On Monday, the Indiana Hoosiers landed a trio of transfers in Georgia Tech shooting guard Jaeden Mustaf, Duke guard Darren Harris, and Notre Dame point guard Markus Burton. The additions are earning high praise from industry experts, but Darian DeVries still has a lot of work to do in rebuilding Indiana's roster for 2026-27.
It's still early, but DeVries' Monday moves showcase a new approach he is taking to the transfer portal this offseason that is vastly different from last offseason.
Darian DeVries' new portal approach is what Indiana fans want to see
Entering his first season in Bloomington, DeVries needed to rebuild IU's roster all the way back up after the Mike Woodson era. He heavily utilized the transfer portal, and his strategy was clear: Target experienced players who logged a lot of minutes playing for mid-major programs.
Using that approach, DeVries brought in Tucker DeVries from West Virginia, Lamar Wilkerson from Sam Houston State, Reed Bailey from Davidson, Nick Dorn from Elon, Tayton Conerway from Troy, Jasai Miles from North Florida, Josh Harris from North Florida, Conor Enright from DePaul, Sam Alexis from Florida, and Jason Drake from Drexel. The class was ranked as the No. 10 portal class in the country by 247Sports.
Unfortunately, that strategy was ineffective. All of those players spent just one underwhelming season in Bloomington that saw the Hoosiers go 18-14 with a 9-11 mark in Big Ten play and miss the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season and for the 8th time in the last 10 years.
So far this offseason, it seems that DeVries is leaving that strategy behind. Heading into Year 2, DeVries is targeting former 4 and 5-star prospects who spent time with Power 4 programs either being steady contributors or fighting to find minutes on loaded rosters. This new approach is a much-needed shift in strategy following the disappointment of this past season.
Indiana's portal class is looking solid, but it has a chance to be even better
The headliner of DeVries' portal class so far is former Notre Dame point guard Markus Burton. He led all ACC freshman in scoring with 17.5 points per game and earned ACC Rookie of the Year honors in 2023-24 before leading the entire conference scoring 21.3 points per game as a sophomore in 2024-25. He scored 18.5 points, grabbed 2.8 rebounds, and dished out 3.7 assists per game while shooting 48.9% from the floor this past season before an ankle injury ended his junior season after just 10 games.
Mustaf is a rising junior who appeared in 55 games with 33 starts for Georgia Tech over the last two seasons. This past season, he averaged 10.4 points per game while shooting 49.3% from the floor while playing over 27 minutes a night.
Harris is a former top-40 recruit in the 2024 recruiting class who struggled to find minutes playing for a couple of loaded Duke rosters over the last two seasons. This past season, he averaged 3.3 points and 0.8 rebounds while playing 9.7 minutes per game, but is on track to see an increased role across the board this upcoming season in Bloomington. The potential is there, and he has the ability to thrive immediately.
DeVries is also in pursuit of Alabama forward Aiden Sherrell, who visited Bloomington over the weekend. He is ranked as the No. 12 overall player and the No. 5 power forward on the market according to 247Sports. Landing him would take IU's portal class to a new level.
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