You shouldn't notice much of a difference based on crush, but squeezing/pressing will make a difference.
At a certain point the grain dust will saturate the water but chances are nobody's crushing their grain into a pile of dust and making a barley dough/paste - there's always a higher percentage of coursely cracked kernels (relative to dust) that are absorbing the water.
Flaked grains and different varieties of grain have difference absorption capacities... Wheat, rye, barley, corn, etc...