It’s December.
I cannot emphasize this enough: it is December. Year one.
Darian DeVries has really just gotten started as Indiana’s head coach. Unlike his two predecessors, he didn’t have any strong returning talent to build around, he had to assemble his first roster entirely through the transfer portal. Which, very honestly, isn’t an all-you-can-eat buffet type of situation.
It’s hard. Sure, you can convince some signees with a path to a starting spot or a clear role. Then you have you get guys to buy
in as depth when there’s other programs that see them as starters and things get a bit more difficult.
Indiana couldn’t just go out and get just about whatever it needed or wanted. The Hoosiers’ new staff had to choose from the pool of available players. The strategy from there became clear relatively quickly: Assemble a decently balanced team of pieces that fit together.
For the most part, that’s what happened. Indiana got three ballhandlers through the portal in Tayton Conerway, Conor Enright and Jason Drake before adding another internationally in Aleksa Ristic. There’s shooting from Lamar Wilkerson, Tucker DeVries and Nick Dorn. Trent Sisley provides a spark off the bench as a decently reliable contributor. The center rotation of Reed Bailey and Sam Alexis… more later.
Indiana wants to shoot 3s, move the ball and get out running when they can. From the small lineups they play to the 3s they take to the amount of ballhandlers the Hoosiers start, the plan seems to be executed.
The problems become apparent when the 3s aren’t falling. Indiana’s ability to score on the interior hinges on transition offense and off-ball movement creating backdoor looks. The team doesn’t really have a big that can muscle their way into clean shot like in years past.
When those 3s aren’t falling, the energy falls. It’s just human nature. The movement Indiana needs to get a look doesn’t come and it’s left in late clock situations with the ball nowhere near where it needs to be. This is where these Hoosiers find themselves in the danger zone.
Is it a long term worry for the program as a whole? Probably not, no.
Indiana can upgrade its frontcourt, getting bigs who can rebound and score through high school or the portal while getting deeper and more athletic everywhere else to make things easier when it comes to playing in transition.
I wasn’t in the meeting rooms when this roster was assembled, neither were you. We don’t know which centers were discussed or seriously targeted. There’s also the issue that plenty of guys had other, more established rosters to join that Indiana’s. Indiana will have more of a start and a foundation to build off of next season.
The bread and butter 0f this system can work with a talent upgrade. It’ll probably look a bit different when Indiana has different players who can do different things, but the basis is there. As for right now? There’s clear deficiencies that will in all likelihood keep Indiana from climbing too high in the Big Ten standings. It’s fair to worry about the results of this season in a vacuum.
All the Hoosiers can do right now is play to their strengths: shooting 3s and moving off the ball and, well, that’s what they’re doing.
