My Two Cents: Ask the Perfect Question, Get the Perfect Answer from Devonte Green
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The microphone had worked its way through the room, and there it was, in my hands. I had a question for Indiana senior guard Devonte Green, and I was a bit surprised none of my first four or five colleagues hadn't asked it.
So i fired away, like good shooters do when you're open from three. I wasn't concise, but I nailed it. Nothing but net. It wasn't rehearsed, but I had been waiting to ask it for so long that I knew what I wanted to say.
It was the perfect question, delivered perfectly, with no "where do you go'' confusion.
"Devonte, in your time here, you've had a whole bunch of highs,'' I said. "The games where you've had to struggle through, the fans — the quote-unquote fans — have given you grief a lot of times. Sometimes you have been able to handle that pretty well and sometimes you haven't. When you look back on your four years here, what do you want to say to all those people?
The response was priceless, mostly because senior teammate De'Ron Davis couldn't stop laughing himself. Both broke up in laughter, which is EXACTLY what the moment had called for.
It was the perfect reaction to the perfect question.
Green at first, was brutally honest. But it was the perfect answer, too.
"I mean, I probably can't say what I really want to say,'' Green said. "No, honestly, I thank all of them, even the good fans for sticking with us. I've had some positivity over the years. Even with the negativity though, it's only been fuel to the fire. So I thank them too, because they helped me learn how to battle adversity.
"I mean, especially where I want to play, I want to keep playing, people aren't always going to like you or tell you what you want to hear. I think they taught me a lot. I think I've learned a lot from them.''
Swish,
This is what Senior Day is for, to capture moments like that. It's been quite a journey for Devonte Green at Indiana. Hell, he had quite a journey through life BEFORE he got here. And now, it's almost over.
The almost is important, because Green and his teammates still have a lot of work to do, both on Saturday and then in next week's Big Ten tournament. Saturday's regular season finale against Wisconsin is huge. Right now, Indiana is on the right side of just about every NCAA tournament projected bracket, and a win over Wisconsin would likely secure a bid.
"He's like every other player. They view the eyes of the game their own way,'' Miller said of Green on Friday. "I think Devonte really values his dynamic offensive ability. I think you've seen the guy throughout the course of this season and in games in his career where he's the best player on the floor. I think he envisions himself as that guy every time he takes the floor.
"Sometimes it backfires on him, like it does all guys, but he has a lot of pride and self-confidence. You have to find a way for him to be able to be impactful. In our wins, he's very impactful, and I think a lot of people would look and say, three-point line and his scoring bursts, but I think when he's been most impactful he's engaged in a lot of other areas. He's been an important defensive player for us lately, too.''
Finishing with a bang is huge because Green and Davis have never played in the NCAA tournament. They've missed out three years in a row, first under Tom Crean, the coach who recruited them, and then two years under Archie Miller, the coach who asked them to stay at Indiana.
The pair is tip-toeing through some rare history at the finish. The last senior class to go through four years at Indiana without making the NCAAs was the 1972 group of Joby Wright and Rick Ford, Bob Knight's very first team. That was 48 years ago.
Green wants that bid, and that starts with locking it up on Saturday. But that won't be easy, because Wisconsin has probably been the surprise team in the Big Ten this season, and they are playing for a share of the Big Ten regular season championship. They also beat Indiana once this year, winning by 20 way back on Dec. 7, and if that seems like it was months ago, well, it was.
So there's a lot on the line BEFORE the Senior Day speeches.
"These four years have been great,'' Green said. "I've been blessed to just even be in the positions that I've been in. I mean, we set a goal in the beginning of the season. We knew what was on the line for us, as seniors especially, and we want to finish it up the best we can and do something we've never done before in our four years.''
Finishing off their careers in style would be huge, especially for Green. They've been through a coaching change, which is never easy. It is starting over with a head coach and new assistants that you have been met.
That is not easy, because there's a trust factor involved. That takes time. Sometimes, it takes a very long time.
"For us, we're the last two standing from the Crean era. Not everybody did stick with it. I think that the fact that we chose to (stay) says something about us. Like I said earlier, we set a goal this season. We're very close to reaching that goal now, so sticking with it — it felt like the right choice.''
There have been some magical moments for Green this season. He helped in a huge way to beat ranked teams liked Ohio State and Iowa, and "then FSU this year was probably the most exciting game I've been in in my entire career,'' he said of the December night when he scored 30 in Indiana's upset win during the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
But there have been other moments as well, Green is the ultimate hot-and-frozen streaky player. He is a shooter first, and when he's hot, points can come in bunches. "The big games we've won this year, he's been a big reason why,'' Miller said of Green. "There isn't a player on our roster who can get points quickly like Devonte can.''
But he can also drive you nuts, which he's been good at for four years. He's been prone to taking bad shots, and prone to making bad decisions with the ball. A lot of that, though, is this huge desire to win that burns inside of him. He hates losing. He wants, more than anything, exactly what those nasty Twitter trolls want, for Indiana to be successful and relevant again.
I'm on Green's side on this, and I've said so from the beginning. On a team that has virtually no perimeter attack, I'll take the good with the bad with Green any day. I wrote that the night he scored 30 against Florida State, and I've written it a few times since. And even here in March, Indiana's best chance of winning is going to be on days where Green in knocking down open jump shots from beyond the arc.
The sands through the hourglass are just about done flowing, but Green still plans on some magical moments.
He was able to laugh at my question Friday, and that was good. He's a reader of what's said about him, and sometimes that's gotten him in trouble. Not with the media, but with vitriol from "fans'' on social media who say the most vicious things but would curl up in a ball in a back alley if they ever had to confront Green or one of his teammates face-to-face . I hate those people, the attackers, and I block them as fast as I can. Green does too.
Constructive criticism is fine, but the personal attacks go way too far. These are still kids, mind you, and those jack wagons give the real Indiana fans a bad name. But through it all, Green has learned. He really has enjoyed his time here in Bloomington, even if he and Miller do the dance now and then and butt heads. They all want the same thing. WE all want the same thing.
The end of Friday's media session was something, too, away from the cameras. As Green and Davis were leaving, I walked over Devonte and we smiled at each other as we shook hands.
"I had to ask,'' I said.
"No, it was great,'' he said with another big laugh. "I thought it was the perfect question, and I think I gave you a great answer.''
I told him he did and reminded him that those trolls down in mom's basement with the six bags of Cheetos and the case of Mountain Dew were a vast but not-so-silent minority.
"I know that now,'' he said. "Still didn't mean I had to like it, but I've learned to ignore it.''
The exchange was great, because that just doesn't happen around Indiana basketball. Those one-one moments just don't happen. So I'm glad we had it.
And, without cheering in the press box, I really hope that Green finishes his Assembly Hall days in style on Saturday. I hope he plays well in a must-win game, and then I hope he nails his speech afterward. Senior Day is special that way.
Because despite the occasional bad things on the court, Devonte Green has worked his butt off for four years at Indiana. He has earned our respect, and he deserves a fond farewell.
I hope he gets it.
And has one more hearty laugh.
