Countdown to Tip Off: Devin Davis

The bye week in football couldn't come at a better time for the basketball season. We're only 17 days away from our first real game and a mere 4 days away from our first exhibition game with the University of Southern Indiana. With that we need to take a look at the incoming roster and what sort of expectations should be laid at their feet. We're going to start the series of previews with Devin Davis.

Devin Davis

Class: Freshman

Hometown: Indianapolis, Ind.

High School: Warren Central

Height / Weight: 6-7 / 221

Position: Forward

Devin Davis, along with tomorrow's feature Collin Hartman, were two very early commits and officially the last members of the original "Movement" at Indiana University. Devin, who at the time was a sophomore and ranked in the top 50 nationally, came down for a Hoosier Hysteria event and left with a commitment. At the time it was a very big deal in a run of recruiting victories for Tom Crean that would set the base for the future of Indiana basketball.

Since then the hype around Devin Davis has fallen, partially because he was a little more mature physically as a younger kid, but also because he played out of position for pretty much all of his high school career. In the end he finished with a 247 Composite Ranking of #162. The fall can be contributed to the fact that at 6-7 205 lbs he was used primarily as a post player in both school ball and AAU. Physically that just isn't going to cut it for a post player. Pretty much every scouting service viewed him as a SF at the next level but he never really got the chance to showcase those skills.

Enter his enrollment into Indiana University. Davis is aware that his ceiling as a college player is on the perimeter and has been working all summer to help remedy years of being pigeon holed at that 4 or 5. He has been working with Eric Gordon Sr. all summer to try and improve his perimeter game and from all the accounts being leaked about his summer development and now the actual practices, he's catching on fast. Never really one to be a ball handler, that was probably his biggest need for growth along with increasing his shooting range out to the arc. From reports that appears to be happening, albeit he's still not going to be where he needs to be for some time.

If Davis can combine some of those perimeter skills with his natural athleticism, length and rebounding (very good) he could be a big asset quickly. The reports from practices are that he may already be a rotational player when most of us had expected him to need some time before becoming a major contributor. He allegedly is one of the daily leaders in defensive deflections and his length on the perimeter could be a huge boon to a group that has the potential to be lock down defenders across the board.

With all of that being said, I don't expect to see Davis among the top 6 in the rotation. Maybe I should take some time and see the USI exhibition game before I lock that in, but I just think Davis has some distance yet to go. I see him getting the Derek Elston role of last year before Derek's bevy of injuries. He's going to come in, probably still play a defensive 4 position while getting the Christian Watford outside-in play on offense. I suspect that he's going to really thrive in that role for a freshman. I would say a bad year for him is #benchmob. A good year is 10-12 minutes, 4 pts, 3 rebounds. A OMG TOM CREAN IS THE BEST TALENT EVALUATOR EVER year is versatile 6th/7th man who plays 17-20 minutes, scores 9 points a game and grabs 5 rebounds per. Davis is currently an undervalued asset. I'm really curious to see how long he remains that way.