BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries has been more accessible to the media, especially the national media, than predecessor Mike Woodson.
On Thursday, DeVries was the guest on the CBS college basketball podcast hosted by Jon Rothstein.
Much of what DeVries said has been said before to local or national media outlets. However, Rothstein touched on a few topics that DeVries had spoken about briefly or not at all in previous interviews.
DeVries spoke about West Virginia’s exclusion from the NCAA Tournament. At the time, he was hosting his team at his house and had no expectation the Mountaineers would be snubbed from the field.
That set in motion his departure to Indiana two days later. DeVries said agents handled most of the communication until he had a deal to consider just before he was announced as head coach.
“You never really know until it’s right there. That last 48 hours is when it became more of a reality,” DeVries said. “Ultimately, I just felt like the Indiana job was one you couldn’t pass up.”
DeVries spoke about the rich vein of resources Indiana has to support basketball and how it’s different from other jobs he has had.
“The biggest things are some of the doors that are open from a resource standpoint, recruiting standpoint. To get into more living rooms, people you call recruiting, whatever it might be,” DeVries said. “The resources from facilities, to now with NIL and all of those things that have become such an important part of recruiting. But the basketball is still basketball, and it’s still 18-22-year-old kids. That part is all the same.”
DeVries was asked about balancing high school and transfer portal recruiting. With the exception of incoming freshman Trent Sisley, the 2025-26 roster had to be built via the transfer portal due to necessity, but DeVries hopes that’s a temporary situation.
“We’d love to prioritize the high school recruiting. We’ve tried to do that here as we’re getting started through this spring, summer and into the fall. We’d love for our foundation to be high school recruiting and to have as much retention as we can year-to-year. If you can do that, it gives you a better chance of sustaining long-term success,” he said.
DeVries said in building the current team he prioritized players who value winning and who are self-starters.
DeVries had no update on the waiver statuses of Luke Goode and Anthony Leal. He mentioned that his son, Tucker, has mostly been cleared for all basketball activity. He also elaborated on the nature of his relationship with Tucker, who played for him at Drake and West Virginia.
“We’ve enjoyed this time that we’ve got to spend together not only as coach and player, but father and son. You get to experience some things that a lot of people don’t get to ever do – and that’s to be around your kid as they’re going through their college experience,” DeVries said.
“It’s a lot less about the games. I was with Doug and Greg McDermott. The games are one thing, but it’s more about the road trips and everything that comes out of basketball that’s a precious time,” he added.
Indiana has announced games against Marquette (in Chicago), Louisville (in Indianapolis) and at Kentucky. DeVries said the remaining schedule is being fleshed out.
“You’ve got to get some home games to fill the stadium and create some revenue. It’s finding that balance of really challenging ourselves to get ready for a 20-game league schedule and finding the best kind of mix-and-match to do that is certainly something that we want to find that right balance,” DeVries said.
Finally, DeVries gave a sort of mission statement on how things will be going forward under his watch at Indiana.
“I think it’s to establish an identity of who we want to be and how we want to play. What does that look like on a day-to-day basis. I don’t get too wrapped in win predictions. We’re really focused on making that process right and when the process is right, wins are going to come,” DeVries said.
The full podcast can be viewed here.
Men’s basketball top 16 players of the 2020s
No. 5 – Malik Reneau
No. 6 – Trey Galloway
No. 7 – Oumar Ballo
No. 8 – Mackenzie Mgbako
No. 9 – Al Durham
No. 10 – Miller Kopp
No. 11 – Xavier Johnson
No. 12 – Justin Smith
No. 13 – Rob Phinisee
No. 14 – Luke Goode
No. 15 – Devonte Green
No. 16 – Anthony Leal
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
