Darian DeVries entered his first season in Bloomington looking to restore glory to the Indiana basketball program. However, the Hoosiers finished with an 18-14 overall record and a 9-11 Big Ten record en route to missing out on the NCAA Tournament once again.
Indiana slams the door on opportunity to play postseason basketball once again
To make matters worse, a report from Extra Points' Matt Brown showcases the failure of the 2025-26 Indiana basketball season even more. Per Brown's reporting, Indiana had the highest operating budget of any college basketball team in the country this season $32,041,364. Unfortunately, the highest basketball budget resulted in missing the NCAA Tournament for the 8th time in the last 10 seasons.
Indiana's NCAA-leading operating budget still doesn't get the Hoosiers to the big dance
In addition to having the largest operating budget among all college basketball teams in the country, IU held that title by a wide margin. The No. 2 team on the list is Tennessee with an operating budget of $23,183,445, which puts the Volunteers $8.8 million behind the Hoosiers.
However, the Vols earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament and are dancing for the 6th straight season. Conversely, a 1-6 stretch to close the season landed Indiana as the fourth team outside of the NCAA Tournament picture on Selection Sunday.
Furthermore, Indiana is the only team to miss the tournament among the top-12 highest budgets in the sport. It takes until No. 12 on the list to find a non-tournament team besides Indiana, which comes in the form of the Ole Miss Rebels with an operating budget of $18,228,378 - more than $13.5 million heind IU's budget.
Along with paying DeVries and his staff, NIL, and the regular price that comes with operating a Big Ten college basketball program, the Hoosiers' budget also includes finances for Mike Woodson's buyout as well as DeVries' buyout from West Virginia. While that means IU's number of $32 million may be higher than a normal year, it doesn't necessarily make things look any better.
In the end, Indiana's NCAA-leading college basketball budget wasn't enough to even qualify for the 68-team March Madness field. As DeVries prepares for Year 2 at the helm of the program in 2026-27, Hoosier fans are hoping better results are on the horizon.