Bob Knight’s tenure ended at the dawn of a new century with Mike Davis taking over and leading the program to a national runner-up finish in 2001-2002 and four NCAA Tournament appearances in six seasons. It was always an uphill climb for Davis to be a long-term replacement for “The General” and Mike Davis seemed relieved to be removed from the pressure-cooker after the 2005-2006 season.
Indiana University hired Kelvin Sampson and the talent level certainly increased but it came at a price and the former Oklahoma coach was fired less than two years later with Dan Dakich finishing the campaign on an interim basis. The only legacy left was self-imposed penalties and a gutted roster as the administration turned to Tom Crean.
His first three seasons were as dark as any time in IU Basketball history with just eight total Big Ten wins but he rallied to go to three Sweet Sixteens in five seasons before sliding back in 2016 and being fired. Archie Miller was one of the hottest young names in coaching and hopes were high that IU was headed back to prominence when he was hired ahead of the 2017 season but he missed the NCAA Tournament in his four seasons and was fired.
Athletic director Scott Dolson and the Board of Trustees turned to a former legendary player to try and turn things around, hiring former NBA head coach Mike Woodson. He made the NCAA Tournament in years one and two but the program’s momentum was clearly stymied in the past two years and Woodson resigned his post and headed back to the NBA.
IU fans know where the program is. They know what it once was and they are fully aware of the failures of each regime. For many, the past 20-plus seasons have grinded any patience into dust. Dust that is quite similar to what might be covering the hallowed banners that hang in Assembly Hall, the last of which was won in 1987. That’s not particularly fair to new head coach Darian DeVries but the frustrations of the past do lessen the patience Indiana fans have with each successive year that passes without challenging for national relevancy in the Big Dance.
Thankfully, the current era of collegiate sports gives DeVries and the Hoosiers a chance to reset the roster quickly and be competitive without a long rebuild. The 2025-2026 roster, while not quite fully set, will feature two incoming freshmen and ten (or more) arrivals from the portal. This coming season’s team will not resemble anything IU fans grew accustomed to under Mike Woodson. Instead of having multiple big men with a plan to consistently feed the post, DeVries’ first team lacks a true big man but is loaded with skilled shooters that excel at distributing the ball and setting up their teammates.
This team is unlikely to contend for an NCAA Championship or a Big Ten title. However, can this roster solidly reach the NCAA Tournament while playing a modern and aesthetically pleasing style and laying the groundwork for a program that could soon compete at the top of the sport?
The next nine months will give us that answer. It is Darian DeVries’ turn to lead this once-great collegiate basketball program and a starving fan base yearns for something positive to cheer about inside of Assembly Hall. Each coach since Bob Knight has found some degree of success but ultimately failed.
Undaunted, we go again. We’re asked once again to believe. We look to the rafters of Assembly Hall and again, we hope.
Roster Strengths
Perimeter Shooting
Indiana fans have longed for a team that is willing to shoot a decent volume of three-pointers and capable of knocking down those shots at an acceptable clip. Darian DeVries and his coaching staff have made acquiring depth in shooting the biggest emphasis and IU fans will see an immediate change in how the Hoosiers attack defenses. Look at the numbers from the 2024-2025 season for DeVries’ new players:
-Lamar Wilkerson: 3.4 makes per game – 44%
-Tucker DeVries: 3.3 makes per game – 47.3%
-Nick Dorn: 3 makes per game – 35.1%
-Jasai Miles: 2.4 makes per game – 33.5%
-Jason Drake: 1.2 makes per game – 39.6%
-Conor Enright: 1.1 makes per game – 32.5%
-Tayton Conerway: 1 make per game – 27%
-Reed Bailey: .5 makes per game – 41.5%
-Sam Alexis: .2 makes per game – 20%
In addition, Trent Sisley is a capable three-point shooter with the ability to development into a real asset from the perimeter at his size and Aleksa Ristic was above 40% from three on a good volume last season as a professional in Serbia. Those numbers will not migrate to Bloomington perfectly. This is a new system for nearly every player and each player will have different usage than they had previously. For context though, that’s 16.2 made threes per game on 43 attempts at 37.7%. North Florida led the country last season with 12.8 made threes per game.
The top power conference team was the BYU Cougars with 10.6 per game. The top percentage nationally was Bradley at 39.8% and the top power conference team was Houston at 39.4%. Purdue was tops in the Big Ten at 38.2% (17th nationally). Darian DeVries wants to spread defenses out and they will, at nearly all times, have at least four players on the court that are capable and willing from beyond the arc.
“I like the way the roster came together,” DeVries told the media at a fan event (Huber’s Winery) in late May. “I think we have great depth at shooting the basketball, which is a priority for us.”
The Ball Won’t “Stick”
One of the things that can consistently grind an offense to a halt is a lack of players that are willing to share the ball. Even one out of five guys that hesitate to pass can damage offensive flow. There are many terms for those types of players but black hole and ball hog are the two most common. The outcome of unwilling passers is that the ball sticks in their hands.
At best, it allows the defense to catch up on rotations and get back into good position. At worst, it results in a poor shot or a turnover. Legendary winner Bill Russell said to “create unselfishness as the most important team attribute” and I believe an underrated part of this roster is how well the main rotation options share the ball.
There are different ways to measure a player’s ability to effectively share the ball but my favorite is assist rate. This tempo-free statistic estimates the percentage of field goals a team makes off of an assist from a specific player while that player is on the court. The higher the assist rate, the more regularly that player contributes to their team’s success by setting up scoring opportunities. Braden Smith had an assist rate of 44.1 in 2024 and anything better than around 23% is considered very good with anything above roughly 33% being considered elite in college basketball.
Darian DeVries clearly targeted players that are willing to share the ball and know how to set their teammates up for success.
-Conor Enright – 37.7 percent (17th nationally)
-Tayton Conerway – 36.7 percent (20th nationally)
-Reed Bailey – 25.3 percent
-Jason Drake – 23.5 percent
-Tucker DeVries – 21.1 percent (in 2024 with Drake, WVU sample-size was too small)
-Jasai Miles – 10.5 percent
-Nick Dorn – 5 percent
-Lamar Wilkerson – 14.2 percent
-Sam Alexis – 13.5 percent (2024 with Chattanooga)
There are a couple of exceptions: Nick Dorn’s 5 percent, Jasai Miles at 10.5 percent and North Florida teammate Josh Harris below that number (so, that might be a UNF system trait), but by and large, this is a team that is going to share the ball and cause defenses problems. In short, the ball is not going to stick and that should make for some very fun offense. If you are wondering where recent IU teams stacked up in this metric: Trey Galloway led IU with a 29.9 assist rate with no one else above 20 percent last season. Galloway also led the Hoosiers in 2024 at 25.6 but only one other player was above 10 percent.
Positional Size (beyond Center) and Versatility
It is tempting to look at Indiana’s roster and come to the conclusion that the Hoosiers have a small team. After all, they don’t have a seven-footer and lack a true center. Beyond the center position though (more on that later), Indiana actually has good size on this roster. Of the likely guards that are expected to play extended minutes: Conor Enright is 6’2”, Tayton Conerway is 6’3”, Lamar Wilkerson is 6’4”, Jasai Miles is 6’6” and Aleksa Ristic is a well-built 6’4”. The wings are all between 6’7” and 6’8” and forward Reed Bailey is 6’10” while Sam Alexis is 6’8” with a plus-wingspan. Darian DeVries made a point of mentioning the overall size of the roster.
“We have great positional size at a lot of the spots. At the center we are a little small, but at the other spots we have great size.” That’s true in height and it’s also true in strength and maturity. IU is going to have a veteran team with the majority of players being in their third, fourth or fifth years of collegiate basketball. That experience and strength will play a role against teams that might not be quite as long or tall at the guard or wing spots. The length on the perimeter and on the wing should allow Indiana to switch seamlessly on defense. DeVries had strong defensive teams at Drake and his West Virginia Mountaineers were ranked 15th in defense last season according to KenPom.
“There will be nights where they’re undersized on the defensive end,” DeVries said. “There’s a lot of ways to offset that. Size doesn’t always determine how effective you can be as a defender or offensive player. The right mindset goes a long way, and I think your guys will bring that mindset.”
Potential Roster Weaknesses
Lack of Interior Size
Darian DeVries is right about mindset and ways that you can offset a lack of size on the interior. That written, opponents will undoubtedly look to exploit IU’s lack of a true center. Sam Alexis is the best defensive and rebounding option that IU has on the interior at 6’8” and 240 pounds. Reed Bailey is 6’10” but he’s much more a skilled forward and was not known as a rim protector during his time at Davidson. The other interior option is Josh Harris and the North Florida transfer is young and still developing as a defender and better suited as a forward than a center on defense. Who is going to effectively man the post against teams like Michigan or Purdue?
Will IU be able to rebound effectively enough to prevent teams from controlling the glass and getting a lot of second-chances? Without a true rim protector, the Hoosiers will have to be outstanding communicators on defense. They will need to switch, hound passing lanes and ratchet up the ball pressure on the perimeter to prevent teams from getting comfortable on offense. That is certainly doable and Darian DeVries’ very recent history (a top 15 defense with a 6’8” center that certainly resembles Sam Alexis’ body-type) suggests he knows how to prevent this potential weakness from becoming an anchor that sinks the season.
The Unknown
“Unknown” applies to just about everything with the program. This is the first time this staff has worked together. This will be the first season in the Big Ten for every player on the roster. Tucker DeVries is the only player that has played in Darian DeVries’ system previously. Very few of these players have any experience whatsoever in playing with each other. Most of this coaching staff has never coached and scouted against coaches like Matt Painter, Tom Izzo, Dusty May, Brad Underwood, Greg Gard and the other head coaches in the Big Ten. Lamar Wilkerson, Reed Bailey, Tayton Conerway and other rotation players have not been in the heat of conference races on teams that traveled into Mackey Arena or Champaign or Pauley Pavilion. They will not have played in a spectacle like they’ll see when IU takes on Kentucky in December.
Unknown does not have to equate to a poor outcome but it would be wise to at least acknowledge that this season will be absolutely stuffed with new experiences for this group of coaches and players. Darian DeVries is embracing the challenge and passion that IU basketball brings and he’ll lean on the passion of the fan base to try and push the program back to national prominence but there will inevitably be some adjustments and a learning curve needed for everyone during this first campaign.
Emerging From the Wilderness
IU basketball has largely been in the wilderness for much of the 21st century. Darian DeVries has been hired to lead the program out of the woods and back into consistently being in the spotlight. The fan base has been beaten down and burned many times but this season is the first under a new regime and with an entirely new roster. Despite the recent frustrations or, perhaps, because of them. This season offers yet another chance at one of the most precious of life’s commodities: hope.