Starting on Kirkwood, Darian DeVries is reconnecting IU basketball with Bloomington
- Quinn Richards
- 3h ago
First-year IU basketball coach Darian DeVries understands what it means to connect with a fanbase.
It’s why he brought his team to Bloomington’s social epicenter for the first annual Hoosier Hoops on Kirkwood Thursday night. It’s why he concluded the event with a declaration to the Upstairs Pub patrons seated on the balcony that “this next round’s on me.”
It’s why — minutes after the festivities — he stayed behind to shake hands and take pictures with any Hoosier fan determined enough to fight through the crowd for a spot beside the metal-gated, makeshift court.
Less than seven months since his hiring in March, he’s hard at work solving a problem that’s been festering for years. Indiana basketball was pushing its fans away — DeVries is pulling them back in.
“Indiana basketball is important to a lot of people,” DeVries said following an open practice Tuesday. “We want people to feel like they’re not watching from afar. We want them to feel like they’re right on the inside and they’re stride by stride with us as we go through it.”
Thursday’s event on Kirkwood was a great start.
That’s not to say it was perfect. It certainly wasn’t. The spotlight on public address announcer Jeremy Gray — perched in the overlooking Upstairs Pub — would have set quite the atmosphere, if not for a microphone that consistently cut out.
Freshman Trent Sisley’s maiden introduction was rather underwhelming when the mic failed to pick up a single syllable of his three-syllable name.
Technical difficulties aside, Hoosier Hysteria’s replacement had its highs. A member of the student athletic board won a game of knockout against several men’s and women’s players, earning the second loudest cheer of the evening. The top spot belonged to Sisley, who banked in a shot from the balcony above a nearby restaurant — albeit on his seventh attempt.
More importantly, Hoosier Hoops on Kirkwood put DeVries’ team — quite literally — front and center in Bloomington.
“From our standpoint, we want to make sure that we’re a big part of the community, a big part of the campus,” DeVries said. “We want to give as many chances as we can to have those interactions because I think we have a group that’s fun to be around.”
Thursday night marked the fans’ introduction to an entirely new roster. For once, their first impressions weren’t made from the elevated crimson-painted seats overlooking Assembly Hall. Instead, Indiana basketball came to the students.
Students watched as Tayton Conerway danced during the cheer team and band’s rendition of the “William Tell Overture.” They saw players from both basketball programs supporting one another during a 3-point contest. They witnessed Lamar Wilkerson and Sisley sitting side by side, laughing with one another while recording a social media video.
“People don’t really know our new team because we have a whole new roster,” Wilkerson said. “They don’t know us individually. So, for us to go out there and just be around them, and let them be around us, is major.”
For years, Indiana basketball clutched onto its past. The prestige of five red banners made both the program and the players within it untouchable. Opportunities for the media to observe practice were nonexistent. The fans’ connection with players was distant.
Indiana lived in the past — and in doing so, alienated the present. DeVries knows that has to change.
“What makes this place special: You walk into Assembly Hall, you see the banners,” DeVries said while pacing around the temporary Kirkwood court. “But you know what really makes this place special, it is this, right here.”
It’s only the beginning. The Hoosiers will host a free intrasquad scrimmage Friday night at Assembly Hall. Later this month, Indiana will bring back the Haunted Hall of Hoops. Once a staple of the Tom Crean era, the event allows players to further connect with the community by handing out candy and signing autographs for children.
While DeVries’ hire will ultimately be judged by the product on the floor, his efforts to bring fans — especially young fans — back into the fold haven’t gone unnoticed.
“I’m not going to lie, this turned out to be a great night,” one student said to a friend following the event on Kirkwood.
Whether that comment was induced by DeVries’ more-than-generous tab at Upstairs Pub or a result of his many handshakes, fist bumps and photo ops, one thing is certain: it was because of DeVries. It was because of a commitment to give Indiana basketball back to the people of Bloomington.
“People love this game,” DeVries said. “They love this game here at Indiana and we do too. We want everyone to feel a part of that.”
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
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