stepped down<\/a> after a lackluster season \u2014 one marred by Ballo\u2019s inconsistent play.\u00a0<\/p>\nEnter Darian DeVries. And a whole new roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearly every Hoosier entered the transfer portal after Woodson\u2019s departure at the end of the season, leaving the newly-hired DeVries to put together a roster from scratch. The result is a vastly different Indiana team that fits DeVries\u2019 basketball philosophy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2024-25, 3-pointers made up 33.2% of all shots attempted by Indiana. In DeVries\u2019 lone year at West Virginia University, 46.1% of the Mountaineers\u2019 shots were from beyond the arc.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Making the long ball a core element of Indiana\u2019s identity was a priority while filling out the roster, DeVries said. And it\u2019s all about spreading the wealth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the primary threats from distance are redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries and fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson, Darian DeVries places no positional limits on who he trusts from beyond the arc.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost everybody on the roster right now has the green light to shoot them,\u201d DeVries said at Big Ten Basketball Media Days on Oct. 9. \u201cWe want everybody to be a threat out there. Even our bigs, they can all shoot it, they all got skill.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
DeVries\u2019 player-friendly offense is a show of trust in his guys. In turn, the confidence that he has in his players translates to them maintaining a high level of confidence in themselves, Tucker DeVries said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it gives the guys confidence to know that they have the green light,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One big with that coveted \u201cgreen light\u201d is senior Reed Bailey, who has a \u201cunique skill set.\u201d The 6-foot-10 Bailey is tied for the tallest on the roster \u2014 freshman center Andrej Acimovic. However, his stature didn\u2019t stop him from putting up shots during his three seasons at Davidson College. Last season, his 3-point percentage jumped to a career high 41.5%, on 1.2 attempts per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having a lineup with five shooting threats is new territory for Indiana, and it frees the Hoosiers to be more creative with their offense than in years past. Rather than relying on a post-heavy offensive attack with 3-pointers as a rarity, DeVries\u2019 offense is set up to pose a major threat from distance. With five shooters on the floor, the Hoosiers can fully spread out the defense, creating opportunities to slash simply by forcing the defense outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the 3-point shot is the emphasis of DeVries\u2019 offense, he recognized the importance of a balanced attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can’t just always shoot non-paint touch 3s,\u201d DeVries said. \u201cWe still have to put pressure on the rim. Whether it be with dribble penetration or in what we do with cutting, being able to space the floor and put pressure on the rim for people to stop cuts or posting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
An early candidate to receive those interior touches is Acimovic, the lone true center on the roster. The Bijeljina, Bosnia, native was a late addition to DeVries\u2019 squad. He joined the Hoosiers on July 28, following the NCAA\u2019s denial of eligibility waivers for guards Anthony Leal and Luke Goode earlier in the month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his four-game stint in the U19 Adriatic Basketball Association League with Igokea Mtel Aleksandrovac, Acimovic averaged 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while shooting 72.2% from inside the arc. On a roster without a clear dominant paint presence, DeVries could look to Acimovic to provide a steady and efficient hand on the interior.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another way for the Hoosiers to control the paint is with the emerging duo of senior forward Sam Alexis and Bailey. Due to foul trouble at the guard spot during Indiana\u2019s trip to Puerto Rico over the summer, the two unexpectedly had to share the floor. But DeVries liked what he saw.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty successful for us, so it’s something we’ve worked on a lot more here this fall, but they both complement each other in different ways,\u201d DeVries said. \u201cReed is really good at facing up and driving it. Sam has a little more back to basket type post-up game that he can utilize.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pairing the 6-foot-9 Alexis \u2014 who is fresh off an NCAA championship at the University of Florida \u2014 with Bailey has the potential to devastate opposing defenses. At the Cream and Crimson scrimmage<\/a>, Alexis threw down four dunks, including three off lobs. While Bailey can handle and run \u201clike a guard,\u201d DeVries said, Alexis has \u201cgot some girth.\u201d Their combination of skills gives Indiana the potential to play the two together effectively.\u00a0<\/p>\nDespite not rostering a seven-footer, DeVries likes the positional height of his team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving taller guards, longer guards will also help us in some of the rebounding pieces too,\u201d DeVries said. \u201cIt’s going to have to be more of a group rebounding effort for us to be a good defensive rebounding team, but I do like our positional side overall.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With Wilkerson and junior guards Jasai Miles and Nick Dorn, the Hoosiers have the size to overwhelm smaller teams on the boards with a potential five-man lineup all 6-foot-6 or taller.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Under former head coach Mike Woodson, the Indiana men\u2019s basketball program was a post-heavy, big-man factory. In Woodson\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99],"class_list":["post-225318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}