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CHICAGO — Lamar Wilkerson walks off the floor and lifts his jersey to his mouth, clenching the fabric in his teeth as he attempts to fend off a wave of rushing emotions. Trailing by 14 points with less than a minute remaining, Darian DeVries had raised the white flag to bring his seniors off the floor one final time.
After a short embrace with his head coach, Wilkerson takes his seat on Indiana’s bench. There, he clutches the garment with both hands, raises it to his face and buries his head in the white fabric, wiping away the onset of uncontrollable tears.
Wilkerson’s No. 3 jersey has been a central figure in DeVries’ inaugural season at the helm of Indiana basketball. It was in that uniform that the Hoosiers’ star broke Assembly Hall’s single-game scoring mark. The same cream and crimson threads he donned en route to the program’s single-season scoring record in Big Ten play.
But just as Wilkerson’s attire was featured in Indiana’s best moments, it was equally prominent in its lowest moment of the season — a 74-61 loss to Northwestern, a premature Big Ten tournament exit that likely crushed the Hoosiers’ NCAA tournament aspirations.
In a sense, Wilkerson served as the foundation of it all — the centerpiece of an entirely new Indiana roster tasked with launching the DeVries era. But after its latest loss, it’s an era that’s starting the same way the last one ended, on the outskirts of the 68-team field.
“We all came here wanting to lay the groundwork for this program and the culture and really set the tone, but just down the stretch of the season, we weren’t able to capitalize on some of the opportunities we had,” Tucker DeVries said postgame.
Just over a month ago, the Hoosiers sat at 17-8 and were projected to receive an at-large ticket to the dance. Now, after losing six of their final seven games, they’ve stumbled across the finish line and practically ripped that ticket to shreds.
The end result isn’t necessarily surprising. In any case, a new head coach forced to build a brand-new roster of mostly mid-major talent doesn’t yield a particularly high ceiling. That’s to say, missing the tournament isn’t inherently shocking. But the way in which Indiana got there was.
“We just got stagnant,” Wilkerson said. “We made a lot of self-inflictions that cost us the games through that last stretch.”
It’s a stretch that will have many questioning what this season actually accomplished for the program moving forward. A majority of the Hoosiers’ key contributors have exhausted their eligibility, meaning the roster will see a heavy turnover for the second straight season.
While DeVries will have more time and better insight to rebuild this offseason, the foundation he helped form is now leaving. So what did he establish in his first season?
When asked that question, he pointed to attributes off the court.
“Their ability to maintain a really good locker room throughout the season,” DeVries said. “I thought it was pretty impressive by them and what they did, the way they carried themselves, even during tough times.”
Locker room culture is undoubtedly an important ingredient for the recipe to a successful program. Even so, it’s an aspect of DeVries’ Indiana that is shielded behind closed doors. Public opinion isn’t shaped around what happens in private but rather rooted in quantifiable results.
DeVries’ first step in earning the fanbase’s confidence is making the NCAA tournament. Unlike locker room culture, that can be easily observed. But in his first go-around, he’s seemingly fallen short.
“You got to try and look towards the bright side, always keep that hope just in case,” Reed Bailey said.
Realistically, the bright side Bailey’s referring to isn’t really a side at all. Perhaps a stray sunbeam peaking through a blanketing cloud of darkness and despair would be a more accurate description.
The Hoosiers are unlikely to hear their name among those called on Selection Sunday. For Wilkerson and the rest of Indiana’s senior class, their college careers will likely end in an unceremonious fashion — jerseys pressed to their face, watching the final seconds tick away on a chilly Wednesday night in Chicago.
Fortunately for them, their tenure in Bloomington is likely to be remembered more for where it began than how it ultimately finished. As is often the case, those who lay the concrete rarely get to live in the house.
The foundation Wilkerson and company helped lay will soon belong to someone else. And what rises from it? That will define the DeVries era.
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
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