Indiana season preview: DeVries rebuilds through the portal

Where last season ended

Indiana finished 18-14 overall and 9-11 in Big Ten play, which placed the Hoosiers 10th in the conference. Indiana lost to Northwestern in the Big Ten tournament. The Hoosiers missed the NCAA tournament for a third straight season. Darian DeVries coached his first season in Bloomington.

Who is gone

Six players who were eligible to return entered the transfer portal: Jason Drake (to Temple), Jasai Miles (to Loyola Marymount), Josh Harris (to FAU), Aleksa Ristic (to Belmont), Nick Dorn (to Miami FL), and Andrej Acimovic (to Missouri State). Lamar Wilkerson, Tucker DeVries, Conor Enright, Tayton Conerway, and Reed Bailey are listed as out of eligibility or on a professional path.

Who is back

Trent Sisley, a forward listed at 6-8 and 230 pounds, is the one clear returning rotation player on the 2026-27 roster page. The status of Sam Alexis was still listed as unclear in a September roster update, so check the current roster before drawing conclusions about the frontcourt.

Who is new

Indiana added seven transfers. Darren Harris (guard, 6-5, from Duke), Markus Burton (guard, 6-0, from Notre Dame), Jaeden Mustaf (guard, 6-6, from Georgia Tech), Bryce Lindsay (guard, 6-4, from Villanova), Samet Yigitoglu (center, 7-2, from SMU), Aiden Sherrell (forward, 7-0, from Alabama), and Justin Monden (guard, 6-0, from Maryland Eastern Shore) make up the portal class. Transfer class years are not listed in the roster sources used here. The freshman class is listed below.

Incoming freshmen

Indiana adds four freshmen, and 247Sports ranks the class No. 21 overall. Three of the four are ranked in the top 90 nationally.

• Trevor Manhertz, forward, 6-9, Christ School, Cary, N.C. (No. 69 in the 247Sports final Class of 2026 rankings)
• Prince-Alexander Moody, guard, 6-4, Bishop McNamara High School, District Heights, Md. (No. 86 in the 247Sports final Class of 2026 rankings)
• Vaughn Karvala, forward, 6-8, Bella Vista Prep, Oregon, Wis. (No. 64 in the 247Sports final Class of 2026 rankings)
• Clemens Sokolov, center, 7-0, Würzburg Baskets Akademie, Nuremberg, Germany (no ranking listed by 247Sports)

The number to know

The number is KenPom net rating, also called adjusted efficiency margin. It is points scored minus points allowed per 100 possessions, adjusted for opponent strength and pace. Indiana finished the 2025-26 season at +17.28, 45th among Division I teams in KenPom's final ratings. Michigan led the country at +39.70.

The figure covers the full 2025-26 season. It shows how the team played over the year, not how a roster built from seven transfers will play. It does not account for players who left, injuries, or the time new players need to fit a system. KenPom tracks close-game luck separately, and this number does not include it.

Questions for this season

Can a roster built from seven transfers play together quickly? Indiana had 13 scholarship players on the August roster tracker, with two returners, so the early games will test how fast the group adjusts.

Who anchors the frontcourt? Sherrell and Sisley are the most obvious size options, and their minutes will show how DeVries wants the lineup to function.

Does the guard group create enough offense? Seven newcomers means the answer is not yet known, and the early results will say more than the preseason lists.

Our early read

Our tier is Middle of the pack (10th-13th), and our projected conference finish is 11th. Indiana's 2025-26 margin placed it well above the bottom of the league, but almost the whole rotation is new. The August roster tracker lists 13 scholarship players with two returners. That combination makes the middle of the league the most likely range until the new group shows what it can do together.