Indiana set for first competitive games of DeVries Era | IU

BLOOMINGTON – Few teams in college basketball could use an offseason trip more than Indiana.

The Hoosiers are breaking in an entirely overhauled roster with 13 new players, plus a completely revamped coaching staff under first-year head coach Darian DeVries. Anything that gives the new-look Hoosiers extra time together – on the court or off – is welcome and that makes the team’s trip to Puerto Rico this week a significant opportunity for DeVries as he goes about rebuilding the program.

“The timing for us to have it this first summer, I thought it’s been a tremendous benefit for us,” DeVries said. “Getting to play three games in Puerto Rico, you don’t treat them like you would a regular season game, but it’s still an opportunity to get out and play and get a feel for how guys react to opponents that aren’t in the same jerseys we’ve been going against for eight straight weeks.

“It’s been really a nice luxury for us to have.”

The Hoosiers arrived in Puerto Rico on Tuesday and will open their slate of games tonight with a matchup against Universidad de Bayamon, a college on the commonwealth, at Coliseo Guillermo Angulo.

IU will then face Mega Superbet, a professional team from Serbia, in two games – first Saturday at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan and then Monday at Guillermo Angulo.

Hoosiers forward Tucker DeVries, the coach’s son who has followed his father from Drake to West Virginia and now to Bloomington, has been on a summer trip three years in a row and believes the experiences are key to forming the bonds that will sustain the team through the grind of the winter months.

“It’s a full week where you’re spending every minute together as a group,” the younger DeVries said. “When you come back from that trip, you can see a big difference in the chemistry, for sure.

“Part of it is just having to go through adversity together, that’s what can really bring a team together. Throughout the summer, we’ve tried to put ourselves in a lot of difficult conditioning or difficult practices to build that, but it’s hard to simulate games without playing games.”

The NCAA permits teams to go on a “foreign” – Puerto Rico counts as a foreign trip despite being a part of the United States – trip once every four years. The last time IU embarked on one was its sojourn to the Bahamas before former coach Mike Woodson’s first season.

To prepare for the games on the trip, the NCAA also allows teams that plan to travel to hold up to 10 extra practices in the summer. Those workouts have been essential for DeVries and his staff, giving them a chance to install the systems IU will run in the coming season and begin to build the fast-paced, hard-nosed identity that has been a staple of DeVries-coached teams throughout his time as a head coach.

“The guys have been awesome to work with this summer,” Darian DeVries said. “They’ve done a great job of just being receptive to coaching. They’re all trying to do what we ask, and that’s all we ask of them.

“They’re not going to be perfect. We don’t expect them to be perfect. But the progress they’ve made from June until now has been really good. I’ve been really happy with it. I think they’re going to continue to do that because I think they want to. … They come with that type of energy, enthusiasm. Their voices are heard. We want a loud gym. And that’s something I think they’ve done a great job of responding to and bringing every day.”

Surveying his team at the end of July, DeVries did little to tamp down expectations for his maiden Hoosiers outfit.

“I like the potential of this group,” he said. “There’s certainly some possibilities there on what this group can achieve.”

The games in Puerto Rico will provide the first glimpse into DeVries’ specific thoughts on the makeup of his roster.

It’s likely that Tucker DeVries, Lamar Wilkerson and Reed Bailey will start on the wings and at center, but the backcourt is somewhat up in the air. Will point guards Tayton Conerway and Conor Enright start together or will the Hoosiers stagger their minutes? Who will be first off the bench in the frontcourt? Is freshman wing Trent Sisley capable of contributing right away, as he appeared to be in the open practice the media attended last week?

All of these questions will begin to be answered today.

The Hoosiers will not yet have a full complement of players when they play in Puerto Rico, however. Freshman center Andrej Acimovic from Bosnia has not yet arrived in the United States, and guard Jason Drake and wing Nick Dorn are nursing injuries and are unlikely to play.