’s just, you know, with the high school players. So we we want guys that are about the right things, good team guys, got a good feel and IQ, some skill level that we look for.”
After seasons of high-roster turnover and off-seasons filled with question marks, it’s good to hear that DeVries is already looking towards the future and longer term stability.
Most importantly, though, is that DeVries knows he has a lot to prove. With Marquette, Kentucky, and a newly rejuvenated Louisville on the non-conference slate, in addition to an overseas trip that will allow for an extra ten practices, he’ll be tested early.
“We got to take it from paper to the floor. And that’s that process that starts here this next week,”