What is Indiana doing?

Plus transfer takes, coaching changes, early favorites, the best Final Four city and more post-portal-flavored thoughts in this week's Buzzer Mailbag

Photo credit: Indiana Athletics

Eamonn, thanks as always for the mailbag! Initial takes on the Darian DeVries era at your alma mater? Overly optimistic to think they can be at or near the top of the Big Ten standings in year one? — Warren Margolies

The other day, an acquaintance and I were casually chatting some college hoops, largely about his Virginia fandom and his ongoing mourning period over Tony Bennett’s retirement, when he countered that I “must be excited about Indiana.” (I spared him my whole spiel about how I don’t exactly root for Indiana, and mostly just retain a viewing interest, what with the career full of sincere attempts at objectivity.) The question briefly froze me. I didn’t know how to respond. Was I excited about Indiana? Was I remotely sure what Indiana was going to be? Did I totally understand how Darian DeVries, with a blank roster slate and a reputed $10 million in NIL funds to spend, had decided to construct this roster? Did it make me optimistic?

Having thought about it since, the answer is: well, not overly so, no.

Cautiously so? Maybe.

There are things to like and things to be more skeptical about, and anyway, at 11 scholarships, the roster isn’t fully filled just yet. But the differences from his predecessor in how DeVries has chosen to spend the Indiana cash — and the limits and challenges of building a roster from scratch in your first offseason on campus — are fascinating regardless of where you come down on IU’s prospectus.