How Indiana Basketball Has 'Come So Far' in Darian DeVries' First Offseason

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — When Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries boarded the team's plane to fly home from Puerto Rico on Aug. 12, an abundance of unwatched film and unsorted data awaited him in Bloomington.

The Hoosiers went 3-0 in their Puerto Rico exhibition series, defeating local college team Universidad de Bayamon in convincing fashion, 98-47, and twice beating Serbian professional outfit Mega Superbet.

But the trip wasn't about results. It was about building chemistry, about uniting a roster with little history together and about gauging whether DeVries' words had processed into his players' minds.

DeVries saw plenty of positives from his team's on-court product in Puerto Rico. The Hoosiers played fast, shot lots of 3-pointers and rallied from behind in both of their wins against Mega Superbet.

Off the floor, Indiana spent an entire week together doing things DeVries said just don't happen often on campus. He and senior guard Tayton Conerway were kayaking teammates. The Hoosiers went snorkeling and jet-skiing and played sand volleyball. It was an invaluable stretch for a roster and coaching staff that features no returners from last year's Indiana squad.

There were negative moments on the court, but DeVries rightfully viewed them more as learning opportunities. The key is making the right corrections and capitalizing on the litmus test Puerto Rico provided.

DeVries feels the Hoosiers have done exactly that.

Entering Indiana's exhibition opener against Marian at 7 p.m. Friday inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, DeVries said the Hoosiers have made significant strides on both ends of the court since returning to Bloomington after a week in paradise.

"The biggest thing is just defensively I think we've gotten a lot more connected from our trip to Puerto Rico," DeVries said. "You can just see it in the way we are a lot more aggressive, a lot more attacking as we understand positioning and where we're supposed to be a little bit better so we're not half a count late maybe to stuff like we were in the summertime. I think that part has been really good.

"And then ball movement and the crispness there has been good. The other day we were charting live five-on-five, and I think we had a day like this early in the summer, but yesterday we had 31 assists and three turnovers in our practice. That just tells you a little bit about what we're doing on the offensive end in terms of the way we move the ball and things."

The growth leaves DeVries "excited" about the more-refined product the Hoosiers have turned into. It's been continual, too.

After the Hoosiers' open-to-media practice Sept. 30, DeVries said his defensive system — which doesn't have many rules and lacks a defined guideline for when, and what, to switch — takes time for players to understand. Communication is another important aspect. Players begin hesitant to talk, because they're unsure the specifics of the play call.

Now, there's less hesitation. Indiana has built connectivity on the defensive end, and DeVries believes the Hoosiers have made significant strides as a result.

"You can see it now and they're becoming more confident in what they're doing," DeVries said. "More physical, they can play faster because of that, and that's something we have to be really good at. We have to be very connected as a defense and still have the ability to play hard and fast without slowing them down with a lot of rules.

"I like the progress we've made. There's still room, plenty of room, to grow there. But they'll continue to work at it."

Part of DeVries' optimism about Indiana continuing its evolution stems from the fact the Hoosiers still haven't stopped growing. They haven't yet met a ceiling incapable of being penetrated. He's seen it firsthand since practices began the first week of June.

"I think we've come a long way since June," DeVries said. "A lot of you saw it back in June; I don't think you would have said that maybe back then that we were a good defensive team. So, I think we've made some strides and still got some work to do for sure."

The principle applies to Indiana as a collective. The Hoosiers started summer practices with a blank canvas. DeVries liked the pieces he'd added, but there was no camaraderie, no cohesion, no semblance of an identity.

Four-and-a-half months of practices and a week-long trip to Puerto Rico later, and Indiana now finds itself with a strong foundation entering the exhibition season.

"I think it's refreshing to see the guys' growth and just understanding the concepts and the terms," said senior forward Tucker DeVries, the son of Darian. "Honestly, the team's growth of how we're coming together, meshing, leading up to the season — I think if you were to watch a practice from June 5th to now, it's not even the same team.

"It's fun to be a part of those strides and just see how the team has come so far."

The Puerto Rico trip, Tucker DeVries said, was particularly important for the Hoosiers to see where they stood in their installation and team-building process.

"We were able to address some things when we came back in August," DeVries said. "And I think over the last few weeks, we've certainly made a lot of strides in areas that we realized needed a lot of improvement. And obviously, there's still a lot of improvement before the season.

"But you should always be trying to get better at everything, no matter how good you are."

Indiana has shown no signs of complacency. Darian DeVries said at the end of September his team's best quality is its coachability. From the first week of June through the start of fall practice, the Hoosiers showed a desire to learn and get better.

There are always good and bad days, DeVries said. Some practices are better than others. But that's all part of the preseason, and why the Hoosiers relished their trip to Puerto Rico and the 10 additional practices they gained in the process.

Indiana remains far from a finished product, and the Hoosiers will begin the regular season with limited depth due to several injuries among scholarship players. Speedbumps, perhaps even roadblocks, feel like a given.

But DeVries is trying to lay the groundworks for a successful tenure. His first game as Indiana's coach in Assembly Hall comes Friday night. He wants to see effort, communication, unselfishness and ball movement. And, in alignment with his core offensive philosophy, no hesitation from 3-point range.

Friday starts a new era of Indiana basketball. There have been glimpses of what DeVries' first squad can be — the Hoosiers have held two open practices and an intrasquad scrimmage along with the Puerto Rico series — but as the regular season nears, the urgency and intensity to turn glimpses into consistency is rising.

DeVries feels the Hoosiers, who are one of only seven high-major programs to replace their entire roster, have caught up to the rest of the sport. They're connected, they're enthusiastic and they're molding into the form he'd hoped.

Now, it's showtime.