Indiana basketball may be undersized at the 5, but Darian DeVries has 'numerous ways to offset that'

When Darian DeVries was putting together his Indiana basketball roster, he did so with diligence and swiftness. He addressed the key areas that he said he would focus on during his introduction to Indiana fans; playmakers, ball handers and shooters. One area that could be a concern? At the 5 position.

Indiana brings in four front court players in 6-foot-10 Reed Bailey, 6-foot-9 Sam Alexis, 6-foot-8 Josh Harris and then 6-foot-7 Trent Sisley. However, Bailey and Sisley are much more hybrid forwards from a defensive perspective, rather than true rim protectors. Josh Harris is also more of a rim threat offensively than defensively. So that leaves DeVries and the Hoosiers with Alexis as the sole threat defensively at the rim.

Alexis comes to Indiana after one year at Florida where he averaged 4.7 points and 3.5 rebounds a game — he did that in just 11.9 minutes a game. 

His per-40 minute breakdown was: 15.7 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.1 blocks a game.

His block percentage was also 5.5. For reference, Oumar Ballo was IU’s leader last season with a percentage of just 4.9. The year before it was Kel’el Ware with a 6.7 block rate. Trayce Jackson-David was at 9.0 percent his final year in Bloomington.

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For Alexis, he did have a 9.1 block rate two years ago at Chattanooga when he finished the year averaging 2.1 blocks a game. But, that wasn’t against high-major competition every single night.

“I don’t anticipate us having great rim protection,” Darian DeVries said this week at the Huber’s Winery NIL event. “Like I said, we’re a little undersized at the 5 position.”

This isn’t new for DeVries and his teams, however. Last year at West Virginia, the Mountaineers had a block rate of 11.6%, ranked 69th nationally — which was one of his best ranked rim protecting teams. Here were his team’s block percentage numbers at Drake:

2018-19: 9.6% (ranked 158th)

2019-20: 11.8% (44th)

2020-21: 7.9% (202nd)

2021-22:2 9.2% (155th)

2022-23: 7.1% (273rd)

2023-24: 4.6% (353rd)

That still translated into four seasons with a top-100 KenPom defensive rating.

“There’s a lot of different ways to protect the rim,” DeVries added.

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While size isn’t necessarily a strength in the front court, it’s the overall length and size of the roster from top to bottom that stands out to DeVries.

Whether it’s Tucker DeVires or Nick Dorn at 6-foot-7, Jasai Miles at 6-foot-6, Lamar Wilkerson at 6-foot-5 or others, the perimeter size is evident.

“I like the way the roster came together,” DeVries said. “ … We have great positional size at a lot of the spots. At the center, we are a little small, but at the other spots we have great size.”

So while DeVries acknowledges that it may be a challenge defensively at times in the paint from a size perspective, that won’t be the determining factor for his team’s defensive performance.

“There will be some nights they’ll be undersized at the defensive end, but there are numerous ways to offset that,” DeVries said. “Size doesn’t always determine how effective you can be as a defender or offensive player. The right mindset goes a long ways and our guys will bring that.”

And what’s more important is that the 5’s that he brought to Indiana basketball all bring the versatility that provide mismatches on the offensive end.

“I feel really good about the 5. I like the guys we have,” DeVries said. “I think — they fit how we want to play offensively, especially. They have the ability to have the ball in their hands and be facilitators and playmakers. We have good depth there and I like what they can bring.”

The incoming Indiana basketball roster starts arriving on campus this weekend and will begin summer workouts next week. So, it’s an exciting time — yet anxious — for the new Hoosiers’ head coach.

“Overall, on paper, I like the balance we have. I think there’s a lot of things we can do,” DeVries added. “But that comes down to taking that from paper to the floor.”

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