DeVries duo both key in West Virginia roster construction
Tucker DeVries knew that he had to take an active role when it came to putting the roster together.
And it made sense for a lot of reasons. DeVries, the son of head coach Darian, made the decision to transfer to West Virginia when his father took the job in Morgantown.
And while that wasn’t necessarily a surprise, the fact that the younger DeVries made the move carried some weight.
While adding high level transfers is always a plus, DeVries wasn’t your run of the mill addition.
DeVries was named the Missouri Valley Player of the Year this past season averaging 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists for the Bulldogs. He also was named the MVC Player of the Year the previous season where he averaged 18.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
As a true freshman, DeVries was named the MVC Freshman of the Year after he led the Bulldogs at 13.9 points per game and scored in double figures in 30 games that season.
And while the elder DeVries worked to put together a coaching staff, the younger was able to help when it come to gauging the interest of potential transfer additions.
“He knew I knew some of the guys and bounced ideas and used my friendships as well,” he said.
DeVries had played against UIC transfer Toby Okani while he also knew Joe Yesufu, among others. And as the centerpiece of the roster at the time, DeVries felt who would be more qualified to help pitch the program than a player that had already exceled in the system for three years.
“There were a lot of guys that I reached out to and tried to build that relationship as well because we didn’t have a roster in place for them to get to know either,” he said.
It’s not anything new for DeVries as he had to replace 10 players last season at Drake so building a roster basically from scratch wasn’t some unheard of task. But having his son helped in many different ways including his understanding of what needed to be done on the floor.
Because of that understanding, DeVries could answer questions or concerns that perhaps some players wouldn’t be able to tackle. And while he wasn’t involved with all of the additions he was able to clear up any questions or concerns.
Each year the elder DeVries has shown the ablity to adapt to the talent around him in order to put the most successful version of the roster on the floor. The most recent versions has involved two point guards on the floor and three and fours that have been versatile to create mismatches.
DeVries also was able to give some valuable insight into the way that his father coaches.
“He’s going to demand a lot. He’s pretty demanding and just bringing it every day. Consistency is one of his biggest things. There is going to be ups and down days but when you’re facing adversity, you’ve got to fight through it,” DeVries said.
And the end result is a nice mixture of experience and youth that has a clearly defined goal. Not to mention a lot of versatility where players can end up at different spots. It’s a roster filled with seniors but also some younger players but all of them have something to prove.
“There’s a lot of guys in the locker room that have been the best players on teams that haven’t won as much and there are some that haven’t played much on teams that have really won,” DeVries said. “It’s about proving ourselves.”
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