October 22, 2025 • 34 mins
On this episode, Alex Bozich is joined by Tony Adragna of IU Film Room for a preseason IU basketball discussion.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome back to a new episode of Podcast on the
Brink Wednesday, October twenty second, exactly two weeks away from
the start of the Indiana basketball season, the first year
of Darren de Rees and Bloomington. Although not a ton
of buzz right now for IU basketball, considering the start
(00:40):
of IU football season seven and zero ranked number two
in the Associated Press Top twenty five pole, I was looking.
I think it's thirteen days until the first CFP rankings
come out, so we'll get a better indication of where
Indiana actually stands in the eyes of the committee coming
up here in less than two weeks. Before we get
to this week's guest on Podcast on the Brink, Tony
(01:02):
and Johnya of IU Film Room wanted to take a
quick moment to ask, if you get a chance, please
leave us a rating and review over on Apple Podcasts
and Spotify. I've been seeing a lot of those lately.
Really appreciate the support. If you're on YouTube watching us there,
please like the video, please subscribe to the channel. Have
had tremendous growth in recent months of the YouTube channel
(01:22):
continuing to try to push closer to ten thousand subscribers there,
so every subscriber accounts. Please support us over there. Tony,
it's been a while. I think it's been since the spring.
You've been busy. I've been busy. Reached out earlier this
week and wanted to have you on. Appreciate you taking
the time. How's it going. I know things are busy
(01:44):
over their new coaching job and obviously gearing up for
the basketball season. But how you been.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, I've been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I always appreciate coming on podcasts on the Brink and
whenever I get those dms, I'm all was excited to
make some time to get on and talk to IU
hoops and just hoops in general with you. So things
have been good. Like you said, busy but excited. It's
to me it's like Christmas time, like basketball season's coming around,
(02:13):
and then you get the added bonus. Like you mentioned,
I VAYU football these past couple of years. Is certainly
this year number two in the country. It's like I'm
living a fever dream. So it's it's been a lot
of fun and certainly excited to chat some hoops with
you today.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
For those who don't know, Tony is actually back in
the coaching game. I know people gave you a hard
time on X over the last year. Are you actually
a coach? Well, he actually is a coach now, so
you have to respect that. He's the head coach now
at Greenwood Christian Academy, one a school in Indiana. How
did that opportunity come about? And what I guess factors
led to you getting back into the You have a
(02:52):
lot of young kids running around there of the house
and busy with work. But why did you decide right
now was the time to get back into coaching.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So, actually, for for all the haters out there, I'm
coach times three right now, I'm coaching my son in soccer,
coaching Greenwock Christian Academy, and then I'm coaching my son
and Bitty e ball basketball right now as well.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So I don't know what I'm doing with my life.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I'm I'm just creating more and more work for myself.
But no, it's fun in terms of the green With
Christian Academy job. Honestly, it's one that I've always respected.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Johnny Marlin, former Hoosier and then All American at at
Indiana Wesleyan had that job.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It really built the program up.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
And be quite frank it's it's five minutes from my house,
and it's values align with where I'm at. I feel
like in the state of Indiana, just where where everything's at.
Like basically the transfer portals opened up in high school
basketball as well, I feel like I can have a
(03:58):
greater impact at a smaller school lives and on the game.
You know, I'm not just trying to accumulate talent. I'm
really trying to mold and develop a program and players.
So that's kind of how that came to be. The
job opened up. Jackson Williams did a great job there.
He's now the head coach at Martinsville, So that job
opened up. It's it's close to the house, and like
(04:19):
I said, values a line, and one thing led to another.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And in and around.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Like the end of May, I was named the head
coach there and really hit the ground running. You know,
in the state of Indiana, June is huge for basketball
in the offseason. So in the June, I think I
coached like eighteen games. We had workouts Monday through Thursday.
So it's kind of a baptism by fire, just trying
to get to know my team and stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
But I'm super fired up about it.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Our fish first official practice is less than three weeks away,
and I'm excited and and I I have a sneaking
suspicion There'll be some folks keeping.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Their their eye on the scores of my games.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
And I I'm confident that when that those l's come,
I'll hear about it a little bit, which is fine.
It's it's all in good fun. But I'm excited for it.
I'm super fired up to be the head coach there.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Hopefully nobody starts at Greenwood Christian Academy Film Room and
lock you in on next, but I could see some
crazy out there doing it.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Hey, I'm here for If somebody wants to break down
my film and help me out, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I need all the help I can get.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Just one other quick question on that. I know you
spent some time at Southport coaching at getting back into it.
How much has the landscape change in terms of rules
and different things in terms of player and movement, and
how will that impact just not just your program, but
other programs in the state of Indiana moving forward.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, honestly, it's it's nuts, you know.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
It's I'm all for like player empowerment and guys being
able to make decisions that they feel as best. I
just wish it was that player only making those decisions
and there war wasn't out outside in luences.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
But that's the nature of it.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know, we're not naive enough to think that that's
how things work, but yeah, it's it's you know, as
I mentioned, the transfer portal, if you will, is kind
of open up in the state of Indiana. You get
one free transfer as long as you do it for
your senior year. You know, there will certainly be some
people that that really tried to latch onto that and
and figure out how to navigate that, and you know,
(06:25):
it's part of it.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
There there's still not supposed to be any recruiting or
anything of that sort, but as we know that that
does happen, especially in the state of Indiana. But for me,
like I love to see though, just how the game's evolving,
there's still I mean, the state of Indiana high school
coaching is second to none.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Garrett Wine grew up at Fisher's.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
He actually had a press conference yesterday They're playing in
a Daton event, and he took a couple of jabs
at at prep school coaches he was he was talking about,
you know, the reason that Indiana and Ohio programs beat
these prep schools at this tournament is because they're better coached,
which I thought was was a pretty funny little job there.
(07:11):
And he also said, and I've got two juniors that
are are very, very good, and I know all these
prep schools are gonna be watching them and calling them
and tell them how good their program is when.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
After they're done watching them.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
So I appreciated that from coach Wineger because it was
very real. But yeah, there's a lot of movement, a
lot of stuff going on in the state.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
But you know, ultimately.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
It's it's so much fun to be a part of.
And the basketball in the state of Indiana is still
second to none in my opinion, And there's there's so
much talent, and even at the one A level where
I'm coaching, there's there's still so much talent and kids
really really want to be good and and and get better.
And and you know, I mentioned Johnny Marlin. He's got
a training academy on the south side of Indianapolis. He's
(07:51):
got hundreds and hundreds of kids flowing in and out
that just want to get better. So I don't think
that the state of Indiana basketball is going anywhere and
terms of the talent that it can produce, but time
certainly are changing. But it's kind of like coach Signetti says, like,
you know, you just got to kind of roll with
those and if you're not getting better or getting worse,
so you just kind of got to really dive into
(08:13):
it and just you know, play play by the rules
and and hope that everything works out in your favor.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, well, good luck with everything with that. We'll obviously
be following as closely as we can. I know IU
community is very thankful for all the stuff you've done
over the years with the film room, and we'll be
rooting for your success. So again, good luck with that.
And I know as someone I know you love the
game of basketball, so I think it's great that you're
getting back into it. Obviously it's a smaller school. I
(08:43):
think you know a lot of times you can have
a bigger impact at a place like that because you know,
you can work, or you have you have less kids
to try to deal with, and you can make a
bigger impact. So good again, good luck and congratulations on
that opportunity. So obviously we're here to talk AU basketball,
and there was an exhibition game on Friday night, not
a very competitive exhibition game. But as I watched it
(09:06):
and texted with a couple of people throughout the game,
I thought, at times in years past, maybe this it
would have been a game that would have been a
little bit closer than than sixty points. We've kind of
had the evidence to see that. So I was impressed
from the standpoint of Indiana kind of came out and
put their foot down immediately, and it was an inferior opponent.
(09:28):
But obviously can't take a ton away from a game
against an NAI opponent. But I'm sure you watched it.
What were your just big picture thoughts on getting a
first glimpse of Darien Deriz's first IU team there in
Assembly Hall.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I was watching that with one of my buddies.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
I was actually I was down in Orange Beach, Alabama
with a buddy of mine and our families and we
were watching it, and I was like, you know, we're
two years removed from are you being down at halftime
to University of Indianapolis in an exhibition game? So it's
not out of the question that some of the times,
these exhibitions aren't necessarily great basketball. And even look back
to I use exhibition last season against Marion, and it
(10:07):
was just kind of like looking at stats and things
that they did last year against Maryon, Indiana just pounding
the ball inside where they obviously had a size advantage.
Milik Renew and Omar Bala were fifteen for fifteen inside
the arc, and so really, obviously you take advantage of
your size and basketball because that's how it works, but
like you don't really get to see a lot in
that they went six for twenty five from three last
(10:30):
season in that exhibition. This season obviously fifteen for thirty
from the outside. And while you certainly take advantage of
size and things, it wasn't like Indiana was just pounding
it inside and saying go one on one and go
to work. Like there's actually some concepts and offense and
things that they were doing that was exciting to me.
(10:50):
So I posted a short little breakdown on x that
was essentially just breaking down some of the actions that
Indiana was doing, and a lot of them were or
like actions that you'll see in the NBA. Actions You'll
see like Greg McDermott, Matt painter Dan Hurley run that
are kind of what you would call modern actions, a
(11:11):
lot of ghost screens, which is basically like when a
guy attempts to go set a screen but kind of
slips out of it before he sets it, which things
are just that are hard to guard. I mean, that's
why ultimately teams do it right, and so I liked
a lot of that. They ran this five out what
you would call delay action, which is you get the
(11:32):
ball in your five man's hands with a five out
of alignment and he can kind of make some decisions
from there. They got a Tucker Devrees wide open three
off a flare screen out of that action. And so
ultimately what I liked was, you know, Indiana didn't run
a bunch of sets and things like that. They really
were playing out of concepts, and to me, that's the
(11:54):
most exciting part about this. Obviously, defensively, they're just gonna
be able to overpower a team like so you don't
get to see a ton of what they're gonna do schematically.
You know, they switched some ball screen stuff, but they're
just a superior opponent, so you don't get to see
a ton defensively, but offensively, was where I was most
intrigued because there was a lot of modern actions. What
(12:16):
I talked about a lot in my video was the
short role action that Indiana was running, which is basically
like when you set that ball screen, instead of just
diving straight to the rim, you kind of dive like
fifteen feet.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
The guy catches the ball.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
There a lot of times Detucker deve Reese actually catching it,
and then you're in a two on one situation and
you can make reads from there, and obviously you made
great reads. Indiana got a ton of a wide open
three point looks out of that. Obviously, them shooting the
basketball fifteen from thirty from deep, the most threes Indiana
had made in a game since the Tom creen era.
Like those are the things that it's like, oh, okay,
(12:49):
Like I was talking with somebody and they were like,
you know, I kind of forgot how much I had
to like try to talk myself into what Indiana has
been doing the last eight.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Seeds, Like okay, like, yeah, I guess that works.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And that's not to like I'm really not trying to
like put down previous regimes, but it's just like their
style of play wasn't necessarily aesthetically pleasing, whereas like you
watch this and again it's Marion, it's the rest of
the season. We could watch and be like, whoa, this
is not aesthetically pleasing. But in that game, in that instance,
you saw things that give you kind of hope for
the future of like this is going to be a
(13:24):
fun brand of basketball to watch, which was most exciting
to me.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, even on the on the thirty threes attempted making fifteen.
I mean again not trying to go back into time
and bash other IU teams, but I don't feel I
don't feel like there's been many teams in the last
eight years, going dating back to the Tom Creen era
that would have made fifteen out of thirty, even with
(13:51):
light defense being played on them. So the fact that
they actually stepped up to the line and made those
shots and Lamar Wilkerson wasn't even a huge part of it.
So it was guys like Trent Sisley and I want
to talk about both of those guys and get your
thoughts on that. Ryan did a film session breakdown of
targeted frees, which obviously, again we're caveating all of this
(14:11):
with the fact that they were playing Mary, but it
was also the first time we've seen him play in
an IU uniform in this behal I was impressed with
just how creative he was in terms of getting his shots.
He obviously took some threes that were wide open there,
but he had one play kind of where he did
a little fade away attempt in the lane. Seems like
he's going to be really good in the mid range.
And also he had a backdoor cut there for a
dunk at one point. I believe what what do you
(14:34):
make of just the way Indiana seems like they're going
to utilize him this year? Is he going to be
kind of their go to guy offensively in your mind?
And are there other things maybe that we didn't see
on Friday Night that we that we could see once
the season starts for Tucker.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah, to me, he's one of the most slept on
guys in college basketball coming into this season because he
didn't play a lot last season. You know, he was
coming off an injury obviously of fake injury. If you
ask the West Virginia fans and you know he's one
of the best players in college basketball.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
He just is.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
He's older as well, which we've seen that's a recipe
for success in college basketball. But to me, with him,
he's got such gravity on the floor, meaning, you know,
teams have to account for him no matter what he's doing.
There was a play I highlighted in my breakdown where
(15:29):
somebody drove to the basket and there was help side
from the the opposite corner. It left Connor enright wide open. Well,
Tucker to Rees was on the wing next to him.
That guy's not gonna leave Tucker to Rees wide open.
So therefore in right had the most open three you're
gonna get in college basketball.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Because his man helped.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
And then that guy's not leaving Tucker or you're gonna
leave you know, a forty three point shooter wide open.
So for me, that's the biggest thing with him, Like
obviously there's gonna be games where he's gonna be knocked down,
he's gonna hit everything, But what also is nice is
they're gonna run actions for him that ultimately he's gonna
get somebody else open based on the gravity that he
(16:11):
has on the floor. So that's what what I look
forward to. Obviously, you know it's a cliche, but he's
a coach's son. All indications are that he's probably gonna
end up being a great coach someday himself. You know,
the people that I've talked to around the program are
just like, he's so smart about the game.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
He just understands everything.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And obviously he's running his dad's system, you know, for
for the fifth season, so he's very very comfortable in
what he's gonna do, which to me, like, you can't
discount that a guy that just knows it like the
back of his hand, that can get everybody else in
the right spots. You know, there was times where he
initiated the offense as well, which isn't really something that
(16:51):
we've seen from Indiana in quite some time. Like usually
it's like, all right, Miles Rice is a point guard,
He's gonna initiate the offense and then they're gonna go
from there. Whereas you know, in this system, it looked like, hey,
they're going to kind of have some point forward stuff
where Tucker's.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Gonna initiate the offense.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
So ultimately, yeah, I think Tucker to rees Is is
a very very very good basketball player, and.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Like I said, kind of kind of slept on. You know, he's.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Transferring to a Big ten program, a brand new team,
kind of a forgotten piece in college basketball, but when
he's on and healthy, like, he is a dynamite basketball player.
So I think he's gonna have obviously a huge impact
on this Indiana team, but in more ways than just
being able to score the ball. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
You look at the way that Bennett Starts is being
viewed coming into the Big Ten from the similar conference,
same conference, Missouri Valley. He's projected by most to be
a top three or four player in the Big Ten,
potential All American. Tucker to Rees is obviously last season
played only played eight games, but the two years part
(17:55):
of that, he was the player of the year in
the Missouri Valley Conference, So throw out last year. If
he's coming in as the two time MVC player of
the Year into the Big Ten, I think there's a
lot more hype. So I think you can make a
really good point. I agree with that. I was looking
at our preseason ranking the other day of our top
forty Big Ten players, we had him fifteen. I was
thinking to myself, I think there's a pretty good chance
he can outperform that. Again, a lot of things have
(18:17):
to go right for Indiana. He has to help them
win games. But from the statistic standpoint, he's going to
average I think five or six rebounds, probably three assists.
He's averaged over a steal for his career, and I
think he's probably good for at least fourteen to fifteen
points a game. So that's a pretty good line. As
you mentioned, good three point shooter, good free throw shooter.
Coach's son makes a lot of good decisions, and I
(18:39):
think it is the one thing that I really just
appreciate from watching not just not obviously his film this year,
but in previous year, is just his feel for the
game and his awareness of situations. He's not the best athlete,
but he can still get his shot when he needs
to because he understands just the fundamentals of basketball and
where he needs to be in positioning. So that's really impressive.
(19:00):
The other guy that has really been impressive, dating back
to the Puerto Rico trips, Trent sistlely played terrific down
in Puerto Rico. Continued that on Friday Night again, it's Marion,
but he made He's not gonna make all of us
threes in every game if he does, and he's going
to be a first round pick in the draft. Next summer,
but he made four or four threes. He's the guy
(19:21):
that I think a lot of people thought maybe coming
in it was gonna take him a year to play
a significant role. But you look at Indiana's front court
this year and there's not a lot of depth there.
Josh Harris is currently out with an injury. We don't
know how soon he's going to be back. I think
Trent Sislely going into the season is sixth or seventh,
maybe seventh or seventh man on this team going into
(19:41):
the season. What's impressed to you most about him? And
does do you agree that he looks like a guy
that is going to probably play twenty twenty five minutes
a game as a freshman.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I absolutely do agree with that, especially if, like you said,
the Puerto Rico trip leading right into the first exhibition,
it has just been dynamite.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
I took a couple of jabs at prep schools kind
of jokingly earlier in the pod, but you know, him
going to montverd Is was probably the best.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Thing that he could have possibly done in terms of
his development.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
You know, and I say that as a obviously a
head coach of a school team that you kind of
hate to see that. But at the same time, he
made a great decision for himself and went and played
against top guys in the country night in, night out.
You know, for a great coach that that does develop
his players and isn't just trying to accumulate talent. So
him doing that, I believe really enhanced his game. And
(20:37):
you know, even when I would I would dive into
some film from his Montverd stuff, it was like, Wow,
I didn't realize he had that in his game.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
And then like the Marion dunk.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
You know, I don't think people necessarily expect that, you know,
you know, I don't think people will necessarily think like
he's a great athlete, but he is again another guy
that he's got a great understanding of the game. Obviously,
his dad worked with him a ton in growing up
and and and you know, it shows that that he
really just has a great feel. And then he's just
(21:08):
bought in right to to coach Devree's system. And you know,
I believe that that that plays a big factor, Like
he just understands where to be on the floor, He
runs the floor well, he plays extremely hard, like all
the little things that that you know, you kind of
want in a player as a coach like he does,
and so that ultimately is gonna translate to him getting
(21:29):
time on the floor. And so like, I don't think
he's necessarily gonna have a huge impact scoring the ball
night in night out, but I think he's just gonna
do the right things that's gonna be hard for coach
dev Rez to keep him off the floor. So he's
been extremely impressive. You know, with freshman it's usually like
that January wall where you're not used to playing a
(21:49):
schedule of this caliber night in night out, especially against
Big ten teams or kind of brus you. So I'm
interested to kind of see how he progresses through that.
But I do think the prep school schedule, you know,
they play essentially like October to April on that prep
school schedule. So I do think that also prepared him
for kind of the grind of the Big ten seasons.
(22:11):
So where some freshmen may start trailing off, he may
kind of leap them. And so that's another piece of
it where I think his conditioning level is probably in
a really good spot to where he can His body
obviously looks good for a freshman in terms of his strength,
so I think those are things where usually with the
freshman you're like at that you know, they can kind
of trail off. I think that he's actually suited well
(22:33):
to kind of keep pushing through that kind of freshman wall.
A lot of guys hit in excel and be a
huge piece for Indiana, you know, hopefully into March.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
What's your biggest question mark just in terms of a
weakness or something you're the Indiana fans should be thinking
about potentially concerned about this team that opponents could potentially exploit.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, defense and rebounding.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
And I think it's just because of this size that
that Indiana lacks. You know, obviously they read Bailey as
their tallest guy, but you know, kind of a thin stature,
uh and you know, also coming from a mid major
programing conference, and so I think that's the natural kind
of thought processes is, you know, how are they going
(23:19):
to compete with these big ten bruisers. You know, you've
got some teams that'll start two seven footers and in
Indiana doesn't have that in terms of size. But also,
you know, I struggled to to really think it's gonna
be a huge weakness with what Devrees was able to
do last season with West Virginia in terms of the
defensive side of the ball. I mean, that's the reason
(23:40):
that they were, i mean, should have been in the
NCAA tournament was their defense, and that was they lost
Tucker and he he really had those guys buy in
on the defensive end and didn't really have a huge
like rim protection threat or anything like that. So to me,
it's it's in my thought process of like what will
(24:02):
their defense and rebounding look like just because of their
natural lack of.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Height and kind of brute strength.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
But the end of the day, too, I'm like, I
don't know, man, they were pretty solid last year at
West Virginia with a similar makeup to this roster. So
that's kind of what's in my head. Obviously a lot
of guys and we got to make leaps in terms of,
you know, their conference affiliation to playing big ten night in,
(24:29):
night out. So that's another one that's I think is
a natural thought process as well as just like will
these guys be able to make that leap in that
jump But ultimately that's not as uncommon anymore for guys
to make that jump and still be able to be
productive and in a lot of ways. It's easier because
they're not the focal point of the team like they
(24:50):
were in the past, and so they things open up
a little bit more for them. And so those are
the two things that I think are like, all right,
you know, I can see how if national pundits talked
about this team and whatnot, those would be things that
are talking points and make some sense.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Is there a player or maybe it's a player or
two that you're intrigued to see in terms of how
their game translates to this level that moved up.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, I think Connorway is the big one.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
You know, he was he was dynamite and really on
the defensive end, especially like he's just got quick hands.
His finishing at the rim was unique, like everything was
kind of crafty and and you know, not just.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Like brute strength.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So he's one where I'm just like, I've got a
lot of intrigue because he's also the head of the
snake right on, both offensively and defensively. Like I talked
about West Virginia last year, Small was kind of their
head of the snake and they went kind of as
he went, especially once Tucker went down. So you know,
does Indiana have that in them, which is ultimately Connorway.
(25:59):
I don't know, so he's one where I think he's
gonna have a huge impact on how far and how
good this team can be, you know, just be naturally
being the point guard. Obviously they have in right as
well that can kind of play that that on the
ball offense and defense too, But ultimately I think Connorway
is kind of the guy that they're going to rely
(26:22):
upon to to push the pace offensively but defensively, really
impact the ball handlers and what teams are trying to
do on the offensive end as well.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, the one the one guy that comes to mind
when I when I think about that, and it's maybe
it's just because we haven't seen him as Nick Gorn
coming from over from Elon, I didn't know a ton
about him. I watched some film, but then when I
saw him a couple of weeks ago with their open practice,
he wasn't participating. He was doing kind of the non
contact stuff. But he's a legit six seven and built
(26:54):
like a football player but moves pretty well. To have
him on the wing potentially, along with Tucker and Lamar,
you could have three guys that are you know, potential
knockdown shooters on the court. At the same time, I
think that's very intriguing. You know, initially when he committed,
I thought Josiah Miles had a chance to be one
of those guys. Didn't play particularly well down in Puerto Rico,
(27:14):
didn't struggle really again in the Marriot Exhibition, so I'm
curious to see how he develops as well. But I
think from an offensive standpoint, this team's going to cause
nightmares a lot nights for teams just because of the
variety of guys that they have that can shoot and
score the ball. I agree with you on the defense
and rebounding. We'll see how that all develops. But I
think from a coaching standpoint, DeFries will be able to
(27:37):
scheme certain things on certain nights, whether that's the way
they're going to do post doubles or you know, team rebound.
On the defensive end, I think they're going to be
able to mitigate a lot of those issues.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Again, I say that knowing full well that there's going
to be games like the Michigan game where they're trying
to deal with a Demara and Mores Johnson and Linda
borg All at the same time, that's gonna be tough
for Indiana to it's content with it. That's gonna be
tough for any team in the Big Ten to contend with.
They're going to be a difficult matchup. So there's not
(28:10):
a lot of teams like that, and I think Indiana
is gonna be able to overcome some of those obstacles
just with good coaching and smart strategy. So looking ahead
to Sunday's game against Baylor, admittedly I've not looked at
all at Baylor. I think they have a completely new roster.
But what are you looking to see on Sunday from
Indiana against a team that obviously from another power conference
(28:32):
seam with a coach that has won a national championship.
So we know they're gonna be well prepared, even if
it is a Brandy roster. But I think this is
really the first moment where we might learn something about
Indiana and what they're gonna look like this season. Again,
Indiana went on the road last year in an exhibition
game and beat Tennessee, and we saw how much that
I ultimately meant. But I do think there's more intrigue
(28:53):
coming into this game than what we've seen maybe out
of the Puerto Rico trip or the Marian exhibition.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
I want to see what they do in terms of
the concepts and things that they were running against Marion
and how that translates against obviously a P four opponent
that has a lot of athletes and you know, it's
just gonna occupy more space than a team like Marian's
able to. Like Indiana had great spacing against Marion, but
(29:22):
at the end of the day too, they didn't have
a bunch of guys that have seven foot wingspans, you know,
guarding them. And so that'll be what I'm most intrigued
about offensively, is just like how do those things that
they were doing and doing very well against Marian translate
the short rule stuff. Obviously that's all on film too,
so so teams can kind of scheme around that as well.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
That's like my biggest intrigue just in general, is like
what does Indiana have to do to counter what teams
will take away as the season progresses, because that's kind
of where last season, in seasons prior, where I thought
Indiana struggled was once teams took away a Molik renew
or a new Marballo or whatever, and they knew what
(30:04):
Indiana was doing to try to get them the ball
in places they like to they struggled with kind of
the CounterPunch.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And so not that Baylor is gonna just dive.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Heavy into Indiana's Marion film and try to take everything
they did away, but so that's what I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
And then defensively is kind of the things we talked about.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
You know, Baylor is historically a really athletic team that
plays at a good pace. They're going to push the
pace and how does Indiana combat that defensively. That's I'm
excited to kind of dive into that film because I
think we'll get more of a glimpse of what Indiana
is doing schematically on defense. You know, Devrees talked about
it a lot, like he doesn't have a lot of
(30:43):
rules for his defense like that. You know, they were
like does do you switch one through four?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
And he was like, you know, I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
I don't want them thinking too hard, Like it's more
of a feel thing, like they got to play with
each other to figure out like should hit he and
I switch when there's an off ball screen and things
like that. And I'm sure they drill that and it's
not as open is that quote probably made it seem.
But at the end of the day too, like I
do think he truly means that and that's how he
coaches in his philosophy, and so I want to see
kind of what that looks like. Indiana will certainly make
(31:11):
mistakes and then there'll be things that they can clean up.
So overall, just there's a ton of intrigue. Right It's
it's the first big opponent that we've seen in Indiana play,
you know, now counting Puerto Rico and then Marion, you know,
it's it's four teams that Indiana would never play, you know,
(31:33):
in a NCAA event, and now you're finally getting that,
and so you really kind of be able to test
metals and see what they can do against opponent that
would be of their caliber, if you will. And so, yeah,
a ton of intrigue, you know, I really just want
to see the x's and o's of it in what
DeVries is kind of scheming up on both sides of
(31:55):
the ball. That's my most excited part. Every time Indiana
hires a new coach, it's like, what are they gonna do?
You know, and for the first time. You know, again
not trying to dog the last regimes, but Archie Miller
and Mike Woodson were more liked and different in terms
of how they scheme the game. Debreeze is a complete
one eighty and so that's what I'm most excited about,
(32:16):
is like, there's gonna be new things and they're trying
to get shooters open and stuff like that. So I'm
sure Ryan's in a similar boat with his film breakdowns.
It's like there's a lot of new stuff. Like you're
not like trying to bang your head against the wall
trying to figure out what they're gonna do or what
you can create content for. Like, there's a lot there
that you can kind of pull out. So that's what
I'm most excited about.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah, it'll be one pm on Sunday afternoon on Big
ten Plus. So again, if if you've not watched anything
up to this point, I would suggest at least diving
in to that game because I think, well, you'll learn
something more than what we've learned up to this point.
And then the second game of the season is Marquette
in Chicago. So it's not like Indiana has a kind
(32:56):
of a slow ramp to get to you know, their
power for opponent. They're going to play Alabama A and
M to open the season. Then they're going to go
to Chicago and play Marquette on a neutral court, which
is a pretty important game I think for non conference performance.
Because Indiana I obviously have the opportunity against Kansas State,
Louisville Kentucky. You look like two games that are going
(33:16):
to be very difficult to win. So I think Marquette's
going to be a game that they're probably want to
want to go up there and get a win just
for a non conference performance reasons. Don't want to put
too much pressure on yourself to have to go win
twelve or thirteen big ten games in your first season,
so we'll be looking forward to that. Tony. Thanks for
making the time. I know you're busy as we mentioned
at the top, and good luck with everything with the
(33:40):
new coaching gig and with the family help. Everything's well
over there, and thanks again for taking the time.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Absolutely always appreciate coming on.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Thanks everybody as always for listening to a Podcasts on
the Brink. As we mentioned at the top, if you
enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and a
review over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're watching
it on YouTube, like the channel, subscribe to the channel,
appreciate the sport support, and we'll be back soon with
another episode of Podcast on the Brain.
Welcome back to a new episode of Podcast on the
Brink Wednesday, October twenty second, exactly two weeks away from
the start of the Indiana basketball season, the first year
of Darren de Rees and Bloomington. Although not a ton
of buzz right now for IU basketball, considering the start
(00:40):
of IU football season seven and zero ranked number two
in the Associated Press Top twenty five pole, I was looking.
I think it's thirteen days until the first CFP rankings
come out, so we'll get a better indication of where
Indiana actually stands in the eyes of the committee coming
up here in less than two weeks. Before we get
to this week's guest on Podcast on the Brink, Tony
(01:02):
and Johnya of IU Film Room wanted to take a
quick moment to ask, if you get a chance, please
leave us a rating and review over on Apple Podcasts
and Spotify. I've been seeing a lot of those lately.
Really appreciate the support. If you're on YouTube watching us there,
please like the video, please subscribe to the channel. Have
had tremendous growth in recent months of the YouTube channel
(01:22):
continuing to try to push closer to ten thousand subscribers there,
so every subscriber accounts. Please support us over there. Tony,
it's been a while. I think it's been since the spring.
You've been busy. I've been busy. Reached out earlier this
week and wanted to have you on. Appreciate you taking
the time. How's it going. I know things are busy
(01:44):
over their new coaching job and obviously gearing up for
the basketball season. But how you been.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, I've been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I always appreciate coming on podcasts on the Brink and
whenever I get those dms, I'm all was excited to
make some time to get on and talk to IU
hoops and just hoops in general with you. So things
have been good. Like you said, busy but excited. It's
to me it's like Christmas time, like basketball season's coming around,
(02:13):
and then you get the added bonus. Like you mentioned,
I VAYU football these past couple of years. Is certainly
this year number two in the country. It's like I'm
living a fever dream. So it's it's been a lot
of fun and certainly excited to chat some hoops with
you today.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
For those who don't know, Tony is actually back in
the coaching game. I know people gave you a hard
time on X over the last year. Are you actually
a coach? Well, he actually is a coach now, so
you have to respect that. He's the head coach now
at Greenwood Christian Academy, one a school in Indiana. How
did that opportunity come about? And what I guess factors
led to you getting back into the You have a
(02:52):
lot of young kids running around there of the house
and busy with work. But why did you decide right
now was the time to get back into coaching.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So, actually, for for all the haters out there, I'm
coach times three right now, I'm coaching my son in soccer,
coaching Greenwock Christian Academy, and then I'm coaching my son
and Bitty e ball basketball right now as well.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So I don't know what I'm doing with my life.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I'm I'm just creating more and more work for myself.
But no, it's fun in terms of the green With
Christian Academy job. Honestly, it's one that I've always respected.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Johnny Marlin, former Hoosier and then All American at at
Indiana Wesleyan had that job.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It really built the program up.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
And be quite frank it's it's five minutes from my house,
and it's values align with where I'm at. I feel
like in the state of Indiana, just where where everything's at.
Like basically the transfer portals opened up in high school
basketball as well, I feel like I can have a
(03:58):
greater impact at a smaller school lives and on the game.
You know, I'm not just trying to accumulate talent. I'm
really trying to mold and develop a program and players.
So that's kind of how that came to be. The
job opened up. Jackson Williams did a great job there.
He's now the head coach at Martinsville, So that job
opened up. It's it's close to the house, and like
(04:19):
I said, values a line, and one thing led to another.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And in and around.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Like the end of May, I was named the head
coach there and really hit the ground running. You know,
in the state of Indiana, June is huge for basketball
in the offseason. So in the June, I think I
coached like eighteen games. We had workouts Monday through Thursday.
So it's kind of a baptism by fire, just trying
to get to know my team and stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
But I'm super fired up about it.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Our fish first official practice is less than three weeks away,
and I'm excited and and I I have a sneaking
suspicion There'll be some folks keeping.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Their their eye on the scores of my games.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
And I I'm confident that when that those l's come,
I'll hear about it a little bit, which is fine.
It's it's all in good fun. But I'm excited for it.
I'm super fired up to be the head coach there.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Hopefully nobody starts at Greenwood Christian Academy Film Room and
lock you in on next, but I could see some
crazy out there doing it.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Hey, I'm here for If somebody wants to break down
my film and help me out, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I need all the help I can get.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Just one other quick question on that. I know you
spent some time at Southport coaching at getting back into it.
How much has the landscape change in terms of rules
and different things in terms of player and movement, and
how will that impact just not just your program, but
other programs in the state of Indiana moving forward.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, honestly, it's it's nuts, you know.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
It's I'm all for like player empowerment and guys being
able to make decisions that they feel as best. I
just wish it was that player only making those decisions
and there war wasn't out outside in luences.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
But that's the nature of it.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know, we're not naive enough to think that that's
how things work, but yeah, it's it's you know, as
I mentioned, the transfer portal, if you will, is kind
of open up in the state of Indiana. You get
one free transfer as long as you do it for
your senior year. You know, there will certainly be some
people that that really tried to latch onto that and
and figure out how to navigate that, and you know,
(06:25):
it's part of it.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
There there's still not supposed to be any recruiting or
anything of that sort, but as we know that that
does happen, especially in the state of Indiana. But for me,
like I love to see though, just how the game's evolving,
there's still I mean, the state of Indiana high school
coaching is second to none.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Garrett Wine grew up at Fisher's.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
He actually had a press conference yesterday They're playing in
a Daton event, and he took a couple of jabs
at at prep school coaches he was he was talking about,
you know, the reason that Indiana and Ohio programs beat
these prep schools at this tournament is because they're better coached,
which I thought was was a pretty funny little job there.
(07:11):
And he also said, and I've got two juniors that
are are very, very good, and I know all these
prep schools are gonna be watching them and calling them
and tell them how good their program is when.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
After they're done watching them.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
So I appreciated that from coach Wineger because it was
very real. But yeah, there's a lot of movement, a
lot of stuff going on in the state.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
But you know, ultimately.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
It's it's so much fun to be a part of.
And the basketball in the state of Indiana is still
second to none in my opinion, And there's there's so
much talent, and even at the one A level where
I'm coaching, there's there's still so much talent and kids
really really want to be good and and and get better.
And and you know, I mentioned Johnny Marlin. He's got
a training academy on the south side of Indianapolis. He's
(07:51):
got hundreds and hundreds of kids flowing in and out
that just want to get better. So I don't think
that the state of Indiana basketball is going anywhere and
terms of the talent that it can produce, but time
certainly are changing. But it's kind of like coach Signetti says, like,
you know, you just got to kind of roll with
those and if you're not getting better or getting worse,
so you just kind of got to really dive into
(08:13):
it and just you know, play play by the rules
and and hope that everything works out in your favor.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, well, good luck with everything with that. We'll obviously
be following as closely as we can. I know IU
community is very thankful for all the stuff you've done
over the years with the film room, and we'll be
rooting for your success. So again, good luck with that.
And I know as someone I know you love the
game of basketball, so I think it's great that you're
getting back into it. Obviously it's a smaller school. I
(08:43):
think you know a lot of times you can have
a bigger impact at a place like that because you know,
you can work, or you have you have less kids
to try to deal with, and you can make a
bigger impact. So good again, good luck and congratulations on
that opportunity. So obviously we're here to talk AU basketball,
and there was an exhibition game on Friday night, not
a very competitive exhibition game. But as I watched it
(09:06):
and texted with a couple of people throughout the game,
I thought, at times in years past, maybe this it
would have been a game that would have been a
little bit closer than than sixty points. We've kind of
had the evidence to see that. So I was impressed
from the standpoint of Indiana kind of came out and
put their foot down immediately, and it was an inferior opponent.
(09:28):
But obviously can't take a ton away from a game
against an NAI opponent. But I'm sure you watched it.
What were your just big picture thoughts on getting a
first glimpse of Darien Deriz's first IU team there in
Assembly Hall.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I was watching that with one of my buddies.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
I was actually I was down in Orange Beach, Alabama
with a buddy of mine and our families and we
were watching it, and I was like, you know, we're
two years removed from are you being down at halftime
to University of Indianapolis in an exhibition game? So it's
not out of the question that some of the times,
these exhibitions aren't necessarily great basketball. And even look back
to I use exhibition last season against Marion, and it
(10:07):
was just kind of like looking at stats and things
that they did last year against Maryon, Indiana just pounding
the ball inside where they obviously had a size advantage.
Milik Renew and Omar Bala were fifteen for fifteen inside
the arc, and so really, obviously you take advantage of
your size and basketball because that's how it works, but
like you don't really get to see a lot in
that they went six for twenty five from three last
(10:30):
season in that exhibition. This season obviously fifteen for thirty
from the outside. And while you certainly take advantage of
size and things, it wasn't like Indiana was just pounding
it inside and saying go one on one and go
to work. Like there's actually some concepts and offense and
things that they were doing that was exciting to me.
(10:50):
So I posted a short little breakdown on x that
was essentially just breaking down some of the actions that
Indiana was doing, and a lot of them were or
like actions that you'll see in the NBA. Actions You'll
see like Greg McDermott, Matt painter Dan Hurley run that
are kind of what you would call modern actions, a
(11:11):
lot of ghost screens, which is basically like when a
guy attempts to go set a screen but kind of
slips out of it before he sets it, which things
are just that are hard to guard. I mean, that's
why ultimately teams do it right, and so I liked
a lot of that. They ran this five out what
you would call delay action, which is you get the
(11:32):
ball in your five man's hands with a five out
of alignment and he can kind of make some decisions
from there. They got a Tucker Devrees wide open three
off a flare screen out of that action. And so
ultimately what I liked was, you know, Indiana didn't run
a bunch of sets and things like that. They really
were playing out of concepts, and to me, that's the
(11:54):
most exciting part about this. Obviously, defensively, they're just gonna
be able to overpower a team like so you don't
get to see a ton of what they're gonna do schematically.
You know, they switched some ball screen stuff, but they're
just a superior opponent, so you don't get to see
a ton defensively, but offensively, was where I was most
intrigued because there was a lot of modern actions. What
(12:16):
I talked about a lot in my video was the
short role action that Indiana was running, which is basically
like when you set that ball screen, instead of just
diving straight to the rim, you kind of dive like
fifteen feet.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
The guy catches the ball.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
There a lot of times Detucker deve Reese actually catching it,
and then you're in a two on one situation and
you can make reads from there, and obviously you made
great reads. Indiana got a ton of a wide open
three point looks out of that. Obviously, them shooting the
basketball fifteen from thirty from deep, the most threes Indiana
had made in a game since the Tom creen era.
Like those are the things that it's like, oh, okay,
(12:49):
Like I was talking with somebody and they were like,
you know, I kind of forgot how much I had
to like try to talk myself into what Indiana has
been doing the last eight.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Seeds, Like okay, like, yeah, I guess that works.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And that's not to like I'm really not trying to
like put down previous regimes, but it's just like their
style of play wasn't necessarily aesthetically pleasing, whereas like you
watch this and again it's Marion, it's the rest of
the season. We could watch and be like, whoa, this
is not aesthetically pleasing. But in that game, in that instance,
you saw things that give you kind of hope for
the future of like this is going to be a
(13:24):
fun brand of basketball to watch, which was most exciting
to me.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, even on the on the thirty threes attempted making fifteen.
I mean again not trying to go back into time
and bash other IU teams, but I don't feel I
don't feel like there's been many teams in the last
eight years, going dating back to the Tom Creen era
that would have made fifteen out of thirty, even with
(13:51):
light defense being played on them. So the fact that
they actually stepped up to the line and made those
shots and Lamar Wilkerson wasn't even a huge part of it.
So it was guys like Trent Sisley and I want
to talk about both of those guys and get your
thoughts on that. Ryan did a film session breakdown of
targeted frees, which obviously, again we're caveating all of this
(14:11):
with the fact that they were playing Mary, but it
was also the first time we've seen him play in
an IU uniform in this behal I was impressed with
just how creative he was in terms of getting his shots.
He obviously took some threes that were wide open there,
but he had one play kind of where he did
a little fade away attempt in the lane. Seems like
he's going to be really good in the mid range.
And also he had a backdoor cut there for a
dunk at one point. I believe what what do you
(14:34):
make of just the way Indiana seems like they're going
to utilize him this year? Is he going to be
kind of their go to guy offensively in your mind?
And are there other things maybe that we didn't see
on Friday Night that we that we could see once
the season starts for Tucker.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah, to me, he's one of the most slept on
guys in college basketball coming into this season because he
didn't play a lot last season. You know, he was
coming off an injury obviously of fake injury. If you
ask the West Virginia fans and you know he's one
of the best players in college basketball.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
He just is.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
He's older as well, which we've seen that's a recipe
for success in college basketball. But to me, with him,
he's got such gravity on the floor, meaning, you know,
teams have to account for him no matter what he's doing.
There was a play I highlighted in my breakdown where
(15:29):
somebody drove to the basket and there was help side
from the the opposite corner. It left Connor enright wide open. Well,
Tucker to Rees was on the wing next to him.
That guy's not gonna leave Tucker to Rees wide open.
So therefore in right had the most open three you're
gonna get in college basketball.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Because his man helped.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
And then that guy's not leaving Tucker or you're gonna
leave you know, a forty three point shooter wide open.
So for me, that's the biggest thing with him, Like
obviously there's gonna be games where he's gonna be knocked down,
he's gonna hit everything, But what also is nice is
they're gonna run actions for him that ultimately he's gonna
get somebody else open based on the gravity that he
(16:11):
has on the floor. So that's what what I look
forward to. Obviously, you know it's a cliche, but he's
a coach's son. All indications are that he's probably gonna
end up being a great coach someday himself. You know,
the people that I've talked to around the program are
just like, he's so smart about the game.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
He just understands everything.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And obviously he's running his dad's system, you know, for
for the fifth season, so he's very very comfortable in
what he's gonna do, which to me, like, you can't
discount that a guy that just knows it like the
back of his hand, that can get everybody else in
the right spots. You know, there was times where he
initiated the offense as well, which isn't really something that
(16:51):
we've seen from Indiana in quite some time. Like usually
it's like, all right, Miles Rice is a point guard,
He's gonna initiate the offense and then they're gonna go
from there. Whereas you know, in this system, it looked like, hey,
they're going to kind of have some point forward stuff
where Tucker's.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Gonna initiate the offense.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
So ultimately, yeah, I think Tucker to rees Is is
a very very very good basketball player, and.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Like I said, kind of kind of slept on. You know, he's.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Transferring to a Big ten program, a brand new team,
kind of a forgotten piece in college basketball, but when
he's on and healthy, like, he is a dynamite basketball player.
So I think he's gonna have obviously a huge impact
on this Indiana team, but in more ways than just
being able to score the ball. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
You look at the way that Bennett Starts is being
viewed coming into the Big Ten from the similar conference,
same conference, Missouri Valley. He's projected by most to be
a top three or four player in the Big Ten,
potential All American. Tucker to Rees is obviously last season
played only played eight games, but the two years part
(17:55):
of that, he was the player of the year in
the Missouri Valley Conference, So throw out last year. If
he's coming in as the two time MVC player of
the Year into the Big Ten, I think there's a
lot more hype. So I think you can make a
really good point. I agree with that. I was looking
at our preseason ranking the other day of our top
forty Big Ten players, we had him fifteen. I was
thinking to myself, I think there's a pretty good chance
he can outperform that. Again, a lot of things have
(18:17):
to go right for Indiana. He has to help them
win games. But from the statistic standpoint, he's going to
average I think five or six rebounds, probably three assists.
He's averaged over a steal for his career, and I
think he's probably good for at least fourteen to fifteen
points a game. So that's a pretty good line. As
you mentioned, good three point shooter, good free throw shooter.
Coach's son makes a lot of good decisions, and I
(18:39):
think it is the one thing that I really just
appreciate from watching not just not obviously his film this year,
but in previous year, is just his feel for the
game and his awareness of situations. He's not the best athlete,
but he can still get his shot when he needs
to because he understands just the fundamentals of basketball and
where he needs to be in positioning. So that's really impressive.
(19:00):
The other guy that has really been impressive, dating back
to the Puerto Rico trips, Trent sistlely played terrific down
in Puerto Rico. Continued that on Friday Night again, it's Marion,
but he made He's not gonna make all of us
threes in every game if he does, and he's going
to be a first round pick in the draft. Next summer,
but he made four or four threes. He's the guy
(19:21):
that I think a lot of people thought maybe coming
in it was gonna take him a year to play
a significant role. But you look at Indiana's front court
this year and there's not a lot of depth there.
Josh Harris is currently out with an injury. We don't
know how soon he's going to be back. I think
Trent Sislely going into the season is sixth or seventh,
maybe seventh or seventh man on this team going into
(19:41):
the season. What's impressed to you most about him? And
does do you agree that he looks like a guy
that is going to probably play twenty twenty five minutes
a game as a freshman.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I absolutely do agree with that, especially if, like you said,
the Puerto Rico trip leading right into the first exhibition,
it has just been dynamite.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
I took a couple of jabs at prep schools kind
of jokingly earlier in the pod, but you know, him
going to montverd Is was probably the best.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Thing that he could have possibly done in terms of
his development.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
You know, and I say that as a obviously a
head coach of a school team that you kind of
hate to see that. But at the same time, he
made a great decision for himself and went and played
against top guys in the country night in, night out.
You know, for a great coach that that does develop
his players and isn't just trying to accumulate talent. So
him doing that, I believe really enhanced his game. And
(20:37):
you know, even when I would I would dive into
some film from his Montverd stuff, it was like, Wow,
I didn't realize he had that in his game.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
And then like the Marion dunk.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
You know, I don't think people necessarily expect that, you know,
you know, I don't think people will necessarily think like
he's a great athlete, but he is again another guy
that he's got a great understanding of the game. Obviously,
his dad worked with him a ton in growing up
and and and you know, it shows that that he
really just has a great feel. And then he's just
(21:08):
bought in right to to coach Devree's system. And you know,
I believe that that that plays a big factor, Like
he just understands where to be on the floor, He
runs the floor well, he plays extremely hard, like all
the little things that that you know, you kind of
want in a player as a coach like he does,
and so that ultimately is gonna translate to him getting
(21:29):
time on the floor. And so like, I don't think
he's necessarily gonna have a huge impact scoring the ball
night in night out, but I think he's just gonna
do the right things that's gonna be hard for coach
dev Rez to keep him off the floor. So he's
been extremely impressive. You know, with freshman it's usually like
that January wall where you're not used to playing a
(21:49):
schedule of this caliber night in night out, especially against
Big ten teams or kind of brus you. So I'm
interested to kind of see how he progresses through that.
But I do think the prep school schedule, you know,
they play essentially like October to April on that prep
school schedule. So I do think that also prepared him
for kind of the grind of the Big ten seasons.
(22:11):
So where some freshmen may start trailing off, he may
kind of leap them. And so that's another piece of
it where I think his conditioning level is probably in
a really good spot to where he can His body
obviously looks good for a freshman in terms of his strength,
so I think those are things where usually with the
freshman you're like at that you know, they can kind
of trail off. I think that he's actually suited well
(22:33):
to kind of keep pushing through that kind of freshman wall.
A lot of guys hit in excel and be a
huge piece for Indiana, you know, hopefully into March.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
What's your biggest question mark just in terms of a
weakness or something you're the Indiana fans should be thinking
about potentially concerned about this team that opponents could potentially exploit.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, defense and rebounding.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
And I think it's just because of this size that
that Indiana lacks. You know, obviously they read Bailey as
their tallest guy, but you know, kind of a thin stature,
uh and you know, also coming from a mid major
programing conference, and so I think that's the natural kind
of thought processes is, you know, how are they going
(23:19):
to compete with these big ten bruisers. You know, you've
got some teams that'll start two seven footers and in
Indiana doesn't have that in terms of size. But also,
you know, I struggled to to really think it's gonna
be a huge weakness with what Devrees was able to
do last season with West Virginia in terms of the
defensive side of the ball. I mean, that's the reason
(23:40):
that they were, i mean, should have been in the
NCAA tournament was their defense, and that was they lost
Tucker and he he really had those guys buy in
on the defensive end and didn't really have a huge
like rim protection threat or anything like that. So to me,
it's it's in my thought process of like what will
(24:02):
their defense and rebounding look like just because of their
natural lack of.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Height and kind of brute strength.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
But the end of the day, too, I'm like, I
don't know, man, they were pretty solid last year at
West Virginia with a similar makeup to this roster. So
that's kind of what's in my head. Obviously a lot
of guys and we got to make leaps in terms of,
you know, their conference affiliation to playing big ten night in,
(24:29):
night out. So that's another one that's I think is
a natural thought process as well as just like will
these guys be able to make that leap in that
jump But ultimately that's not as uncommon anymore for guys
to make that jump and still be able to be
productive and in a lot of ways. It's easier because
they're not the focal point of the team like they
(24:50):
were in the past, and so they things open up
a little bit more for them. And so those are
the two things that I think are like, all right,
you know, I can see how if national pundits talked
about this team and whatnot, those would be things that
are talking points and make some sense.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Is there a player or maybe it's a player or
two that you're intrigued to see in terms of how
their game translates to this level that moved up.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, I think Connorway is the big one.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
You know, he was he was dynamite and really on
the defensive end, especially like he's just got quick hands.
His finishing at the rim was unique, like everything was
kind of crafty and and you know, not just.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Like brute strength.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So he's one where I'm just like, I've got a
lot of intrigue because he's also the head of the
snake right on, both offensively and defensively. Like I talked
about West Virginia last year, Small was kind of their
head of the snake and they went kind of as
he went, especially once Tucker went down. So you know,
does Indiana have that in them, which is ultimately Connorway.
(25:59):
I don't know, so he's one where I think he's
gonna have a huge impact on how far and how
good this team can be, you know, just be naturally
being the point guard. Obviously they have in right as
well that can kind of play that that on the
ball offense and defense too, But ultimately I think Connorway
is kind of the guy that they're going to rely
(26:22):
upon to to push the pace offensively but defensively, really
impact the ball handlers and what teams are trying to
do on the offensive end as well.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, the one the one guy that comes to mind
when I when I think about that, and it's maybe
it's just because we haven't seen him as Nick Gorn
coming from over from Elon, I didn't know a ton
about him. I watched some film, but then when I
saw him a couple of weeks ago with their open practice,
he wasn't participating. He was doing kind of the non
contact stuff. But he's a legit six seven and built
(26:54):
like a football player but moves pretty well. To have
him on the wing potentially, along with Tucker and Lamar,
you could have three guys that are you know, potential
knockdown shooters on the court. At the same time, I
think that's very intriguing. You know, initially when he committed,
I thought Josiah Miles had a chance to be one
of those guys. Didn't play particularly well down in Puerto Rico,
(27:14):
didn't struggle really again in the Marriot Exhibition, so I'm
curious to see how he develops as well. But I
think from an offensive standpoint, this team's going to cause
nightmares a lot nights for teams just because of the
variety of guys that they have that can shoot and
score the ball. I agree with you on the defense
and rebounding. We'll see how that all develops. But I
think from a coaching standpoint, DeFries will be able to
(27:37):
scheme certain things on certain nights, whether that's the way
they're going to do post doubles or you know, team rebound.
On the defensive end, I think they're going to be
able to mitigate a lot of those issues.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Again, I say that knowing full well that there's going
to be games like the Michigan game where they're trying
to deal with a Demara and Mores Johnson and Linda
borg All at the same time, that's gonna be tough
for Indiana to it's content with it. That's gonna be
tough for any team in the Big Ten to contend with.
They're going to be a difficult matchup. So there's not
(28:10):
a lot of teams like that, and I think Indiana
is gonna be able to overcome some of those obstacles
just with good coaching and smart strategy. So looking ahead
to Sunday's game against Baylor, admittedly I've not looked at
all at Baylor. I think they have a completely new roster.
But what are you looking to see on Sunday from
Indiana against a team that obviously from another power conference
(28:32):
seam with a coach that has won a national championship.
So we know they're gonna be well prepared, even if
it is a Brandy roster. But I think this is
really the first moment where we might learn something about
Indiana and what they're gonna look like this season. Again,
Indiana went on the road last year in an exhibition
game and beat Tennessee, and we saw how much that
I ultimately meant. But I do think there's more intrigue
(28:53):
coming into this game than what we've seen maybe out
of the Puerto Rico trip or the Marian exhibition.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
I want to see what they do in terms of
the concepts and things that they were running against Marion
and how that translates against obviously a P four opponent
that has a lot of athletes and you know, it's
just gonna occupy more space than a team like Marian's
able to. Like Indiana had great spacing against Marion, but
(29:22):
at the end of the day too, they didn't have
a bunch of guys that have seven foot wingspans, you know,
guarding them. And so that'll be what I'm most intrigued
about offensively, is just like how do those things that
they were doing and doing very well against Marian translate
the short rule stuff. Obviously that's all on film too,
so so teams can kind of scheme around that as well.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
That's like my biggest intrigue just in general, is like
what does Indiana have to do to counter what teams
will take away as the season progresses, because that's kind
of where last season, in seasons prior, where I thought
Indiana struggled was once teams took away a Molik renew
or a new Marballo or whatever, and they knew what
(30:04):
Indiana was doing to try to get them the ball
in places they like to they struggled with kind of
the CounterPunch.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And so not that Baylor is gonna just dive.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Heavy into Indiana's Marion film and try to take everything
they did away, but so that's what I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
And then defensively is kind of the things we talked about.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
You know, Baylor is historically a really athletic team that
plays at a good pace. They're going to push the
pace and how does Indiana combat that defensively. That's I'm
excited to kind of dive into that film because I
think we'll get more of a glimpse of what Indiana
is doing schematically on defense. You know, Devrees talked about
it a lot, like he doesn't have a lot of
(30:43):
rules for his defense like that. You know, they were
like does do you switch one through four?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
And he was like, you know, I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
I don't want them thinking too hard, Like it's more
of a feel thing, like they got to play with
each other to figure out like should hit he and
I switch when there's an off ball screen and things
like that. And I'm sure they drill that and it's
not as open is that quote probably made it seem.
But at the end of the day too, like I
do think he truly means that and that's how he
coaches in his philosophy, and so I want to see
kind of what that looks like. Indiana will certainly make
(31:11):
mistakes and then there'll be things that they can clean up.
So overall, just there's a ton of intrigue. Right It's
it's the first big opponent that we've seen in Indiana play,
you know, now counting Puerto Rico and then Marion, you know,
it's it's four teams that Indiana would never play, you know,
(31:33):
in a NCAA event, and now you're finally getting that,
and so you really kind of be able to test
metals and see what they can do against opponent that
would be of their caliber, if you will. And so, yeah,
a ton of intrigue, you know, I really just want
to see the x's and o's of it in what
DeVries is kind of scheming up on both sides of
(31:55):
the ball. That's my most excited part. Every time Indiana
hires a new coach, it's like, what are they gonna do?
You know, and for the first time. You know, again
not trying to dog the last regimes, but Archie Miller
and Mike Woodson were more liked and different in terms
of how they scheme the game. Debreeze is a complete
one eighty and so that's what I'm most excited about,
(32:16):
is like, there's gonna be new things and they're trying
to get shooters open and stuff like that. So I'm
sure Ryan's in a similar boat with his film breakdowns.
It's like there's a lot of new stuff. Like you're
not like trying to bang your head against the wall
trying to figure out what they're gonna do or what
you can create content for. Like, there's a lot there
that you can kind of pull out. So that's what
I'm most excited about.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah, it'll be one pm on Sunday afternoon on Big
ten Plus. So again, if if you've not watched anything
up to this point, I would suggest at least diving
in to that game because I think, well, you'll learn
something more than what we've learned up to this point.
And then the second game of the season is Marquette
in Chicago. So it's not like Indiana has a kind
(32:56):
of a slow ramp to get to you know, their
power for opponent. They're going to play Alabama A and
M to open the season. Then they're going to go
to Chicago and play Marquette on a neutral court, which
is a pretty important game I think for non conference performance.
Because Indiana I obviously have the opportunity against Kansas State,
Louisville Kentucky. You look like two games that are going
(33:16):
to be very difficult to win. So I think Marquette's
going to be a game that they're probably want to
want to go up there and get a win just
for a non conference performance reasons. Don't want to put
too much pressure on yourself to have to go win
twelve or thirteen big ten games in your first season,
so we'll be looking forward to that. Tony. Thanks for
making the time. I know you're busy as we mentioned
at the top, and good luck with everything with the
(33:40):
new coaching gig and with the family help. Everything's well
over there, and thanks again for taking the time.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Absolutely always appreciate coming on.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Thanks everybody as always for listening to a Podcasts on
the Brink. As we mentioned at the top, if you
enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and a
review over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're watching
it on YouTube, like the channel, subscribe to the channel,
appreciate the sport support, and we'll be back soon with
another episode of Podcast on the Brain.
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