The Indiana Hoosiers should definitely feel confident in Darian DeVries as he takes over the basketball program from Mike Woodson following ending up on the wrong side of the bubble for March Madness on Selection Sunday. The former Drake Bulldogs and West Virginia Mountaineers head coach has been stellar throughout his career with a 169-68 overall record and three NCAA Tournament appearances in five years with Drake.
Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like Indiana really just missed out on its top choice, Dusty May.
For weeks, it seemed like the Hoosiers were pulling out an all-out blitz to poach May from the Michigan Wolverines. There was even a time when that looked like it might end up being the most likely outcome in Bloomington. Michigan, however, prevented that from happening as they inked May to an extension in late-February, forcing Indiana to turn elsewhere and ultimately land on DeVries.
Now that May and the Wolverines have punched their ticket to the Sweet 16, though, it's not hard to see why Indiana went so hard after him to be their next head coach. It's equally clear that the Hoosiers probably ended up with a consolation prize, which is less of a slight to DeVries and more a compliment to May.
Dusty May is proving that Indiana really only got their second choice
May truly might be one of the best college basketball coaches in the country and he only needed one season at Michigan to further prove that. As pointed out by Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, May took over a Wolverines program that was in the cellar with Juwan Howard leaving it in shambles to now win the Big Ten and punch a ticket to the Sweet 16 just one year later.
Michigan was 8-24 last season and the program was in shards after the way things ended with Juwan Howard.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 22, 2025
Immediately under Dusty May: The Wolverines make the Sweet 16 with a 27-9 record and a Big Ten Tournament title.
The turnaround at Michigan is nothing new for May either. When he was hired at Florida Atlantic prior to the 2018-19 season, the Owls had gone 12-19 the year prior. May put together four straight winning seasons at FAU thereafter before really putting his star on the map with a stellar 35-4 campaign in the 2022-23 season that culminated in a Final Four berth.
Given the proud tradition and resources available at Indiana, there's absolutely no reason to believe that May couldn't have orchestrated as good or even better of a turnaround for the Hoosiers as quickly as he did with both FAU and Michigan.
Again, I believe in DeVries as a high-quality hire in Bloomington. While the 19-13 overall record this past season for him at WVU may not be eye-popping, the Mountaineers should've been in the field of 68 and put together a great season. He can use the resources at IU to get the Hoosiers back on the right track in a real way.
Yet, the specter of May and what he does at Michigan for years to come is always going to color the perception of DeVries at Indiana and how that hire is ultimately viewed in hindsight.