Last Year
Year 1 of the Darian DeVries experience was ... fine, I guess. At the very least, Indiana finally shot a bunch of threes and even made some, causing Mike Woodson to silently curse. They were within striking distance of a tourney bid before losing six of their last seven games, including twice to Northwestern. That last loss booted them out of the BTT and that was a wrap.
Happy Trails
- Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson ran out of eligibility, as did Conor Enright
- The portal claimed Nick Dorn (Miami Florida) and Reed Bailey (St. John's).
- Tayton Conorway entered the portal but has not emerged
Starters
- PG Markus Burton, 6'1'' Senior: The Hoosiers went north and swiped Burton from Micah Shrewsberry and Notre Dame. He's a little guy who loves attacking the basket and making plays. His three point shooting hasn't been great, though all his other shooting has been and perhaps that might improve with Indiana hopefully not needing him to be the whole offense. He's also coming off an ankle injury that cost him most of last year.
- SG Darren Harris, 6'6'' Junior: Harris comes from Duke, and where he had the reputation of a Big Time Shooter but didn't get many minutes to show that. But he's coming to Indiana to let it fly.
- SF Jaeden Mustaf, 6'5'' Junior: Mustaf comes from Georgia Tech. He's a bit of a burly guy who will drive the ball more than shoot it. He gives the Hoosiers some flexibility, too, as he's strong enough to go inside and get some rebounds.
- PF Aiden Sherrell, 6'10'' Junior: Sherrell comes from Alabama and is the two part answer to "will Indiana be a small team." The answer is no. Sherrell was very solid for the Tide on both ends of the court, and he will step out and shoot threes so he's a natural fit for DeVries.
- C Samet Yigitoglu, 7'2'' Junior: Yigi Toe Glue comes from SMU and is Part Two of Project Make Indiana Big Again. Interior size was a problem for Indiana last year, but they should be fine now.
Bench
- SG Bryce Lindsay, 6'3'' Junior: Lindsay comes over Villanova, where he was mostly looking to put the ball in the basket. He might start, but he came off the bench in their scrimmage against Butler, so that's where I'll put him, too.
- PF Trent Sisley, 6'8'' Sophomore: Sisley was a contributor last season as a freshman, and should earn minutes this year. He didn't shoot the ball from deep very well, but supposedly that is a big part of his game so we'll see if he can improve.
- C Sam Alexis, 6'9'' Senior: Alexis is a solid rebounder and shot blocker who is currently in fifth year eligibility purgatory, but he'd be a great addition if he can play.
- Four freshmen in four star forwards Vaughn Karvala and Trevor Manhertz as well as four star guard Prince-Alexander Moody. They also added German center Clemens Sokolov.
Outlook
MaximumSam: The roster looks good. They've got a great lead guard in Burton, some giants in Sherrell and Toe Glue, and guys who can shoot around them. The barrier here is this is the definition of a Portal Team, and sometimes those teams can be rather disjointed and sad. If DeVries gets everyone on the same page, they could be really good, so we'll see if they can break the Hoosier Basketball Factory of Sadness trend.
IUinVA: Indiana completely screwed up the DeVries hiring process by filling the recruiting staff extremely late in the calendar, which led to a fragile Year Zero piñata, constructed of mid-major scraps and off-brand paste (Wilkerson was a legit, awesome player, however). DeVries marketed a system of spacing, passing, and three-point shooting. Lack of rim protection, rebounding, and B1G size killed the team last season, but the additions up front should go a long way in making this a B1G-er roster. Sherrell will be the player to watch. I‘m not saying that this team will be great, but they should be good. With a full year under his belt, the honeymoon is over and there are no excuses for DeVries this season.
BoilerUp89: It's a portal team. Rebounding and spacing should be good. Will the pieces fit together? Early scrimmage results say yes. Indiana spent a ton of money on this roster. A literal ton. A Tournament bid isn't the expectation for that type of spending, a second weekend appearance is. I'm not sure they are second weekend good, but they could be. My open question is whether the shooting is good enough?
