March 18, 2025 • 18 mins
On this episode, Alex Bozich is joined by Rick Bozich for a quick discussion on Darian DeVries to Indiana.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome back to a new episode of Podcasts on the
Brink Tuesday night, March eighteenth. Indiana has its thirty first
basketball coach. Darren de Reese is the pick by Scott Dolson,
announced just a couple hours ago. Before we get to
this week's episode of Podcast on the Brink, I wanted
(00:38):
to take a moment and remind you that Podcast on
the Brink brought to you b our friends at Visit
Bloomington Visit Bloomington as a proud partner Podcast on the Brink.
In Indiana University Athletics, March Madness is officially kicked off
and Spring is about to begin. Catch the NCAA Men's
and women's tournaments while enjoying some award winning wings at Buffalois,
go paddleboarding on Lake Lemon, or experienced one of the
(00:59):
mini Springs festivals in Bloomington like the Cosmic Songwriter Festival
and Grand Falloon. Order your free visitor guide and plan
your Spring getaway at visit Bloomington dot com. Kind of
an unplanned podcast here, but my dad, Rick Bosich of
WDRB is back with us on Podcasts on the Brink
and just want to get your immediate thoughts on the
(01:23):
higher and how Indiana obviously, I think we'll learn more
probably tomorrow from Scott Dolson how they arrived at this decision.
But just just your instant reaction to UH, to Darren
Devrees being the thirty first coach at Indiana.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, a lot of different reactions. Wasn't a name I
thought that they would land on. His name really didn't
pop up in the discussion really until this maybe today
or yesterday. It's curious. I went back. I wrote something
in January at WD or B there were fifteen first
(02:02):
year coaches at Power at Power Conference schools, and I'm
talking about not just guys who are first year coach,
but first year in the job, guys like cal Perry.
And I ranked them all at the time and the
job they were doing, and first was Dusty May, second
was Pat Kelsey of Louisville, and third I had Darren
Devrees of West Virginia. So I that was before I
(02:25):
any idea is coming to IU. I thought he was
doing a good job. He beat Arizona, he he got
he got everybody's attention. Really when he beat Gonzaga, everybody
when Louisville, when Indiana and Louisville played down the Bahamas.
The feeling was the loser of that game would get
West Virginia and the Bahamas, and they didn't. Dig In Zaga.
He played three overteam time games down there. Is it
(02:49):
a home run higher, No, I don't think it is.
But I don't think there really are any home run
highers anymore. Guys don't leave. Guys like Scott Drew or
you know whoever, they don't leave their jobs to go
anywhere else, high tradition jobs. I saw that last year
when Louisville got Pat Kelsey, who's done a fine job,
from Charleston. And I saw it when Kentucky got Mark
(03:13):
pope By from b YU. They went for Drew and
Hurley and didn't he either one. So Scott Dolson obviously
must have picked up something from Devrees when he talked
to him that he liked. I'm sure it'll be a
similar type vibe as he got from Kurt Signetti, and
he's the coach.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
You mentioned what Louisville and Kentucky did last spring in
terms of their hires. You were kind of up close
and with with those fan bases when when those hires
were announced. I haven't really got a great sense yet
from Indiana fans how they're reacting. I have seen some
people on social media disappointed, other people embracing it. What
(03:55):
what was kind of the reaction uh last spring from
from those fans bases and compare it to how they
feel now, obviously kind of a year later with how
their programs have a fared over the course of a year.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, I mean Louisville went first, and I don't think
there was tremendous disappointment they didn't get Drew because I'm
not sure a lot of people thought Drew was actually
going to come. There was some disappointment when they didn't
get Dusty May because I think a lot of people
thought Dusty May was gonna come, but he picked Michigan instead.
And then when they got Kelsey, initially I think some
people liked it, some people didn't. But he came in
(04:32):
and just blew everybody away in the press conference and
he got everybody out of side real quickly, and he's
built a tremendous favorable following since then. Mark Pope a
different situation. I think Kentucky thought they were going to
get Scott Drew because of his relationship with athletic director
Mitch Barnhardt, but he considered it and decided not to come.
(04:55):
Then they went after Danny Hurley, who I don't think
anybody thought was going to come, and then they it
was a surprise when they got Mark Pope, and I
think initially there was some pushback against it, but again,
first of all, he's in alum from a national championship team.
Rick Patino quickly got on board and said, you got
a good coach. And they had this huge introductory press
(05:18):
conference fan festival at rupp Arena on a Sunday afternoon
and they packed rep Aerena and everybody got behind him.
So both the press conferences that both of those places
made a big difference. Indiana doesn't sound like they're doing
any kind of event like that. They're just doing a
press conference tomorrow morning at eleven thirty, So I don't know.
(05:39):
I think that's a big difference between the two places.
Those coaches built got people behind them real quickly, and
I think it'd be important. It's going to be important
for Deviz to do that. I hope his first interaction
with fans isn't until he gets to Hubers.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, I mean, how important is that in terms of
just building that rapport with the fan base, because I
feel like that's been something that's been missing now really
since Tom Crean. That was you know, Tom Crean used
to do a lot in terms of outreach to the
fans and trying to build connection with the fan base.
Archie Miller didn't do that. Mike Woodson didn't do that.
I've read kind of mixed reports in terms of DeVries
(06:17):
in terms of his personality and how it going he
is in terms of wanting to engage. But I guess
from a PR perspective, how important is that going to
be in terms of you may not win the press conference,
but trying to get some excitement and getting people back
on board in the coming weeks, That to me is
a pretty big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Well, considering he's not going to be able to have
any way to make any impression until recruiting, I think
it is a big deal now you you need. I
think there's a lot of frustration and a lot of
anger in the Indiana fan base about what happened in
the last year. Obviously, I think a lot of people
wanted Mike Woodson to be replaced last year and then
(06:55):
they could have got Dusty may as the coach and
this season would have turned out differently. That didn't happen.
And you saw the reaction from IU fans during the
season when they booed the team and taunted Mike Woodson
multiple times and Assembly Hall, you know, I don't think
was and that's really large crowds, but from people that
you know, I've talked to you. So there were a
(07:16):
lot more empty seats in the lower bowl they can
remember in a long time. And it's been a good
bit since, you know, the twenty sixteen Big Ten championship team,
and they've watched Wisconsin and Michigan State and Purdue and
other schools move it, you know, farther ahead of them
in the Big Ten pecking order and lose five straight
(07:37):
games to Northwestern and not being able to beat Nebraska.
So yeah, he's got I think that that part of
the job should not be overlooked. IU needs to do
a better job of reaching out to fans and letting
them know that they understand the anger of frustration that's
out there.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I think one thing that some of us in the
media have a bad habit of doing is trying to
rush to great hire and I think maybe a long
time ago it may have been easier to do that,
but now with just how everything has changed in college
sports with the transfer portal and players getting paid and
the chance to really, you know, rebuild a roster just
in one off season. I mean, compare it now to
(08:18):
what it was when Tom Green took over. It was
a multi year deal. This is not that anymore, and
so I hesitate to, you know, ask for to create
a hire or anything. But the one thing I look
at that I think that Devrees did last offseason. That's
going to be important obviously for him to do, and
he did it successfully. When he took over West Virginia
(08:39):
was he inherited a pretty bad situation there with that team,
and he rebuilt it quickly through the transfer portal, was
able to identify a lot of key players. Obviously his son,
who most people believe is now going to come to
Bloomington and that will obviously it'd be a pretty nice
piece to start out with. But you know, Javon Small
was a guy that he went and beat some really
good programs out in the transfer portal to get him.
(08:59):
And there was a couple of guys that transferred over
from Illinois and he was able to put those pieces
together and build a team that most people believe should
have made the NCAA tournament. So with the resources that
he's going to have available in Indiana, I think the
expectations for Indiana to be a competitive team right off
the bat should be there.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, I agree, And we saw it this year at Louisville,
a whole new team and they've earned an eight seed
and should have been a sixth seed. We've seen at
other place as Kentucky has a whole new team this year.
I think that's a very fair assessment, and I agree
with you. I mean, I think I agree with When
Archie Miller was hired. I think a lot of people
thought that I got the best coach who was available
(09:40):
during that hiring cycle, and it didn't turn out to
be the case. He wasn't as good a coach as
we thought he was going to be, and that's he's
gone on the show at Westwood, Rhode Island or are
still struggling, and he wasn't really the guy for the
job personality wise. Mike Woodson, I think was more of
a lukewarm reaction. Everybody was expecting they're going to get
Brad Steve and then they got Mike Woodson and he
(10:02):
was more of accepted because he's a former value player
and kind of bridged back to the night era, and
that didn't work. So you never know. I mean, people
at Villanova were thrilled to get Kyle Neptune. Now they've
run him out after three years. So it's to be
determined how good of a you gotta wait three or
four years to see how good. This is the one
thing I'll say, you know, when I go back and
(10:24):
look at his record and I text you this year earlier.
Drake not a great program when he got there. They
from nineteen seventy one until twenty twenty one. When he
went to the NCAA tournament, they'd only gone one time,
so they'd gone once in fifty years, and he went
three times in six years when he was there. Yeah,
(10:44):
his first year there, he took over from Nico Medved
and he bumped him up from seventeen wins to twenty four.
West Virginia was terrible last year. They won nine games.
This year he won nineteen and would have won more
without the injuries they had. And so he's shown those
are those are positive signs in terms of you know,
he's he's been able to do things when and make
(11:07):
an impact since he's taken over different jobs.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, and I did. I did read a tweet earlier
from franfur Scilla, who covers the Big Twelve as closely
as anybody instead that said something to the and I'm paraphrasing,
you know, he's one of the better coaches that he had,
he had watched last season in terms of just how
he worked with his team. And to me, that's a
pretty strong endorsement coming from somebody because you know, you
(11:31):
watch you know, Fran works a ton of Big Twelve
games all season, follows that league as closely as anybody.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I know.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
He was super impressed with with what Devrees was able
to do this past year at West Virginia. To me,
that's a little bit more important coming from a guy
who's been in coaching than you know, just somebody throwing
out a random letter grade. This is a B minus higher,
this is a B plus. This is somebody that actually
kind of studied what he did last season with that
team and and then going back to watching them playing
the Battle for Atlantis. I agree with you. Going into
(11:59):
that event, you know, I think everyone thought it was
a foregone conclusion that you know, West Virginia was going
to be maybe the week one of the weaker teams
in the field, and what they were able to do
down there was was really impressive. They had some injuries
of this season, and just overall it feels like, uh,
(12:20):
from from reading about Darren Devrees, he's a grinder, a
guy that really embraces the work ethic part of it,
and to me that's important coming into this job.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah. I mean, I'm pretty sure they won their Big
Twelve opener at Kansas in the Elfield House. You know,
I think that the fact that he was willing to
leave West Virginia after one year shows ambitiously is because
I think, if you're honest about it, you say, why
would you do that? Well, because I'm sure it's more money,
(12:51):
but it's also where you have a better chance. You're
gonna have more resources at Indiana because they're in the
Big ten, not in the Big twelve. You're gonna have
more n I L at Indiana. Then you're gonna have
it West Virginia because it's got a bigger fan base
and you're going to have bigger pressure and bigger expectations
in Indiana because we've seen, you know, what's unfolded over
(13:11):
the last fifteen or twenty years, and he's not shying
away from that challenge. And as I mentioned to you,
it's curious that Dusty May didn't want to leave Michigan
after one year, which is to his credit if he had,
it feels like he had a commitment to the Wolverines
and could build something there. But Devrees was willing to
leave West Virginia after one year.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah. The other, you know, the other thing we kind
of mentioned, I think is a sarch one along was
to watch the Big twelve right in terms of a
league where they could potentially get a coach, because everyone
talks about, you know, the Big ten and the SEC
are the two conferences that coaches want to be in now,
and the Big twelve is one of the you know,
the ACC obviously probably on better ground than the Big twelve,
(13:53):
and everyone kind of gravitated towards litt T j Olzelberger
or Scott Drew, but ultimately they are able to pick
off a coach for another a Big from a Big
twelve school. And I think, kind of building on what
you said there, a lot of it does have to
do with the resources they're going to be available. If
he was able to build a team that he was
that he put together last spring at West Virginia with
(14:13):
I don't know what the ANIL deal was there last year,
but I would think it would have to be no
better than the middle of the pack and the Big twelve.
And from everything we've gathered on Indiana and from the
roster that we saw that they put together last year,
he's going to have as many and as much in
IL as he needs to build a team. So I
think when you look at the fact that he was
able to build a strong roster a last spring and
(14:36):
he's going to have even more resources, a lot of
it's going to be figuring out which guys fit what
he wants to do, and who knows, maybe there's a
player or two that are on the current roster that
work out and he wants to bring back, and then
he can kind of fill the rest of the gaps
via the portal.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, and he's going to have, you know, a little
bit less than a week to talk to the guys
who are there now and find out do they want it,
Is there any chance they're going to come back? Have
they already decided they're not going to come back. Does
he want them back? And then when the portal becomes
wide open next Monday, he'll be able to target the
guys that he wants. So And another thing about West Virginia,
and I don't know if this is a factor or not,
(15:13):
it's it's one of the most Eastern schools in the
Big Twelve. I think the travel at West Virginia is hard.
You're going down and playing games in Texas all the time,
whether it's at Baylor or Texas Tech or TCU, or
you know, you're going to Kansas and Kansas State and Iowa.
It's not you know, the Big Twelve. I mean, the
(15:33):
Big Ten is obviously spread out in night too because
you got the West Coast schools, but you know, the
closest team to West Virginia Cincinnati and after that, I'm
not even sure who it is. The travel in that
league is not easy.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, last thing I wanted to touch on, just briefly,
just with how the season ended and everything with Indiana
and moving forward, just not being in a tournament for
the last couple of years, and the things we mentioned
with the fan base and just the overall feelings around
the program. How important is it going to be next
(16:07):
season for Indiana to get back to being a tournament
team in year one? Is that a fair expectation to
place on a coach in year one in a program
like Indiana.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I don't know. We'll see what he does in the portal.
I mean, it's is it fair? Probably not, But is
it going to happen? It probably is. I think what
people really want to see, though, is a team that
plays hard consistently with guys who are engaged, which I
don't think you always saw from this team. I think
they want to see a more modern style of basketball,
(16:40):
and I think he does play that in terms of
shooting the three point shot, and I just think he
wants that. People want to see a team that's more
consistently competitive than this team was. They don't want to
see getting blown out by Iowa, getting blown out by Illinois,
and we can all the other getting blown out up
by Louisville, Gonzaga, Auburn last year, Yukon last year. They
(17:04):
want to see a team that, you know, competes at
a decent level, you know, in the first year. I
guess it could happen, but in a couple of years
for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
All right, Well, just a quick episode here on Tuesday night.
Not a whole lot to say about the Higher other
than you know, it's obvious that Indiana did its due diligence.
Scott Dolson had plenty of time to research a ton
of these candidates, probably took some big swings and ultimately
lands on Darren Devrees. I think ultimately this this is
(17:36):
not going to be higher that we're going to be
able to judge in a year two. It's it's going
to take some time. And I think that with with
then il resources available and the fact that he's won
a ton of games at all of his stops, he's
got a chance to be successful. But it you know,
last couple of highers, I think we've kind of rushed
to judgment on some things, particularly with Archie Miller Higher
(17:57):
and we saw how that worked out. So there's obviously
gonna be some folks who are skeptical on this hire,
but we'll see how it all works out. We'll have
a continued coverage of the press conference and everything on
Wednesday over our Inside the Hall. And thanks again to
Rick Bosag my Dad for coming on podcast on the
Brink If you enjoy the show, please leave us the
(18:19):
rating and a review over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
and we'll be back soon with another episode of Podcasts
on the Brink.
Welcome back to a new episode of Podcasts on the
Brink Tuesday night, March eighteenth. Indiana has its thirty first
basketball coach. Darren de Reese is the pick by Scott Dolson,
announced just a couple hours ago. Before we get to
this week's episode of Podcast on the Brink, I wanted
(00:38):
to take a moment and remind you that Podcast on
the Brink brought to you b our friends at Visit
Bloomington Visit Bloomington as a proud partner Podcast on the Brink.
In Indiana University Athletics, March Madness is officially kicked off
and Spring is about to begin. Catch the NCAA Men's
and women's tournaments while enjoying some award winning wings at Buffalois,
go paddleboarding on Lake Lemon, or experienced one of the
(00:59):
mini Springs festivals in Bloomington like the Cosmic Songwriter Festival
and Grand Falloon. Order your free visitor guide and plan
your Spring getaway at visit Bloomington dot com. Kind of
an unplanned podcast here, but my dad, Rick Bosich of
WDRB is back with us on Podcasts on the Brink
and just want to get your immediate thoughts on the
(01:23):
higher and how Indiana obviously, I think we'll learn more
probably tomorrow from Scott Dolson how they arrived at this decision.
But just just your instant reaction to UH, to Darren
Devrees being the thirty first coach at Indiana.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, a lot of different reactions. Wasn't a name I
thought that they would land on. His name really didn't
pop up in the discussion really until this maybe today
or yesterday. It's curious. I went back. I wrote something
in January at WD or B there were fifteen first
(02:02):
year coaches at Power at Power Conference schools, and I'm
talking about not just guys who are first year coach,
but first year in the job, guys like cal Perry.
And I ranked them all at the time and the
job they were doing, and first was Dusty May, second
was Pat Kelsey of Louisville, and third I had Darren
Devrees of West Virginia. So I that was before I
(02:25):
any idea is coming to IU. I thought he was
doing a good job. He beat Arizona, he he got
he got everybody's attention. Really when he beat Gonzaga, everybody
when Louisville, when Indiana and Louisville played down the Bahamas.
The feeling was the loser of that game would get
West Virginia and the Bahamas, and they didn't. Dig In Zaga.
He played three overteam time games down there. Is it
(02:49):
a home run higher, No, I don't think it is.
But I don't think there really are any home run
highers anymore. Guys don't leave. Guys like Scott Drew or
you know whoever, they don't leave their jobs to go
anywhere else, high tradition jobs. I saw that last year
when Louisville got Pat Kelsey, who's done a fine job,
from Charleston. And I saw it when Kentucky got Mark
(03:13):
pope By from b YU. They went for Drew and
Hurley and didn't he either one. So Scott Dolson obviously
must have picked up something from Devrees when he talked
to him that he liked. I'm sure it'll be a
similar type vibe as he got from Kurt Signetti, and
he's the coach.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
You mentioned what Louisville and Kentucky did last spring in
terms of their hires. You were kind of up close
and with with those fan bases when when those hires
were announced. I haven't really got a great sense yet
from Indiana fans how they're reacting. I have seen some
people on social media disappointed, other people embracing it. What
(03:55):
what was kind of the reaction uh last spring from
from those fans bases and compare it to how they
feel now, obviously kind of a year later with how
their programs have a fared over the course of a year.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, I mean Louisville went first, and I don't think
there was tremendous disappointment they didn't get Drew because I'm
not sure a lot of people thought Drew was actually
going to come. There was some disappointment when they didn't
get Dusty May because I think a lot of people
thought Dusty May was gonna come, but he picked Michigan instead.
And then when they got Kelsey, initially I think some
people liked it, some people didn't. But he came in
(04:32):
and just blew everybody away in the press conference and
he got everybody out of side real quickly, and he's
built a tremendous favorable following since then. Mark Pope a
different situation. I think Kentucky thought they were going to
get Scott Drew because of his relationship with athletic director
Mitch Barnhardt, but he considered it and decided not to come.
(04:55):
Then they went after Danny Hurley, who I don't think
anybody thought was going to come, and then they it
was a surprise when they got Mark Pope, and I
think initially there was some pushback against it, but again,
first of all, he's in alum from a national championship team.
Rick Patino quickly got on board and said, you got
a good coach. And they had this huge introductory press
(05:18):
conference fan festival at rupp Arena on a Sunday afternoon
and they packed rep Aerena and everybody got behind him.
So both the press conferences that both of those places
made a big difference. Indiana doesn't sound like they're doing
any kind of event like that. They're just doing a
press conference tomorrow morning at eleven thirty, So I don't know.
(05:39):
I think that's a big difference between the two places.
Those coaches built got people behind them real quickly, and
I think it'd be important. It's going to be important
for Deviz to do that. I hope his first interaction
with fans isn't until he gets to Hubers.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, I mean, how important is that in terms of
just building that rapport with the fan base, because I
feel like that's been something that's been missing now really
since Tom Crean. That was you know, Tom Crean used
to do a lot in terms of outreach to the
fans and trying to build connection with the fan base.
Archie Miller didn't do that. Mike Woodson didn't do that.
I've read kind of mixed reports in terms of DeVries
(06:17):
in terms of his personality and how it going he
is in terms of wanting to engage. But I guess
from a PR perspective, how important is that going to
be in terms of you may not win the press conference,
but trying to get some excitement and getting people back
on board in the coming weeks, That to me is
a pretty big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Well, considering he's not going to be able to have
any way to make any impression until recruiting, I think
it is a big deal now you you need. I
think there's a lot of frustration and a lot of
anger in the Indiana fan base about what happened in
the last year. Obviously, I think a lot of people
wanted Mike Woodson to be replaced last year and then
(06:55):
they could have got Dusty may as the coach and
this season would have turned out differently. That didn't happen.
And you saw the reaction from IU fans during the
season when they booed the team and taunted Mike Woodson
multiple times and Assembly Hall, you know, I don't think
was and that's really large crowds, but from people that
you know, I've talked to you. So there were a
(07:16):
lot more empty seats in the lower bowl they can
remember in a long time. And it's been a good
bit since, you know, the twenty sixteen Big Ten championship team,
and they've watched Wisconsin and Michigan State and Purdue and
other schools move it, you know, farther ahead of them
in the Big Ten pecking order and lose five straight
(07:37):
games to Northwestern and not being able to beat Nebraska.
So yeah, he's got I think that that part of
the job should not be overlooked. IU needs to do
a better job of reaching out to fans and letting
them know that they understand the anger of frustration that's
out there.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I think one thing that some of us in the
media have a bad habit of doing is trying to
rush to great hire and I think maybe a long
time ago it may have been easier to do that,
but now with just how everything has changed in college
sports with the transfer portal and players getting paid and
the chance to really, you know, rebuild a roster just
in one off season. I mean, compare it now to
(08:18):
what it was when Tom Green took over. It was
a multi year deal. This is not that anymore, and
so I hesitate to, you know, ask for to create
a hire or anything. But the one thing I look
at that I think that Devrees did last offseason. That's
going to be important obviously for him to do, and
he did it successfully. When he took over West Virginia
(08:39):
was he inherited a pretty bad situation there with that team,
and he rebuilt it quickly through the transfer portal, was
able to identify a lot of key players. Obviously his son,
who most people believe is now going to come to
Bloomington and that will obviously it'd be a pretty nice
piece to start out with. But you know, Javon Small
was a guy that he went and beat some really
good programs out in the transfer portal to get him.
(08:59):
And there was a couple of guys that transferred over
from Illinois and he was able to put those pieces
together and build a team that most people believe should
have made the NCAA tournament. So with the resources that
he's going to have available in Indiana, I think the
expectations for Indiana to be a competitive team right off
the bat should be there.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, I agree, And we saw it this year at Louisville,
a whole new team and they've earned an eight seed
and should have been a sixth seed. We've seen at
other place as Kentucky has a whole new team this year.
I think that's a very fair assessment, and I agree
with you. I mean, I think I agree with When
Archie Miller was hired. I think a lot of people
thought that I got the best coach who was available
(09:40):
during that hiring cycle, and it didn't turn out to
be the case. He wasn't as good a coach as
we thought he was going to be, and that's he's
gone on the show at Westwood, Rhode Island or are
still struggling, and he wasn't really the guy for the
job personality wise. Mike Woodson, I think was more of
a lukewarm reaction. Everybody was expecting they're going to get
Brad Steve and then they got Mike Woodson and he
(10:02):
was more of accepted because he's a former value player
and kind of bridged back to the night era, and
that didn't work. So you never know. I mean, people
at Villanova were thrilled to get Kyle Neptune. Now they've
run him out after three years. So it's to be
determined how good of a you gotta wait three or
four years to see how good. This is the one
thing I'll say, you know, when I go back and
(10:24):
look at his record and I text you this year earlier.
Drake not a great program when he got there. They
from nineteen seventy one until twenty twenty one. When he
went to the NCAA tournament, they'd only gone one time,
so they'd gone once in fifty years, and he went
three times in six years when he was there. Yeah,
(10:44):
his first year there, he took over from Nico Medved
and he bumped him up from seventeen wins to twenty four.
West Virginia was terrible last year. They won nine games.
This year he won nineteen and would have won more
without the injuries they had. And so he's shown those
are those are positive signs in terms of you know,
he's he's been able to do things when and make
(11:07):
an impact since he's taken over different jobs.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, and I did. I did read a tweet earlier
from franfur Scilla, who covers the Big Twelve as closely
as anybody instead that said something to the and I'm paraphrasing,
you know, he's one of the better coaches that he had,
he had watched last season in terms of just how
he worked with his team. And to me, that's a
pretty strong endorsement coming from somebody because you know, you
(11:31):
watch you know, Fran works a ton of Big Twelve
games all season, follows that league as closely as anybody.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I know.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
He was super impressed with with what Devrees was able
to do this past year at West Virginia. To me,
that's a little bit more important coming from a guy
who's been in coaching than you know, just somebody throwing
out a random letter grade. This is a B minus higher,
this is a B plus. This is somebody that actually
kind of studied what he did last season with that
team and and then going back to watching them playing
the Battle for Atlantis. I agree with you. Going into
(11:59):
that event, you know, I think everyone thought it was
a foregone conclusion that you know, West Virginia was going
to be maybe the week one of the weaker teams
in the field, and what they were able to do
down there was was really impressive. They had some injuries
of this season, and just overall it feels like, uh,
(12:20):
from from reading about Darren Devrees, he's a grinder, a
guy that really embraces the work ethic part of it,
and to me that's important coming into this job.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah. I mean, I'm pretty sure they won their Big
Twelve opener at Kansas in the Elfield House. You know,
I think that the fact that he was willing to
leave West Virginia after one year shows ambitiously is because
I think, if you're honest about it, you say, why
would you do that? Well, because I'm sure it's more money,
(12:51):
but it's also where you have a better chance. You're
gonna have more resources at Indiana because they're in the
Big ten, not in the Big twelve. You're gonna have
more n I L at Indiana. Then you're gonna have
it West Virginia because it's got a bigger fan base
and you're going to have bigger pressure and bigger expectations
in Indiana because we've seen, you know, what's unfolded over
(13:11):
the last fifteen or twenty years, and he's not shying
away from that challenge. And as I mentioned to you,
it's curious that Dusty May didn't want to leave Michigan
after one year, which is to his credit if he had,
it feels like he had a commitment to the Wolverines
and could build something there. But Devrees was willing to
leave West Virginia after one year.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah. The other, you know, the other thing we kind
of mentioned, I think is a sarch one along was
to watch the Big twelve right in terms of a
league where they could potentially get a coach, because everyone
talks about, you know, the Big ten and the SEC
are the two conferences that coaches want to be in now,
and the Big twelve is one of the you know,
the ACC obviously probably on better ground than the Big twelve,
(13:53):
and everyone kind of gravitated towards litt T j Olzelberger
or Scott Drew, but ultimately they are able to pick
off a coach for another a Big from a Big
twelve school. And I think, kind of building on what
you said there, a lot of it does have to
do with the resources they're going to be available. If
he was able to build a team that he was
that he put together last spring at West Virginia with
(14:13):
I don't know what the ANIL deal was there last year,
but I would think it would have to be no
better than the middle of the pack and the Big twelve.
And from everything we've gathered on Indiana and from the
roster that we saw that they put together last year,
he's going to have as many and as much in
IL as he needs to build a team. So I
think when you look at the fact that he was
able to build a strong roster a last spring and
(14:36):
he's going to have even more resources, a lot of
it's going to be figuring out which guys fit what
he wants to do, and who knows, maybe there's a
player or two that are on the current roster that
work out and he wants to bring back, and then
he can kind of fill the rest of the gaps
via the portal.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, and he's going to have, you know, a little
bit less than a week to talk to the guys
who are there now and find out do they want it,
Is there any chance they're going to come back? Have
they already decided they're not going to come back. Does
he want them back? And then when the portal becomes
wide open next Monday, he'll be able to target the
guys that he wants. So And another thing about West Virginia,
and I don't know if this is a factor or not,
(15:13):
it's it's one of the most Eastern schools in the
Big Twelve. I think the travel at West Virginia is hard.
You're going down and playing games in Texas all the time,
whether it's at Baylor or Texas Tech or TCU, or
you know, you're going to Kansas and Kansas State and Iowa.
It's not you know, the Big Twelve. I mean, the
(15:33):
Big Ten is obviously spread out in night too because
you got the West Coast schools, but you know, the
closest team to West Virginia Cincinnati and after that, I'm
not even sure who it is. The travel in that
league is not easy.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, last thing I wanted to touch on, just briefly,
just with how the season ended and everything with Indiana
and moving forward, just not being in a tournament for
the last couple of years, and the things we mentioned
with the fan base and just the overall feelings around
the program. How important is it going to be next
(16:07):
season for Indiana to get back to being a tournament
team in year one? Is that a fair expectation to
place on a coach in year one in a program
like Indiana.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I don't know. We'll see what he does in the portal.
I mean, it's is it fair? Probably not, But is
it going to happen? It probably is. I think what
people really want to see, though, is a team that
plays hard consistently with guys who are engaged, which I
don't think you always saw from this team. I think
they want to see a more modern style of basketball,
(16:40):
and I think he does play that in terms of
shooting the three point shot, and I just think he
wants that. People want to see a team that's more
consistently competitive than this team was. They don't want to
see getting blown out by Iowa, getting blown out by Illinois,
and we can all the other getting blown out up
by Louisville, Gonzaga, Auburn last year, Yukon last year. They
(17:04):
want to see a team that, you know, competes at
a decent level, you know, in the first year. I
guess it could happen, but in a couple of years
for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
All right, Well, just a quick episode here on Tuesday night.
Not a whole lot to say about the Higher other
than you know, it's obvious that Indiana did its due diligence.
Scott Dolson had plenty of time to research a ton
of these candidates, probably took some big swings and ultimately
lands on Darren Devrees. I think ultimately this this is
(17:36):
not going to be higher that we're going to be
able to judge in a year two. It's it's going
to take some time. And I think that with with
then il resources available and the fact that he's won
a ton of games at all of his stops, he's
got a chance to be successful. But it you know,
last couple of highers, I think we've kind of rushed
to judgment on some things, particularly with Archie Miller Higher
(17:57):
and we saw how that worked out. So there's obviously
gonna be some folks who are skeptical on this hire,
but we'll see how it all works out. We'll have
a continued coverage of the press conference and everything on
Wednesday over our Inside the Hall. And thanks again to
Rick Bosag my Dad for coming on podcast on the
Brink If you enjoy the show, please leave us the
(18:19):
rating and a review over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
and we'll be back soon with another episode of Podcasts
on the Brink.
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