CHICAGO — Back in December right before Indiana's Big Ten basketball schedule started, I was in Bloomington with my old college roommate and his son, both astute and passionate fans of several of the Hoosiers' teams.

We were talking IU basketball, and I had a question for his son. "If the over/under on Big Ten wins for Indiana was 10 wins, would you go over or under?''

"Oh, over for sure. This is the best shooting team we've had in a long time. I can see 11, 12 wins.''

My reaction? "Really? Because I just don't see it. And I don't see it for a lot of reasons.''

I bring this story up not to brag, because I had predicted an 18-13 record with a 9-11 mark in the Big Ten. That's exactly how it played out. And it went to 18-14 when they were upset in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament by Northwestern, a team that beat them twice in the past three weeks — and practically single-handedly knocked the Hoosiers out of the NCAA Tournament in DeVries' first year.

The thing is, I didn't think this was an NCAA Tournament at the beginning of the year. This was a team with 13 brand new players, and only one that had had success as a Power Five starter — Tucker DeVries. All the others transferred in from mid-major schools, or were reserves on good teams, like Sam Alexis at Florida.

I was well aware that Darian DeVries was hired in mid-March, his staff wasn't in place until a few weeks later and they were very far behind in working the transfer portal. Lamar Wilkerson was far better than I expected, but no one else exceeded my expectations.

I didn't think they were very good, and that proved to be true.

As it turns out, I was not in the majority there. Every time Indiana lost a game, fans railed at coaches and players alike. They were disappointed in each loss — and it was the same routine 14 times in a row — and they were upset that the Hoosiers didn't play better.

And I always asked why.

Why did everyone think this was an NCAA-level team? Why did everyone think they could play with the elite teams in the Big Ten? Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue and even Nebraska were top-10 teams most of the year.

Indiana, I figured, was a top-40 type of team. So why were they supposed to beat top-10 teams? It's very clear that the depths of disappointment among the Indiana fans was a direct result of unrealistic expectations.

To be honest, the Hoosiers did have a great run in the middle of the Big Ten season that sort of fueled those lofty expectations. They beat Purdue, Wisconsin and UCLA in a two-week period and won five of six games.

They provided hope all of a sudden. And then it all came crashing down.

The Hoosiers lost five of six to close out the regular season, and then lost to Northwestern again in the tournament. They've lost to the Wildcats seven times in a row now, and they've still never won a Big Ten Tournament.

And when you look at the 18-14 season in its entirety, what's disappointing isn't that it failed to meet — or exceed — your expectations, it's more that your expectations were wrong in the first place.

Where we can all be disappointed is that this is what Indiana basketball has become. And that's just a terrible feeling.

Since Tom Crean won two Big Ten titles in 2013 and 2016, it's been a rough go for Indiana basketball. They've only made two NCAA Tournaments, in 2022 and 2023, and won one game before getting clobbered in the next. 

Archie Miller missed the tournament all of his four years. Such a horrible hire. Crean missed out in his last year, and Woodson failed in his last two seasons, trending downyard — and rapidly — his last two years. And now, DeVries has missed the boat in his first year.

There is  never a time where making only two NCAA Tournaments in a decade will ever be acceptable at Indiana. Never. 

There will never be a time where it is acceptable for the Hoosiers to go 24 years without winning a game beyond the first week of the NCAAs. Never.

There will also never be a time where going 40 years without a national title is acceptable, either. Never. But that's what it'll be next year, another anniversary celebrated with nothing coming remotely close to repeating that journey. 

So the obvious question now is what we do about it. 

I've been doing this Indiana thing again for the past eight years, and the one thing I've usually fought with IU fans about, it's that I'm far more positive than you are. I will never agree with those of you who think DeVries should be fired after one year.

That's just dumb.

He deserves time to build this program. He also deserves the resources. And I am, to be honest, not the least bit concerned about the Indiana administration providing all the resources necesary to turn this program back into a winner.

DeVries has already had success with high school recruiting, and the hiring of Ryan Carr as Executive Director of Basketball is a huge deal. A long-time Indiana Pacers employee in the NBA, he's a great talent evaluator and in this current trend of schools hiring general managers, this is a perfect fit.

Now DeVries and Carr need to build a roster overnight that can contend for a Big Ten title next year. Fair or not, patience is already running thin, and that's what losing six of seven to end a season will do.

DeVries is a far better coach than Archie Miller was, and he certainly cares a lot more and works a lot harder than Woodson did. We asked for more shooters, and he delivered. Now we ask for more.

It's going to be very interesting to see what happens next. Six players — Wilkerson, DeVries, Alexis, Reed Bailey, Tayton Conerway and Conor Enright — are out of eligibility.

We don't know much about the others going forward. Nick Dorn, Trent Sisley and Jasai Miles saw some time this year, and they have eligibility left. Others were either redshirted with injuries or barely played at all.

I have complaints about how DeVries and his staff handled this season. I was stunned that assistant coach Rod Clark told Don Fischer after the last loss that they were overwhelmed by Big Ten opponents and didn't expect it to be so physical.

I was disappointed that DeVries and others blamed fatigue for the second-half collapses throughout much of the year. Maybe it was a depth issue, but maybe it's more about conditioning. That's something that needs to be fixed, too. 

I know I mentioned earlier that expecting a top-40 team to beat top-10 teams is unrealistic, but what bothered me the most about the late collapse was what looked like a lack of preparation. They had six days to prepare for Illinois — and lost by 20. They had five days after that to prepare for Purdue — and lost by 29. They had just played Northwestern, and had five days before playing them again — and losing.

You just can't lose to Northwestern twice. And you can't lose by making only five field goals in the second half. It was all too ugly.

Those are all concerns. But there are good things, too. I loved what DeVries brought out in Wilkerson this year. He scored 669 points — which is 11th all-time in Indiana basketball history. 

I liked that they ran good stuff, getting a lot of good looks on the perimeter. They made 314 three-pointers this season. The Woodson teams made 203-166-187 the past three years. 

They lived and died by the three, of course, but that's not always a bad thing. What they lacked — like the Woodson teams, and Miller, too — was a complete roster. Woodson didn't have enough shooters, DeVries didn't have post players.

That's what needs to change going forward. The Hoosiers need a complete roster. Top to bottom, and through every position on the floor.

The old-timers always go back to the Bob Knight days, and they crave three national titles in 11 years. 

That, too, is not realistic. But it still always needs to be the goal.

I have faith in Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson and Indiana's power NIL community to do the right thing to bring IU basketball back to life.. I have faith in Carr helping DeVries to build a better roster, a Big Ten roster.

I have faith. I have confidence.

But I will remain cautiously optimistic until proven otherwise. Of course I want greatness.

But I can also be realistic. And that's too bad.