After a disappointing first season at the helm of the Indiana basketball program Darian DeVries is looking to turn things around in a major way. DeVries has leaned on the transfer portal extremely heavily over his two offseasons in Bloomington, and it has not worked out as planned.
However, this year's portal class is giving Hoosier fans some hope. DeVries' portal haul is ranked as the No. 6 transfer portal class in the country by 247Sports, and six incoming additions have multiple years of high-major experience -- something that was glaringly missing from last year's portal group.
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While the transfer portal has taken over college basketball (and college sports as a whole), high school recruiting remains vastly critical to roster construction. Indiana's incoming 2026 recruiting class features four well-rounded players, and the 2027 class already features 4-star PG Chase Branham.
However, DeVries and company have suffered a tough recruiting defeat with the commitment decision of 4-star prospect Jalen Brown.
Indiana misses out on 4-star combo guard Jalen Brown to Wisconsin
On Friday afternoon, Brown announced his commitment to the Wisconsin Badgers.
Brown is a Milwaukee native, so pulling brown away from Wisconsin was always going to be a tough task. DeVries and the Hoosiers were in the running to land his services, but unfortunately the local product will stay close to home and play for the Badgers. The 6'4" 180-pound combo guard chose Wisconsin over other offers from Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Saint Louis, Washington, and West Virginia, among others.
BREAKING: Top 100 guard Jalen Browm has committed to Wisconsin, he tells me for @Rivals.
— Evan Flood (@Evan_Flood) June 5, 2026
Brown is the highest ranked commit for the #Badgers since Sam Dekker in 2012.
"I’m ready for all the pressure or anything that comes with that. I want to make my home state proud and bring… pic.twitter.com/TrqMdbzFni
Brown is the first player to commit to Wisconsin for the 2027 class. According to Rivals, Brown is ranked as the No. 3 player in the state of Wisconsin and the No. 10 combo guard in the country. Furthermore, he is ranked as the No. 63 overall player in the country, which makes him Wisconsin's highest-ranked recruit since Sam Dekker in 2012.
Indiana and Wisconsin rivalry continues on and off the court
Branham committed to the Hoosiers in September, and it seems likely that his presence as Indiana's lone commit in the 2027 class played a role in Brown's decision-making process. Branham is also a guard and has a similar frame to Brown, and given Brown's ties to the The Badger State, bringing him to Bloomington was always going to be an uphill battle for DeVries and his staff.
An exact date has yet to be announced, but the Hoosiers and Badgers are set to meet this season in Madison. It's a game Indiana fans already have circled on their calendars.
Madison has been a house of horrors for Indiana in recent memory, as the Hoosiers have not won a road game at Wisconsin nearly 28 years. Indiana's last win in Madison came all the way back on January 25, 1998 when Bob Knight was still calling the shots in Bloomington. Since then, Indiana has lost 21 straight matchups against the Badgers on the road.
Needless to say, DeVries is looking to change that in this season's meeting.
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