[356] HOT START for IUBB! Darian DeVries is CRUSHING IT Early as Head Coach

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There's a ton of basketball still to be played this season, but what a win that was for the Hoosiers against Marquette. At a bare minimum, this year's Hoosiers are a major breath of fresh air compared to prior IU teams.
Nithin and Matt talk about what Darian DeVries has done right early in the season. How sustainable is IU's strong start? How do they stack up against other teams in the Big Ten?
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hoosier Sports world is on fire right now. Football teams
ten and zero, women's basketball two and oh volleyball, men's
soccer about to get going in the NCAA tournament. Around
the corner here, Darren Davrees has this thing humming. Through

(00:27):
two games. Everything that we thought coming into the season
has improved by leaps and bounds. The computers right now
have Indiana is the top twenty five team in the country.
The Hoosiers are fun, The Hoosiers are exciting. The three
pointers are flying, the free throws are going in. The

(00:48):
vibes are immaculate. How good is this team? Matt and
I are going to talk about. I use lopsided one
hundred to seventy seven win over Marquette. The Hoosias are
two to zero with non conference games against Kansas State,
Louisville and Kentucky Looming. We're gonna talk about this IU

(01:11):
men's basketball team and so much more here on episode three,
five six of The Hoosier Sound. Where read the official
podcast of Indiana HQ. Recording this edition of The Hoosier
Sound on Monday November tenth, twenty twenty five, I'm your host,
Nathan Christian. Here it means my normal co host, Matt Lukens. Folks,
if you're looking for football, we have a different episode

(01:33):
about the big win over Penn State and the consequences
and the ramifications and our emotions coming out of that one.
We wanted to split it up. We're talking to men's
basketball here on this episode. Today Marquette Indiana United Center
neutral site. Crowd was hopping, the threes were flying. Matt,

(01:53):
we'll talk about big picture a little bit later. Talk
to me about Indiana's big win over Marquette. A statement
from Darren Devriez in his second game as I's head coach.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
I mean, of many things I have seen as an
IU fan, this is among the most surprising early season
outcomes that I can remember, because I kim go think, Oh,
we're playing Shaka Smart on a neutral court in the

(02:29):
second game of the season with a roster of entirely
new guys and only two of these guys have ever
played together. And yeah, we played in Puerto Rico against
you know, super Megapta, and yeah he played a We
played Baylor in exhibition game and that looked pretty good,

(02:50):
but how good is Baylor? And yeah we played Yeah,
we played Alabama a and M. But like it's Alabama
A and M, and so I'm sitting here on my
How for real is this How for real?

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Is this team?

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Uh? Spoiler alert? Hello this team? This team is for real?
By the way I'm starting us out, I tweeted yesterday
Crimson cast like a couple of other people liked it. Uh,
are we are we sure Tucker Devries' is an All American?

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Like?

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Are we are? Are we certain that he's not going
to be a second or first team guy?

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Like?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Are are are we? Are we ready? Not ready to
talk about that?

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Because active scoring.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Active scoring leader in Division one basically single handedly put
a knife to Marquet's throat in the first half. He
just does everything on offense. But I mean this, this
team is so dynamic on offense, and I think has
a chance to get even more dynamic. And I'm going
to talk about that a little bit later when we

(03:55):
talk about some big picture stuff. But I mean talk
about I mean, we ran modern offense under Tom Crean's
ran some complicated stuff under Tom creen I don't think
I've seen an offense that I you since I've been
a fan that is as cutting edge as what Devreese runs.

(04:20):
The five out offense. The everybody is handling the ball,
whether it's it's read or it's uh Wilkerson, or it's
de frees, or it's end right, or it's Conorway or
it just sigh Miles, like whoever it is, everybody's handling
the ball. Everybody's looking to shoot. It doesn't matter who

(04:43):
it is. You've got an open shot, you take it.
Super comfortable shooters offense, by the way you have you
have the passing is insane. They share the ball like
they are they have to or they won't play, which
I think is actually probably the case.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Some of those also instincts, right, like you have to
have that sort of in your DNA a little bit,
don't you.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yep. Yeah, this team just shares the rock, which is
awesome to watch. And then on top of that, they
kind of play frisky defense, which I wasn't expecting them
to because I get a lot of these guys are
mid major guys coming up aren't the most athletic dudes.
Just side Miles is crazy athletic, but most of these
guys aren't super crazy athletes, and they just play. They

(05:31):
just try super hard on every single possession. I think
I'm falling in love with this basketball team with the
ever second that I watch them.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
They're easy to watch, they're fun to watch, they're entertaining.
They play together. Name on the front of the jersey,
not the name on the back, not the number on
the back of the jersey. Like, you're doing all the
right things. And I think some of this stuff you
talk like, I think some of this stuff is just
built into the DNA, into the instincts of these players.
Where you talk about passing and you talk about defense,

(05:59):
like the communication, the organization, making sure people are in
the right spot. They're carrying out their responsibility. They're not
stepping on their teammates toes, they're not you know, doing
something they're not supposed to do leading to a breakdown.
The fouling is a problem. Sure, you gotta stay on
the court, no question. Indiana's flawed, they're not flawless. But

(06:21):
they're playing for each other. They're doing the right things
on the court. They're talking there, they're playing with the
right spirit, the right mentality, the right attitude. And they're
two and zero and again, you know, like you and
I were talking before we hit record. Page one of
the Darren DeVries Playbook, chapter one of his novel is

(06:46):
whatever you think of me pre season as a team,
as a coach, all I'm gonna do is exceed those expectations.
All I'm gonna do is exceed those expectations. Justin Alberts
tweet this out around the time Debrees was hired. But basically,
Debrees during his time as a head coach at Drake

(07:07):
in West Virginia over the last five years, beat preseason
expectations on ken Palm by fifty three. There was even
a season where ken Palm had him won fifty five
preseason and he finished like fifty three, like hundred spots.
On average, the Debres teams at Drake in West Virginia

(07:27):
over the last five years exceeded expectations by fifty points.
Indiana in the same timeframe, even though they won an
nc Double Tournament game against Wyoming and they won an
NCUBA Tournament game against Kent State in the previous five years,
had fallen short of expectations by an average of twenty points.

(07:48):
So on average, you know, if you ranked Indiana x I,
you had finished twenty spots worse than what you ranked
them as. In a nutshell, this is what Darren Debries
does whatever you think as far as his team before
the season starts, they got shortcomings, they got weaknesses, they
got yeah, I don't do this on office. They don't

(08:09):
do this on defense, they don't do this whatever. He
beats those expectations preseason, and Indiana already, after starting fortieth
in the country preseason on keen pom is up to
twenty one. They've already moved up nineteen spots in the
top clump of college basketball. Like it's easier to move

(08:34):
from a one hundred to sixty than it is to
move from forty to twenty one. You're passing up teams
that are also good, just as good as you in
that same conversation about how good they are. We've said
this before, Matt, like, you don't have to win every game,
you don't have to win every game by twenty or whatever.
But if you lose, keep it close, keep it interesting.

(08:56):
Indiana did win comfortably against the Mark Golden Eagles. Man,
how about fourteen of twenty eight from three? How about
twenty of twenty four from the free throw line, fifty
percent shooting fifty percent from three, eighty three percent from
the free throw line, twenty seven assists to eight turnovers.

(09:19):
I think you're crying. Are you crying, Matt? Are you
crying tears of joy? What is this? Yeah? Yeah, this offense, Matt,
Come on, it's.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Oh, it's so beautiful. I actually did think about crying
there for a second when you start bringing this stuff.
I like, like, uh, in the eight years that we
have watched.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
What they were looking at, they knew what they were watching.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
I mean, no, no one pretends to to say that
Indiana fans don't you know, we don't know ballball, but
they're crazy.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
They are screw loose.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
We got a screw lose, but we all we all
know ball, Like just across the entire fanase. You know ball,
and we know what we're seeing. And we've been they've
tried to gastle at us, gas light us for eight years.
That it's uh, you know, the it doesn't You don't
need to have a bondern offense a little bit. You know,

(10:21):
we win through the big and uh, you know, it's
all about defense. You gotta you gotta win through defense.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Got them over the hump.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
This team can play good offense and can play decent defense.
By the way, they gotta stop reaching this team, but
in some early season stuff. But that's besides besides the point, Like,
modern offense is fun to watch. I know, you know,
whether it's guard on guard screens, it's it's guys ghosting

(10:51):
screens and the cutting and the five. We're bringing everybody
to the three point line and running five out and
you have read Bailey when he's not getting fouls every
three possessions, uh, you know, diving directly at the rim,
you know, running lob plays off of the back doors,

(11:11):
and and just good movement all around, a ball that
doesn't want to stick in one spot and wants to
move and jump and pass and and float from one
side of the court to the other. You've got shooters,
you know, you got to freeze running just basically falling out,
falling out of bounds, hitting three pointers because he's got

(11:32):
such good body control and and and shooters touch and rhythm.
It seems so fun to watch. They're so fun to watch,
and style of play matters. They're fun to watch. They're
easy to root for. And I still don't think they're
anywhere close to the ceiling because they're missing five scholarship players.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
Maybe maybe, yeah, you know, we'll see about a team
of it's but at least the the group of Nick Dorn,
Josh Harris, Alexa Ristitch, Jason Drake. Jason Drake, we have
not seen them play yet for Indiana as far as
either of these first two games are concerned. Dorn and

(12:16):
Drake did not play in Puerto Rico either, And they
have game they can play. I don't know if it's
at all conference level or whatever. Like, they can play.
They're capable D one players that Darren Deriez will be
able to add to his rotation hopefully at some point here.
I don't know anything more than you all know about
the availability of those guys. We did know that Alexa

(12:39):
Ristich was an impactful player for Indiana in Puerto Rico.
He was plus twenty five in those two big games
against Mega Supervet, to the point where he was one
of the top Hoosiers as far as plus minus concerned,
average twenty minutes a game or so, nineteen twenty minutes
a game. He can play, and he's obviously a true freshman.
Of course, in this era where Europeans are frequently coming

(13:01):
over into college basketball playing, yeah, Indiana looks great. The
headliners I think are two guys man. Tucker to reason,
Lamar Wilkerson Tucker to reason, the first half against Marquette
was unconscious, and then you have forced Marquette to cover
him shade over their coverage to him. Lamar Wilkerson's like, Okay,

(13:25):
thank you, folks, appreciate your assistance. Here. I'll go off
king and score a bunch. And not only did he
score a bunch, Lamar Wilkerson eight assists. Are you kidding me?
If Tucker Resar Wilkerson minute If Tucker to reason, Lamar

(13:47):
Wilkerson are not only scoring, but they're rebounding, they're sharing
the basketball, they're defending, they're facilitating the offense. Lamar Wilkerson
a two steals in a block shot against Mark. He
didn't turn the ball over once. I don't know if
I care about the turnover thing too much. I kind
of want some of these Indiana players to I want

(14:08):
them to value the ball, but I don't want it
to hold back. I don't want them to be conservative.
I want them to run up and down the floor,
play aggressive, play with the anticipation. If that means to
turn it over a few times, so be it. Tucker,
Derees and Lamar Wilkerson are the headliners. Matt, I'll admit it,
I'll raise my hand. I underrated both of them coming

(14:29):
into the season, and I really like both of them.
Talk to me about Tucker Devrees and almost even more importantly,
Lamar Wilkerson. Here. It's been two games, but wow, what
a performance so far.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
I mean, just an insane performance for both of them,
but one that I think we're gonna be accustomed to watching.
Tucker is one of the best players in the country.
I think I said that going into the season, and
I stand by that, and I think Lamar Wilkerson, for
the first time in his career, is playing with some help.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yep, Sam Houston State.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
He's playing with some help. He's playing around players that
are better than him. He's going into the gym. You know,
you know, Derees has talked about this multiple times. He's
just a gym rat, but he's he's in and around
a culture that loves basketball just as much as he does. Right,
and appreciates basketball just as much as he does. Brings
It makes you want to cry because like this guy

(15:29):
grows up loving the game, He's now in the place
where the game is loved the most.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
And how much have we talked about watching these dynamic
scoring guards at the mid major level come into Assembly
Hall and have big games where they give you nightmares.
Whether you're Tom creedor or RT Miller or Mike Woodson,
we see these scoring guards come into assembly Hall. Light

(15:55):
Indiana up for five threes, Light Indiana up for you know,
they don't I don't win because Indiana ends up beating
every one of those teams except for Archie against Indiana State.
But what we do remember seeing are those guards. That's
just they look so comfortable and so natural, playing a
free flowing style out on the perimeter, keeping the defense

(16:19):
off balance. That's what Lamar Wilkerson's doing.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
And you can see the sweat the anxiety on the
face of Shaka Smart. And Shaka Smart's been around for
a long time and he's a damn good basketball coach.
I don't know if I'll say he's like an elite,
but he is. He's been around right high major programs.
He elevated, he took VCU, got them to the final four.

(16:49):
You could see Shaka looking at this game, going we're
down twenty and I figured out the Tucker Devreese problem.
But now I only have eight minutes to figure out
the Lamar Wilkerson problem. What am I supposed to do here?

(17:09):
And one thing I noticed early in that Marquette game
is that Darren devrees and then of course the players
as an extension of the coach, they've done a really
good job in keeping defenses off balance. Even going back
to the Baylor exhibition, I really don't like referencing the exhibition.
Let me talk just about Marquette. The shots selection that

(17:32):
Indiana displayed for the first ten to twelve minutes of
that game is nightmare fuel for coaches around the Big Ten.
It's going to give them so much stress when they
try to prepare for Indiana. And Indiana is not gonna
win every game. So Yourdiana is gonna lose ten games

(17:52):
this year from as far as I know, and if
you ask me, but like, just as far as what
are we like, put yourself in the shoes of some
of these Big ten coaches. Steve pikel right, Ben McCollum
at Iowa, Dee Blue at Ohio State, is oh at

(18:13):
Michigan State. Hey, I'm game planning against Indiana's offense. What
am I taking away? Am I taking away Tucker Derez.
Well short, Lamar, here's Lamar Wilkerson. Am I taking away both? Well? Now, hey,
look the rim opens up for Sam Alexis, who looks
better than I could have ever imagined through two games.
Oh and then, oh, if I'm taking that away, Reed,
Bailey's going to operate in the high post, in the elbow,

(18:36):
stretching the floor a little bit, moving the basketball, dribble handoffs,
those accurate bounce passes. And if you take that away, well,
here's Josiah Miles with athleticism that can really run rampant
and make you uncomfortable. Oh, by the way, Tayton connorway
out of the Sun Belt where you want Conference player
of the Year at Troy. He can knock down the
deep shot. He hit the clutch shot to beat Baylor
in that exhibition game. Like when you try to game

(18:59):
plan for Indiana Darren Deries and I remember watching this
at Drake too. Obviously you put the mid major disclaimer
on it, But when you prepared for Darren Derez's teams
at Drake, what were you going to you know, it's like,
you know you have the same question. If we takeaway

(19:19):
Tucker Derees at Drake, Here's Connor Andray if you tell it,
Connor Andrey. Here's this other conference player here, Kevin Overton,
I believe was at Drake. Like, here's this guy. You know,
he's gonna give you a headache. This is the type
of problem that Darren DeVries gives you as a head coach.
And he's done. He's been here for two games at Indiana, Matt,

(19:43):
I'm sitting here and I see an offense that is revolutionized.
It's modern, it's it's it's developed now to where I
think we've all wanted it in twenty twenty five. Yeah,
where like, you know, what's sort of the next step
for this basketball team? What's sort of the next step
for this offense. It's not perfect, it's not flawless. They're

(20:05):
two to zero, but there are big games coming up.
Where do you see sort of the next step here
for Indiana? Where do you think they can get better?
Because obviously they want to keep improving even from a
great two games so far.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Uh the uh, the supporting cast has got to step
up a little bit. Uh. You know this is this
is a hard carry by two of the best players
in the team, and I think you're gonna get that
most nights.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Right.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
These guys have gravity, these two guys, right, And that's
something that's something I've talked about before when especially when
Tracejaction Davis is all the team. I was like, we
need people to have gravity. Yep, Trace has gravity, but
we need somebody to take some away from him. You
can't guard both Lamar Rogerson and DeVries at the same time,

(20:53):
like when they're running around and and they're they're setting
screens for each other, like you're you're getting put in
situations you just I don't want to be in. Because
you give these guys ten shots from three, they're gonna
make five of them, four or five six, Right, Like
these guys are incredible shooters, and you give them open looks,

(21:14):
they're gonna hit them and then just opens up the
floor for everybody else. Like I need a little bit
more scoring out of end. Right. I'd like to see
uh Conorway, you know, be more aggressive when he has
a chance to go to the rim, because he's an
elite finisher around the rim, and I would like to
see a bunch of these guys put some threes on tape,

(21:36):
you know, whether it's Jusigh Miles or Trent Sisley or
Connorway or en Right. That's not a half half court heave.
You know, I'd like to see them show a little
bit of a presence and a half court offense to
make teams a little bit more honesty and keep teams
at home a little bit because you know teams are

(21:59):
gonna start trying to double Tucker. I think, oh God,
And so you're gonna get all opportunities to hit shots
or make plays. And I will say that the key
to this is the ball doesn't stick. So I think,
as long as you're passing the ball, you don't really
need a ton of shooters out there. I think that's
like a it's a misconception people have. If you have

(22:22):
two elite shooters that have this gravity and everybody else
just shares the ball really well, there's not enough space
for the defense to cover on that side of the court.
So as long as the ball is not sticking, it's fine.
I just it makes this team. It raises the ceiling
of this team if they have other guys that can

(22:43):
make those open shots. While you know, Tucker and Lamar
are creating all of these opportunities for them just by
their sheer presence on the court. So that's something I'm
looking for. And I think I was talkingalking about the
lootings this earlier. I think he is going to get that.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
They got two.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Guys that are going to come off the bench here
that are haven't played that I think are going to
fill that role. Nick Dorn was a very good shooter
at Elon and and was somebody that the staff really
prioritized in the transfer portal because of shooting and his
just overall size and ability to play kind of the

(23:24):
wing slash forward slash guard position. He's very versatile. And
then same thing with Ristache. European prospect guys kind of
come in. All these European guys can shoot from from
the minute from the jump that they get on campus
because they've grown up, you know, with elite skill elite
skill development in Europe. Is that is what they are

(23:46):
better than America at now. At this point is is
is getting these guys into basketball ready shape and basically
training them as pro since they've been kids. And I
really expect Riskage to come in and and and really
be a dynamic player in this team, even as a freshman,

(24:06):
just as a guy that can put you know, on tape.
He can hit threes, he's big for his for his position,
and again, a very versatile guy. I don't know how
he's going to be on defense, but if you have
Connorway up at the top of the key causing as
much chaos as he does, and these guys playing as
hard as they do, I think the defense is going

(24:28):
to be just good enough to win basketball games. His
offense is going to be a league.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah. No, I see it the same way too. I mean,
man talk about sort of the historic or at least
a significant you know, putting it in context. Beating a
good team like Marquette by twenty three, scoring one hundred
points on a neutral site.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
Something that's never been done by the way to a
shock a smart tee. No one has ever scored one
hundred points on a shock a smart team.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
It's so telling. And again, the note that I dug
up and posted on Indiana HQ last night was, you know,
historically Indiana doesn't beat Power conference teams high major teams
by twenty points away from Assembly Hall.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
No, no, we don't.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Especially non conference play, like you're talking about a win
over Providence, And that's kind of an empty calorie win
over Providence in the in the COVID Maui Invitational with
arg like that Providence team had problems, but I do
remember like Traced and Trace and Race both had a
very good game that afternoon. Back in five, Indiana beat

(25:41):
Kentucky by a lopsided margin in Indianapolis. Assembly Hall has
its magic. We know that. Okay, you know you come
into Assembly, but we're talking about across the end of
the Bob Night tenure into Mike Davis and to Calvin
Samson into Tom Crean, into Archie into Woodson. Indiana did

(26:06):
what they did against Marquette only twice. If that, like
you said, one hundred points against the Shaka smart team
never happened before. Right, like Matt, I went and looked like, yeah,
big ten teams who won lopsided games against other good

(26:29):
opponents in non conference playing recent years. Yet Ohio State
beating Kentucky last year by twenty that was an Ohio
State team with Deebler and Bruce Thornton last year that
was so good until just letting go of the rope
at the end of the year. Michigan wheels kind of
fell off. Dusty May year one, they beat Xavier by

(26:56):
twenty five in the non conference game November twenty seventh.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
I would take a Michigan season from last year.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
Wisconsin last year beat Arizona by fifteen. That Badger's team
could play a little bit. Last year. Obviously they didn't
have the tournament run that they wanted. But Greg Gard
after a year or two where Wisconsin was really in
the dumps, like, he got them up and running and
firing real quick. Last season. You know, I ended up

(27:27):
having a very very good year across the board. The
elite friend McCaffrey teams, you know, with Luca Garza, they
put up you know, they put up some big non
conference with Matt Paynter against teams like Duke and Gonzaga
back in twenty twenty two. And that Mawi run that
they had. Yeah, that's what we're talking about. Okay, So,

(27:49):
uh Izzo, Izzo b Baylor by twenty four, yep in
a neutral game in twenty three. So like.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
They just beat Arkansas not by twenty pretty good.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Again. I would have loved if Indiana won yesterday by
a point.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
You know, my expectations going to the year was I
hope they make it a close game.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, that was. I'm watching that game and I'm like, oh,
even even during the game, I'm like, oh, hot, start, okay,
you're up whatever, ten to seven, tend to say fourteen
to eight. I'm like, Okay, Marquette's gonna fight back, and
we're gonna have the roller coaster swing. You know, Marquette
will go up five, and then Indiana will go up five,
and then Markette will go up five, and then at
the end of the game is just gonna come down

(28:35):
to which team executes better and makes their free throws
and does the little details. And then Indiana won by
twenty three. One hundred and seventy seven was the final score.
We're gonna talk a little big picture here about Indiana
men's basketball going into this twenty five to twenty six season.
Two games and many many, many many games to come,
big games to whether it's non conference or Big ten.

(28:58):
Play real quick. Typically we talked about who won the
week this past week, and I you sports, we talked
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(29:20):
around the world. If you like facts, if you like numbers,
if you like people who are just giving you like
it is without an agenda, without all sorts of misinformation
and this swirling around and that sort on rumors. This
that what we're not all about. That Okay, give us
a fallout, maybe some rumors.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Okay, okay, maybe rumors.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
Maybe tell a friend, share links. That kind of support
really helps us grow. Reason we're passionate IU fans such
as yourself. Yeah, portal portal rumors.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Especially especially all shift kiss.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Man, good times, sorry, big picture wise again. Indiana started
the season fortieth in Ken Palm, but now we're up. Now,
now this team's up to twenty one. Get ken Pom
has Indiana projective for twenty one in ten, season twelve
and eight and Big ten play. I will take that
deal in a heartbeat, especially for telling me Indiana continues

(30:22):
to play with this style of play just fun. You watch,
you have a good time. You don't want to, you know,
stab your eyes out. I think it's fair. It's a
very competitive league. Your intense league lost to sort of
digest and dig into their As you think about Darren Devrees,

(30:43):
Matt year one, Yeah, help some of the people here,
you know, like if you're unfamiliar with Darren Devrees's game,
as you think, Matt about the different coaches around college basketball,
whether they're coaching actively today or even in the past.
When you think about the style of play Darren DeVries shows,

(31:04):
who are some of the coaches that you feel like
Darren DeVries sort of mimics replicates when it comes to
his style of play with that up and down offense,
the three point shooting, the good free throw shooting. Is
you think about the different color acc Biggies, Old Pac
twelve SEC or even the Big Ten, you know, who
are some of the coaches that you see Darren Devrees

(31:26):
kind of mimic or replicate or sort of share. As
far as the blueprint of the type of basketball, the
vision for the basketball that he wants to be played
at Indiana.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Well, I mean the easy slam dunk, lay up softball
pitch if it answers Greg McDermott, Yeah great, yeah right.
I mean he comes from that coaching tree. It was
a long time assistant there. When you watch Creighton runoffense
very similar stuff, yeah, but also not. I mean, Rayton

(32:00):
loves their huge bigs that can also spread the floor,
Calkbrenners and Doug you know yeah, well Doug McDermott reminds
me a ton of Tucker.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah, I could see that.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
I could see that, Like Colbrand is different, right, and
just seven seventh when I think of Credit has seven
footers down low and a bunch of shooters just sprinting
around the guy. It's almost like Purdue. Like, speaking of which,
Matt Painter.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
Hmm, I could see that.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
What Matt Painters, Matt Painter's offense when he doesn't have
Eadie you know, you you go back and you think
of those Carson Edwards, Yeah, Williams Swann again teams a
little some similarities in the way they use guards.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
Joan joyceon and Robbiehumme one more teams.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. I just
but like, I mean, that's it's an easy as a
it's not a one to one comparison. I think it's
really not a not a serious one to one. The
only one out there that's even close is Greg McDermott
because weirdly enough, every single coach has their flaws, and

(33:21):
I think with Darren Drees's teams, it's rebounding. He doesn't
really care about size. If you look across all of
his teams, he doesn't. He doesn't mind giving up size
as long as it's for speed and and shooting ability. Right.
He likes his teams to play fast. He likes plays

(33:43):
team free. He likes the guys to be able to
put up shots and make shots, you know, the you know,
you don't need to rebound the ball if you're making
the ball the first time you shoot it. And that's
kind of Darren's you know m o our coach dress
m as far as that goes. So if you're really

(34:06):
looking for for a similarity, I think a lot of
the really really fun Jim Lairnega Miami teams where they
they play guys that don't have a ton of size
and and and they played maybe one guy that can
just really go rebound the ball and everybody else just

(34:26):
tries their butt off and they make a ton of
shots and they have they have fun feisty guards. That
that that's my that's my likes.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
Wow, No, definitely sort of makes you think as far
as as far as what Indiana is capable of.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
But like, but like, like the loose Lerneka teams didn't
run nearly as complicated an offense as what I runs.
Like I runs at this like a very modern offense
where everyone is moving, but they're not even running a
ton of plays. That's the thing. It's just guys playing
off of each other and having an understanding of, Okay,

(35:08):
what what happens in this situation on this you know
this ball screen or or this you know this, if
they go if we ghost this here, what happens if
you know, two guys go this guy this way? What
happens if two guys go that way? What if we're
cotting a middle screen? Whatever? Like the the team plays

(35:32):
and flows so well together, and I again, we haven't
even seen them at full strength, so I'm really really
excited to see what happens.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
No, we haven't the you know I went through and
I was like, okay, let's look back at college basketball
last year. Okay, like what's the best case outcome for
Indiana if yeah, if if this three point stuff not
even from a percentage standpoint, but just you know, they

(36:01):
continue getting good shots process wise from deep, they get
to the free throw line, make their free throws. They
foul a lot, right, Indiana fouls a lot when on defense.
You want to improve that, but you know, just the
way it is. They're not an elite rebounding team by

(36:21):
any means. Uh, They're They're a good defensive rebounding team.
Indiana is. Indiana does a good job finishing defensive possessions.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
With the rebound so far, so far, you shall see
what happens when they really give up.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
Indiana is not a team that pays too much attention
to grabbing offensive rebounds after misshots, because like you said,
you know, to make Yeah, yeah, let's not just find
an open shot. Let's make the open shots something like
as your sentence, I like that. You know who in
college basketball last year shared that type of st statistical profile.

(37:01):
You take threes, you make threes, you play with a
decent tempo, you you you limit opponents taking threes. You
do a good job, you know, getting layups and dunks
when you shoot two's, but you foul a lot. You
know who signed you know who kind of shared that
profile last year?

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Man was it Florida?

Speaker 1 (37:24):
It was Auburn. You're very close. You're very close. You're
very close. Florida was a better team as far as
like the rebounding aspect of the game is concerned, and.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
You can you can.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Sort of think about yeah, yeah, yeah, and Florida also played.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
That was really dumb.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
That was a really dumb muh because I was thinking
Florida too, especially when you think about, you know, the
guys that they had there, Walter Clayton and co. I
was like, yeah, maybe, but I could let's not, let's not.
I mean we're talking best case. We're in best case.
And Auburn obviously had jane I Broom. Indiana doesn't have

(38:03):
Jenei Broum. But like you're talking.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
About, yeah, a team that I would like, can he
come back.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
It's funny though, because when you look at Auburn, Okay,
they pressured you on defense. They stretched out to the
perimeter and they were like, we're not going to give
you anything easy. We're gonna fouol you. We're gonna file
the crap out of you. We're gonna make you make
free throws, You're gonna make you make contested shots. There's
no many officials are gonna call fifty fouls over the
course of before you make I mean.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
They can they tried their best.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yeah, you're right, by bad bad You're right. Yeah, no
for sure, but in a nutshell, just when you look
at the blueprint, when you look at this. So I
like the Greg McDermott pint you made. Obviously the tutelage
there McDermott debrees connection after Debrees being an assistant. I
thought it was noteworthy that Scott Drew had a lot
of praise for Darren Devrees after the exhibition game. Scott

(38:55):
Drew's been around for many years. He knows what he's
talking about. We talked about basketball of glowing words about
Darren Devrees post game after the exhibition there especially something
like what like if the free throw percentage is going
to be one hundred percent? You know, like whatever, you
know they got the coach that they hired or whatever.
I gotta know more, I gotta know what the special slauses.
Indiana's a ninety percent in the free throw line this

(39:17):
season through two games. So as you watch the bas
as you watch the basketball here, there's a little there's
a little Greg McDermott involved, there's a little, uh, there's
a little Larene Get involved. I think there's maybe a
little Dusty May involved, and as I said, a little
bit of Bruce Pearl Auburn involved. But as you said,
overall the headline is Darren Debrees is one of one
as far as the type of basketball that he has

(39:39):
Indiana playing. But you can see the players carrying out
the vision. I think that's something that you know, everyone
wants to make the Signetti comparison here in the way
or whatever. There is no comparison to Signetti. There will
never be a comparison to Kurt Signetti and Indiana football.
But I do like how Indiana's players, much like you
saw Grace Berger and Mackenzie Holmes do in Sydney Parrish
do with Terry Morin, you know, carrying out the vision

(40:01):
of the head coach to help win games. Get That's
how you get to those unexpected twenty five, twenty seven
to twenty nine win seasons like Indiana did with Terry
Moore in a few years ago. Chloe Moore, McNeil, Grace Berger,
McKenzie Holmes carrying out the vision, carrying out the identity
of the head coach. So I actually think, you know
you're talking about, Hey, who do you think Darren Derees

(40:24):
mimixes his style of play after? I think there's actually
a little bit of Terry Moore and Darren Deries too.
And we'll see if Indiana can get those successful Big
Ten seasons they where they win twenty twenty two to
twenty four to twenties five plus games over the course
of the season. Matt, the next big non conference game
is Kansas State. Then on December sixth Indiana has a

(40:48):
neutral side game against Louisville. Then on December thirteenth, Indiana
has a road game at Rupp Arena against the number
one team in Ken Palm right now, the Kentucky Wildcats.
Is that rivalry is renewed? What's you know what are
you gonna have your eyes on here? Over the next
the over the three big non conference games as you

(41:09):
get through mid December before Big Ten plays starts. I
think there actually is a road Minnesota game before Indiana
plays Kentucky. But you know what are you gonna have
your eyes on? As far as Indiana's non conference superpower
heavyweight games against Kansas State and then really cranking up
the heat with Louisville and Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
Two things. Both of them have to do with defense.
The defense actually our defense, and how other defenses guard us.
And so the first thing I'm looking for is with
our defense three of the first couple of games, is
the hacking problem going to continue a lot of cheap fouls,

(41:55):
A lot a lot of almost laziest fouls where where
you guys aren't moving their feet well enough or or
guys are just reaching at things that they just have
no chance at getting. Just a lot of tiki tag
fouls in the Marquette game, and there was a couple
in the Alabama.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
And A and M games.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
So, you know, is does that some early season trying
to get into shape sort of you know, frustration foul
stuff like or or is that like just going to
be the team where they're going to just swipe at
everything like Swiper the Fox from Dora the Explore and
we're going to get into uh, you know, foul trouble

(42:37):
in a bunch of different games. I hope that the
second case is not necessarily what happens. The second thing
is how defenses look at this film. Opposing defenses look
at the film that we put on tape against Marquette,

(42:57):
and what they try to take go away, what they
try to take away and how you deals with that.
Is it playing Tucker super physical like like Marquette did
in the second half and letting Lamar Wilkerson get more space?
Is it keying in on Lamar Wilkerson and and and

(43:18):
hoping that Tucker, who's a very streaky shooter, has one
of those nights off nights, right, and and then seeing
where what I does from that? Is it keying in
on both of them at the same time and just
saying I don't think Conorway and right and and read
Bailey or or you know, if it's Sam Alexis could

(43:40):
do yes, that's right. So what are they going to do?
How are they going to do that? Are they gonna
start pressing us more because we're not necessarily fast and
athletic team, so they're gonna get into our face.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
And you know, we have tried to press I mean
more from like the backcourt standpoint, but man, wow, yeah,
or that real.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
We did tear We did tear that up real quick.
But you know, maybe this Marquet team isn't as good
as we thought they were going to be. And other
teams that are more athletic and quicker and faster and
you know number one overall, and Ken Palm might might
end up, you know, terrorizing us in some ways. So
that's what I'm really keying in on, is is how

(44:27):
our defense improves, because I don't I think the offense
can definitely improve, but I think it's at a point
where it's like that's not necessarily they should be the
core focus. Uh, the defense is is is something that
can always improve, and how they and how they they
find ways to to stop fouling so that they can

(44:50):
have the best offensive players of the floor, you know,
at the same time, and and and the second thing,
you know, to finish my my second point was when
we're playing offense and how we play offense, how you know,
watching how other teams are reading what we're doing and
seeing what we're doing and reacting to it and seeing what,

(45:10):
you know, how they can attack us or make us
feel uncomfortable. That's That's what I'm looking for.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Yeah, No, I like that a lot. Actually the point
that you made, I think in the middle there is
the one I really want to hammer along, Like what
happens when the threes don't fall right? When you're not
shooting forty five percent, That to me is is going
to be a major factor, or maybe it just never happens. Yeah,
I mean there's gonna be a game where Indiana is
two of seventeen from three, and then what has to Yeah,

(45:36):
the way the math works, Yeah, you're unrealistic if you
think you know it's going to be forty.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
We're never missing the three again. We're going especially like
every game time.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
Maybe you tell me that the average for the season
is forty percent, that would be really high. But I
can sort of see it when you talk about when
you talk about like within you know each game, Indiana
is not going to be hitting forty percent of their

(46:06):
threes every game. So when that happens, like, what's the adjustment?
Last year in Power Conference basketball, the highest viewpoint percentage
in the country was Houston, a thirty nine point four.
Even if you tell me that Indiana is a thirty
nine percent three point shooting team, that immediately indicates that

(46:28):
there are going to be games where they shoot two
of seventeen from three. So how do you adjust? How
do you adapt? How do you respond to that? The
Sam alexis read Bailey question, I'm going to be excited
to see what the answer is there. Can they keep improving?
Is it Transisty who steps up? He had fifteen against Marquette,
was very noticeable, was very impressive in his minutes. Very

(46:48):
curious to see how this front court sort of shapes
up as the year goes on. Kentucky Louisville, by the way,
Tuesday night, eight Eastern ESPN, you get a look at
both of the heavyweight teams on Indiana's non conference schedule
still to come if you're interested in tuning into that one.
The game is at Young Center in Louisville, so you

(47:10):
can even add there if you want catch it in
person if you're down in southern Indiana. So should be
a fun one. I'll definitely be tuning in Kentucky Louisville
Tuesday night. Matt and I are gonna wrap this up
with a little rapid fire Big ten perspective. But first,
just a quick social media shout out again to raise

(47:30):
our channels back up to the surface. You know, if
you enjoy our show, leave us a review, tell a friend,
share a links. That kind of support really helps us
grow this podcast reach more passionate eye you fans such
as yourself Matt on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, the Hoo's
your Sound and Indiana HQ on Instagram. We're not Indiana HQ,
but what are we?

Speaker 2 (47:51):
Indiana dot HQ.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
You can find us there plenty of content, plenty of
you know, if we see stories that we like, we'll
share them along different no stats, nuggets, observations, all, all
all the stuff over on Indiana h Q as well
as at the Hoosier Sound. All right, Matt, we watched
two games. Everyone's pretty much played one or two or

(48:14):
three games as far as the Big Ten is concerned.
One word answers, Matta, one word answers, right, Yeah, the
rest of season? Is Purdue better or worse than Indiana.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
Better?

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Is Michigan better or worse than Indiana?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Better?

Speaker 1 (48:38):
Is Illinois better or worst than Indiana?

Speaker 2 (48:42):
M better?

Speaker 1 (48:48):
I agree with you so far three for three as
u c l.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
A better ordrest than Indiana worse.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
I'm going better. I'm going better.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
I don't believe they usis you know.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Is Michigan State better or worse than Indiana? Rest of
the season worse? I'm gonna go better. And this is
just testament to the quality of the league more than anything.
I mean Michigan State beat Arkansas. Indiana beat Marquette and

(49:27):
that was neutral, Michigan State was home. I mean, I'm
definitely gonna keep a close eye on both of those
teams that Michigan.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
State players early season Calipery teams.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
Michigan State will also play Kentucky like Indiana does, so
that will be fun to get another How about the
first year coach Ben McCollum and I who are his
Hawkeys rest the season? Better or worse than Indiana?

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Worse? With the asters. I think they're gonna be feisty.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
Yeah, I think they're a tournament I think they're a
tournament team.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
I think they're a tournament lock. I thought they're gonna
they're gonna make the Torments somehow, some way, uh starts
is so good.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
I think I was better. I think it's my hair.
I think I was better by a hair narrowly. And
I'm gonna give it to him. I'm gonna give it
to him. Is Oregon better or worse than Indiana rest
of the season?

Speaker 2 (50:23):
They're really not healthy right now? Yeah, correct, so I
think better. But yeah, you're right, you're banking Dana. Dana
Allman teams are weird.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
Yeah. I mean, you know what, the Chelstad and Biddle
both played against Rice and it was a four point win.
I I'm gonna say Indiana is.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Better Indiana, They're not. They're not healthy yet. They gotta.
They got a Chinese kid coming in that's gonna be really.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Yeah, he's all right, yeah, I know you're talking about
way Linn. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's often running. As far
as the season is concerned, any are any one of
these teams better than Indiana, matt usc Ohio State, Nebraska, Washington,
Maryland rest of season.

Speaker 2 (51:12):
Washington may be if they can.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
They gotta.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
They got a kid coming in from Europe who's gonna start.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
Playing in Steinbach or No, are you talking to somebody
else because Hans Steinbeck's already playing.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
No, there's another guy coming in from Europe. He's gonna
be a front court player who will join them after
winter break, so in January he's gonna be eligible for
second semester. Watch out. That guy is going to be
very multi dimensional for the big spot. So I I

(51:50):
kind of like Washington to take a while to kind
of get together as a team and then be pretty
feisty come the end of Big templay. I don't know
if they make the tournament, but I I think they
might end up being a better team by the end
of the year than Indiana is if that makes sense.

(52:10):
I think i makes the tournament comfortably, and I think
Washington ends up being just like one of the spoiler
teams at the end of the year.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Fantastic. Yeah. I actually don't think any of the teams
I mentioned are better than Indiana. I forgot to mention
Wisconsin in.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
This coind No, actually I don't think. No, I don't
think Washington's could be better than I actually don't think
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
I think Indiana's going to top all these teams as
far as the Big Ten standings and making the tournament
is concerned, and doing well.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Wisconsin is interesting.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
I don't I'm not I think Indiana is better than
Wisconsin this year. You know, we'll see if that actually plays.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
Out, But I'm not sure about that.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
It's yeah, I mean, man, I'll say though, the margins
in the league are very very close once again, and.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
And there's like twelve teams in this league that command.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
It is loaded. Any final thoughts on this On this
they met Indiana men's basketball too, and oh start Uh,
Tucker Devrees, Lamar Wilkerson running the show, Sam Alexis Reed,
Bailey Transisley all stepping up, Tayton Connorway doing his thing,
Darren Devreees often running any final thoughts here on this Monday.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
Uh, what a time to be alive. Seriously, between football
and now basketball.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
And you know, I was told by some Michigan folks
women's ball, volleyball, men's going to.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
Get to that too, that too, but but but between
men's basketball men's football. I was told it is impossible
and un quote impossible to have good teams in both
sports at the same time. Oops, here's to that.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
I saw that Urban Meyer Billy Donovan picture floating around.
These are the times maybe these are the times they
are here. I got nothing else, folks, thanks for joining
us here for our three hundred and fifty six show,
The Hoo's Your Sound. Thank you so much for joining us.
We really appreciate your support to hear more fantastic episodes

(54:07):
like the one you heard today. Be sure to follow
us at Indiana HQ or at the Who's Your Sound
to make sure you don't miss any in the future.
Can also go to our website indianahq dot com defendit
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