With Indiana basketball fans hungrier than ever for a March Madness run, Darian DeVries needs to put together a much better campaign in his second season than his first. Last season, the Hoosiers went 18-14 overall and missed the NCAA Tournament for the third conseuctive season. Indiana has now missed out on March Madness in eight of the last 10 years.
After a disappointing first season at the helm of the Indiana basketball program, Darian DeVries is putting together a strong offseason that has things looking up in Bloomington.
DeVries has made six additions through the transfer portal so far, and the college basketball world is taking notice. Most notably, Indiana's portal class is currently ranked as the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country according to On3's College Basketball Team Transfer Portal Rankings.
The 2025-26 college basketball season may have just ended, but it's never too early to look ahead at early preseason rankings for 2026-27. On Monday, ESPN released its Men's NCAA basketball 2026-27 Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings. Indiana basketball fans are fired up to see the Hoosiers crack the top-25.
Indiana cracks top-25 in ESPN's early 2026-27 college basketball rankings
Indiana comes in at the No. 25 spot, signaling the increased expectations DeVries has for Year 2 in Bloomington. As ESPN's Jeff Borzello notes, DeVries' portal additions have Indiana's roster in a solid place heading into the new season.
"Darian DeVries completely changed his approach to roster construction and the transfer portal after one year in Bloomington, and the Hoosiers now have a squad that is seemingly better equipped to deal with the physicality, size and athleticism of high-major basketball. When healthy, Markus Burton is one of the best playmakers in the country, while Bryce Lindsay and Jaeden Mustaf offer a good balance of shooting and defense on the wings. Indiana made its post group a priority, and landed two of the better bigs in the portal in Aiden Sherrell and Samet Yigitoglu."Jeff Borzello
DeVries' switch from targeting all-league mid-major players to players with multiple years of high-major experience is a change Hoosier fans wanted to see. It's clear that DeVries' portal strategy from last offseason wasn't effective, but now the Hoosiers have a great mix of size, athleticism, scoring prowess, rebounding, and rim protecting that could point to brighter days at Assembly Hall.
Furthermore, Indiana's incoming portal class of Vaughn Karvala, Prince Alexander-Moody, and Trevor Manhertz are all top-80 players in the country. Indiana's 2026-27 roster looks even more impressive with that trio coming to town.
IU seems to be trending in the right direction, and Hoosier fans are starting to believe. But now it's up to DeVries and his staff to put it all together.
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