A quick addendum to this...IU has offered #47 (247Sports) 2026 prospect Vaughn Karvala. Karvala was down to Syracuse and Xavier but has now eliminated Syracuse, is taking visits to IU and California and will then commit to one of those three schools shortly thereafter. His IU visit will be October 16. He told 247Sports' Travis Branham the following: "That's fairly new. They started recruiting me two weeks ago. I go on Oct. 16. It's going great and going quickly. Coach Johnson is great. He took me to school after our conversation. He came to practice at like 6 am in the morning, and we talked after, so then he dropped me off. That was cool."

Karvala is a 6'7" wing/small forward that plays for Bella Vista Prep in Arizona. He's known as a high-IQ player with good length and a solid, if a bit streak, perimeter shooter. IU watched him multiple times during the spring and summer on the EYBL circuit but did not choose to aggressively pursue until recently. So, the question must be asked...what caused the change for IU? Was it interest level from Karvala? Do they not feel good about landing Anthony Thompson and Karvala is a "backup" option at the small forward position to pair with Latrell Allmond and Trent Sisley as a forward group? 

My guess...and this is not sourced info, just reading between the lines...my guess is that IU gets Latrell Allmond (which I have thought since the first recruiting hot board on this site), Anthony Thompson is a one-and-done at Ohio State and IU wants a second forward in this class and Karvala is now a player that is open to Darian DeVries and his system so IU is choosing to push. 

@tjinman1987 I like the aggressive nature of the recruiting approach used by DeVries. The staff doesn't wait around for good news to happen but quickly moves forward so that the next best alternative is not lost. I do hope IU lands Anthony Thompson but the Karvala visit makes one seriously think Thompson is headed to OSU. Looks like in the next 10 days or so the high school recruiting boxes for 2026 may well be filled.

Latrell Allmond to Oklahoma State. Looks like we'll have to wait until next week to see where Anthony Thompson goes. Karvala is visiting on the 16th and perhaps he could commit prior to the Thompson decision on the 21st.

Anthony Thompson is announcing at 10:00 am. I would be very, very surprised if he chooses anyone but Ohio State. The Buckeyes are the home-state school and have a rumored offer of 3 million dollars on the table. Indiana has made the decision (a wise one, in my opinion) that they will not be matching that. No one knows for sure but again, I'd be stunned if it were Indiana.

Obviously, "missing" on Allmond and Ethan Taylor and it appears on Thompson is not ideal but Indiana had values on those guys and the market dictated they were going to be paid more than what IU valued them at. So how does IU fill the 2026 class? Prince Alexander-Moody is committed and I think the Hoosiers could get Vaughn Karvala (top 50 wing) if they choose to push. Beyond that, maybe an international prospect or two and then you would think they'd be in position to have a lot of capital to spend in the transfer portal because they chose not to spend it on the 2026 class. 

I’ll trust the staff knows what it is doing not throwing obscene money at players. Hopefully this isn’t an issue of not having enough NIL to compete at an elite level.

Diebler is a terrible coach and must be desperate to get some positive momentum in a program on life support.

I hope it's not big boosters looking at how Woodson wasted the portal and NIL funds and are in a wait and see mode. Although I don't blame them.

@tjinman1987 I think it's gonna be a slog until there's some track record for IU with CDD as coach. Follow the Cig/Painter route and look for guys that are culture fits and good teammates. I think he did that with this roster, it's just a question if these guys are talented enough (and big enough!) to compete at this level. I think it really hurt us to have to recruit an entire roster of 13 guys working with an NIL budget probably established, or even diminished by the transition of coaches, when we were looking at 4-5 new spots and retaining 8-9 other spots. I think the NIL amounts jumped tremendously this year and I'm guessing the Woodson supporters didn't commit to the same level of funding for CDD or took their wallets and went home. Winning is the only long term strategy and it's going to be tough until he has some results to show for his style and success at IU.

The boosters should want to give even more money to DeVries given he is a proven coach who clearly knows what he is doing, unlike Woodson.

@tjinman1987 Thanks for doing a good job of keeping all informed on how the recruiting process has been evolving with the Hoosiers. Count me as one who would like to see the Hoosiers sign Karvala, a high school long shot and a foreign player. Hate to see IU looking for perhaps 8 guys to fill the 2026-27 roster.

@bigmike We have 7 guys on this year's team that will have eligibility remaining, and could come back.  In this day and age, since all 7 of them won't play prominent roles, its pretty unrealistic to expect all 7 to return.  5 is probably actually pretty optimistic.  But if its 5.  That's 8 spots for frosh and portal guys.  We have 1, need 7 more.  Yikes.  If we do only get 2-3 frosh, I hope we get a couple multi year portal guys.

Posted by: @iunorth

↑

@bigmike We have 7 guys on this year's team that will have eligibility remaining, and could come back.  In this day and age, since all 7 of them won't play prominent roles, its pretty unrealistic to expect all 7 to return.  5 is probably actually pretty optimistic.  But if its 5.  That's 8 spots for frosh and portal guys.  We have 1, need 7 more.  Yikes.  If we do only get 2-3 frosh, I hope we get a couple multi year portal guys.

the question was never about next year.  We have assembled a team that requires a total rebuild next season.  The question is about the following year.  Are we going to totally turn over the roster every year?   And, by “totally” it doesn’t have to be literal.  However if we are turning over 4-5 starters every year that is about as low as one can go as far as having no continuity (or future foundation), 

I’ve seen a report that Vaughn Karvala is announcing his decision on November 1 and his final 3 schools are IU, Cal, and Xavier.

Trilly has posted his prediction for Karvala to IU

@surjay 

if they can get arafan diane (#17 overall), vaughn karvala (#47) and prince-alexander moody (#108)...that's a hell of a class out of the gate.

i'm also very into spending the anthony thompson money on diane if that's what ends up happening. bigs are much harder to come by in the portal and getting the #1 center in the class who, at 7'1, 290, is just scratching the surface of his potential would be a nice way guy to have locked down in an area where iu is lacking this year.

@iureactionary Yeah, that looks pretty good to me.

I can understand them not wanting to dump all that money into a freshman now. No matter what, we're going to have a few portal heavy seasons out of necessity and I imagine they would much rather spend big dollars on a proven commodity going into next season. Once they can stabilize the HS recruiting a bit the strategy might change.