From A Loss At Minnesota to a Date With Louisville, Indiana Needs To Lock In

This was the Big Ten road, where life is never going to follow the script, regardless of rankings or talent. We’ve seen this all too often. But please take the macro approach with the Hoosiers. This is — and should be — an NCAA Tournament team. OK, that should be expected in Bloomington. But it hasn’t been the norm at all recently. So let’s put that aside. 

Darian DeVries has an excellent philosophy and approach when it comes to roster building and management. He gets it. He’s not going to just grab anyone and shout to the rafters that he’s at Indiana so he should be corralling the best of the best. Yes, Indiana should always be competing to get the best in-state talent. But too often the latest run of Indiana coaches have taken a scattered approach to see what they could get instead of what they should.

DeVries wants shooters. And he wants players who are winners, regardless of their previous level. “You’ve got to start off with the type of guys that really fit,’’ said DeVries, who had to do the one-year roster build at West Virginia after executing more of a four-year plan at Drake. “You’ve got to know how you want to play, stylistically and culturally and all of those things to make sure they complement one another and play together.’’

DeVries says Indiana has been very intentional, utilizing background checks while prioritizing “winning to a high degree.’’

That much is clear. Here are the players whom DeVries brought in:

Lamar Wilkerson: Big-time shot-maker and shooter at Sam Houston and a first-team Conference USA player.

Tucker DeVries: OK, that’s an easy one. He’s the coach’s son, but was a two-time Missouri Valley Player of the Year at Drake before they both went to West Virginia last season. 

Tayton Conerway: He was a winner at Troy in the Sun Belt, where he was the Player of the Year and led the Trojans to the NCAA Tournament. 

Sam Alexis: He was on a national championship team at Florida. 

Reed Bailey: Davidson is always a contender and anyone who goes through the Wildcats program knows how to play the game and get shots. 

Trent Sisley: Came from Montverde Academy in Florida (but a native of Indiana), the same program that produced multiple lottery picks last year.

Conor Enright: Came from DePaul last season, but was at Drake the previous two years with DeVries when they won two MVC titles. 

The locker room is connected. You can see it. That was clear in wins earlier this season over Marquette in Chicago and against Kansas State. This didn’t just happen with the summer workouts or even the foreign exhibition trip to Puerto Rico. This occurred because you’ve got players on this roster who are winners, who want to play for the common goal. That’s what Indiana basketball has always been and should be about. 

Clearly the philosophy was working prior to the Minnesota game in a number of offensive statistical categories. Check out these stats that our Big Ten Network crew came up with for our broadcast Wednesday night:

Games with 20-plus assists 

• Last two seasons: 5
• This season: 4

Assist to turnover ratio 

• Last four seasons: 1.34
• This season: 2.15 (second in Division I behind Purdue)

“We just want to recruit guys that we feel really fit the team basketball, who are committed to winning and growing as an individual and then hopefully can play at the highest level,” said DeVries. “We want to make sure that they are prioritizing all the right things about the right stuff on the floor.”

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“There’s a lot of different ways to do it,” DeVries continued. “But it’s typically the teams that do the best are the teams that play well together and are connected at both ends of the floor. That will be something that we’ll continue to try to find.”

Even when Minnesota came back and took the lead, there was no panic or finger-pointing by the Hoosiers. They lost the lead and the game. It happens. 

DeVries said after the loss that the little things like box-outs need to be tightened. Minnesota out-rebounded Indiana 40-25 and got 14 second-chance points. Indiana missed eight free throws and committed 22 fouls, which got Minnesota 27 points via free-throw attempts. Indiana’s shots weren’t falling on this night (29 percent on threes and only 40 percent overall). 

“The image is we lost the game,” DeVries said in the postgame news conference. ”It was going to happen at some point. But the main thing is, ‘Now that you’ve lost one, how do you respond?’ And, ‘What happens in that locker room, on the practice floor, as you get ready for the next game’ Because there’s a lot of really good games we’re going to have this year, and every night’s going to be a fight just like this.”

Indiana will find out where it stands in the next two weeks. The Hoosiers play rival Louisville in Indianapolis at Gainbridge on Saturday before the football team takes on Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game down the road at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Indiana then hosts Penn State on Dec. 9 before renewing the rivalry at Kentucky on Dec. 13. “It’s a really good December for us,” said DeVries. “You’ve got to always be locked in and give yourself the best opportunity to win.’’

And by all indications, they are ready for the challenge. The little things will be tweaked. This squad has the goods to be a tournament team and one that will be a tough out in the Big Ten. Where does Indiana stack in the conference? Not as talented as Purdue or Michigan or clicking on all cylinders as Michigan State. But could Indiana finish at least fourth and be a single-digit NCAA Tournament seed? Sure. Playing well and winning the next two Saturdays could help that process.

But if I were a fan of Indiana, I would be on board with this crew. It should be a good ride this season and going forward with DeVries. The Indiana fan base desperately needs a consistent winner and a program it can trust will be in the thick of the chase each season, and DeVries is well on his way to delivering that kind of program.