Indiana University Has Hired A Winner
Late Tuesday afternoon, Indiana announced the hiring of Darian DeVries as the university’s 31st head coach of the men’s basketball program.
“I think everything you’ve read and heard about him pretty much describes him. He’s not a personality guy, he’s not going to win the press conference perse, he keeps it close to the chest, but intense. He had some moments this year that had the fan base fired up. His personality comes out more while he’s coaching. More of an x’s and o’s guy and definitely more of a coaching guy than a guy that’s going to woo with what he does with his personality.” Keenan Cummings from WVSports.com on Query & Company Wednesday afternoon.
DeVries is a bit different of a hire than the hires the university has made since Tom Crean’s firing. Archie Miller was the young “up and coming” coach and then Mike Woodson was a different hire. This hire by Scott Dolson is very similar to when IU brought in Tom Crean, and more recently, Curt Cignetti.
The former Drake and West Virginia head coach will enter his first season at IU with a record of 169-68. In one season with the Mountaineers, they went 19-13 with a 10-10 record in Big 12 Conference play. His son, Tucker, only appeared in eight games in what would have been his final college basketball season. There has been a lot of recent speculation that the timing of Mike Woodson “stepping down” and Tucker’s “season ending injury” are connected. Nonetheless, West Virginia went 6-10 against quad one opponents with wins over Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa State, Cincinnati, and Utah.
At Drake, he led the Bulldogs to five straight twenty win seasons, including four consecutive seasons with at least twenty-five wins. His teams went 1-3 in the NCAA Tournament with losses to USC, Miami (FL), and Washington State.
During the Woodson era, Indiana’s offense fell out of touch with the modern style. Expect the Hoosiers to look more like the rest of the team’s in the country next season.
“Fun, it’s a modern offense. Guard oriented. He wants the ability to drive to the basket, try to score in transition, but he also has a way to kind of dictate pace. For example, when West Virginia played Gonzaga this year, West Virginia controlled the pace in that game in a way that I hadn’t seen anyone do to Gonzaga in quiet a while, and that’s a big reason why they won. He can play at a lot of different paces, adapts to his personnel, but it was a fun brand of basketball.” Cummings on Query & Company.
Everyone wants to have a high scoring offense, but in order to really compete in college basketball, you have to be able to get stops on defense. It’s no secret that the Big Ten is a very physical league and if you aren’t going to defend, then it is coming to be really challenging to compete for a conference championship.
“You’re going to hear it almost press conference, if its anything like his tenure in West Virginia. It starts, stops, finishes, everything at the defensive end of the floor.” Cummings stated to Jake Query.
The first thing that DeVries has to do is assemble a roster. Gabe Cupps and Malik Reneau have entered the transfer portal already. Indiana has lost Oumar Ballo, Trey Galloway, and Anthony Leal to graduation. Thus, that leaves Mackenzie Mgbako, Myles Rice, Bryson Tucker, Kanaan Carlyle, and potentially Luke Goode. One player that is expected to join the Hoosiers is the two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, is his son.
To listen to Jake Query’s and conversation with Keenan Cummings, download the podcast containing the conversation below! You can always listen to the Query & Company from 12pm-3pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan. You can also watch and interact with the show by going to the 107.5 The Fan YouTube Channel.