After a Historic Football National Championship, the Pressure Is on for Indiana Basketball

The goal isn’t just to make the NCAA Tournament at Indiana. Never has been and never will be in Bloomington.

“The expectations are very high here,” said DeVries. “We have the same expectations. Our fans want to win. We went to win the Big Ten championship. We want to play deep into the tournament. That’s our goal every year and we’re looking forward to chasing down those goals. Indiana basketball is still a big brand and the fans here are all about it and excited about it and we can’t wait to get back on the floor again.”

DeVries had a squad that would have likely been in the NCAA Tournament under the new 76-team model last March. The Hoosiers finished 9-11 in the Big Ten, 18-14 overall but lost six of their last seven, including a dud against Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament. 

The roster construction in year one under DeVries was solid on the perimeter and front-facing forwards with Lamar Wilkerson, Tayton Conerway, Tucker DeVries, Nick Dorn and Conor Enright. But the Hoosiers lacked size, whiffed in big games and had two disastrous four-game losing streaks to sideline the season. 

“I think as you go through Big Ten play, the thing that stood out was just the physicality of the league and the size that you have to have,” said DeVries. “We made that certainly a priority as we went into the offseason to add some depth there and make sure that we have a frontline that could meet that.”

DeVries and the staff certainly did that with the additions of 7-foot-2, 270-pound Samet Yigitoglu (SMU), 6-foot-11, 255-pound Aiden Sherrell (Alabama), 7-foot, 230-pound Clemens Sokolov (Wurzburg Baskets Akademie, Germany), 6-foot-10, 230-pound Ben Winker (Cal State Fullerton) and the lone returnee, Trent Sisley. 

The gem is Yigitoglu. “He loves bringing that physicality,” DeVries said. “He loves being down in the interior, rebound, and he loves all that stuff. He’s a great screener. The thing I’ve liked so far this summer is too, is he’s a great passer, and he’s really played well out of some of the high post action we love to do on top of it. So I’m excited about him, and when he walks through the door, he’s he’s legit, he’s big, 7-2 plus, so excited to have him for us with us this year.”

The perimeter should be a home run with the additions of transfers Markus Burton (Notre Dame), Bryce Lindsay (Villanova), Darren Harris (Duke) and Jaeden Mustaf (Georgia Tech).

Burton, whose career has been stunted by injuries thus far, and Lindsay are two players who can “fill it up.” DeVries has loved Burton’s leadership and the energy in practice. Lindsay’s playmaking has been a hit, too. DeVries said they both can handle late-clock situations, an issue with last season’s team. He said with five seconds or less, he has the trust that they can bail out the Hoosiers in a poor possession. 

The shooting of Wilkerson, DeVries and Dorn had to be replaced and DeVries is confident Burton, Lindsay, Harris and Mustaf can deliver. So, too, can Sherrell as a big. 

“That gives us a lot of different ways that we can stretch the floor,” said DeVries. 

The Hoosiers will find out the progress of this group when they represent the United States at the 2026 FISU Games in Lima, Peru, July 20-Aug. 1. 

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The rule change allowing teams to go on a foreign trip every summer has become critical in this era of rebuilding and restocking rosters each season. Exhibitions against North Carolina and Western Kentucky in October will help prepare this squad for a solid slate of games that includes Kentucky in Lucas Oil Stadium and Syracuse at Gainbridge in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers are also working on one more nonconference headline game before the 20-game Big Ten gauntlet. 

DeVries was hired at the same time as fellow Big Ten second-year coaches Ben McCollum (Iowa) and Niko Medved (Minnesota). McCollum took the Hawkeyes to the Elite Eight in year one, albeit with a first-round draft pick in Bennett Stirtz. Medved’s Gophers didn’t make the NCAA Tournament after they were riddled with injuries. 

DeVries has won at every stop. He won two Missouri Valley Conference tournament titles and one regular-season championship in six seasons at Drake. Three NCAA appearances in five postseasons (there wasn’t one in 2020) is quite a good look at a school from the Valley. And remember, McCollum replaced DeVries at Drake when DeVries went to West Virginia for one season. The Mountaineers finished 10-10 in the Big 12, 19-13 in his one season and probably should have been in the NCAA Tournament in that season, and would have been included in an expanded field. 

But those are excuses no one wants to hear. 

Certainly not in Indiana where, yes, they should have been a tournament team had second-half collapses and inconsistent defensive play and lack of an inside presence not derailed the team.

Give DeVries a mulligan. He can coach. He can build. He can win. The Hoosiers essentially are starting over with a new roster, save the one scholarship returnee in Sisley. They aren’t predicted to beat out Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue or loaded USC, let alone veteran Nebraska for a top-six spot, but the reality is no one really knows how this group will mesh. If Burton and Lindsay meet their expectations and Yigitoglu is the space eater needed inside, there’s no reason the Hoosiers can’t challenge for a top-six finish in the Big Ten and thus a decent seed in the NCAA Tournament. 

The Hoosiers are a legit power now in football. They want to remain relevant and become a regular in the top 25 in men’s basketball again. 

This season will determine just where they are in that comeback process. 

“I’m excited about it,” DeVries said. “We have your staff in place, we’ve gone through the league for a year, so you have a really good feel there as well. 

“We’re heading into year two in a much better position as you’re getting ready for that second run of Big Ten play,” he continued. “I like how the roster came together. I think the staff’s got a really good feel now for what we need to do to be at a high, high level in this league, and we’re certainly excited about year two.”