Indiana has the beginning of a front court.
Indiana men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries gained his third transfer portal commitment today from forward Reed Bailey, who joins the Hoosiers after three seasons at Davidson.
Per 247 Sports, Bailey is considered the 36th best prospect in the portal this season, with a four star rating. He was ranked as the seventh best power forward in this portal class.
Bailey has started every game he’s appeared in for three seasons at Davidson, improving each year as he earned more minutes and featured more in the offense. Last season, he averaged 18.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.
Despite being 6’10” and 230 lbs, Bailey is definitely a player that deserves the ‘power forward’ label rather than ‘center.’ 69% of his shots came at the rim, but he gets there in a variety of ways and is not a back to the basket type big.
His highlight video opens with him handling the ball on the perimeter and driving against a less athletic big, something that seems to be a staple for him. For his size, Bailey is definitely an exceptional athlete and ball handler.
With the ball in his hands, Bailey is also a very capable passer. He posted a 25.3% assist rate last season with the Wildcats, higher than every Hoosier except Trey Galloway last season.
Like most of his scoring, his assists tend to come on his drives to the basket from the perimeter, a stark contrast to recent Indiana bigs who backed down their defenders before passing out of a double team.
Bailey had the highest usage rate on the Davidson roster last season, in part because of his offensive versatility and ability to play all the way out to the perimeter.
He’s not a high-volume shooter from deep, attempting fewer than two per game last season, but still a threat, hitting 41.5% last year. He’s a career 30.8% shooter from 3-point range, so he may regress, but being surrounded by shooters like Tucker DeVries could also result in more quality looks for Bailey.
For all of his strengths, Bailey is likely not a Big Ten starting center, leaving coach DeVries with some work to do in filling out the front court.
Finishing contested shots at the rim and rebounding are not currently strengths of his, making him more of a four at the high-major level. He’ll be a matchup problem there, especially in the Big Ten, where bigs that can move like him are in short supply.
While we’re still a few additions away from being able to project a starting lineup, getting Bailey along with Tucker DeVries and Conor Enright does give us an idea of what Indiana basketball will look like under Darian DeVries.
The three additions so far are all capable of initiating offense with the ball in their hands, both as scorers and passers. The new-look Hoosiers figure to have more versatility up and down the lineup if this trend continues.