The KenPom profile for IU basketball for the 2025-26 season shows the Hoosiers ranked first nationally in one statistic: experience.
Pomeroy defines his experience metric as “average number of full D-1 seasons played by the current roster, weighted by minutes played.”
All of IU’s roster might have been new to the program, but no Division I school had more experience than the Hoosiers, per Pomeroy’s measurement.
Experience, however, wasn’t enough to propel the Hoosiers to more than a 10th-place finish in the Big Ten. As Selection Sunday nears, a likely NCAA tournament miss appears to be the result for Darian DeVries in his first season in Bloomington.
The program had too many misses in the portal at key positions and couldn’t overcome its deficiencies as the competition stiffened in conference play. IU now faces another roster reset when the portal opens early next month.
When DeVries took over the program in Bloomington last spring, the roster flipped completely in the weeks following his hiring.
The attrition wasn’t surprising given the coaching change and the fact that players can now move freely between programs without sitting out.
Plenty of programs routinely flip rosters and find quick success. The hope was that DeVries could find similar success in year one in Bloomington.
For all involved – the program and the players – a fresh start was welcomed. With a clean slate, DeVries and his staff had a chance to build the roster from the ground up.
DeVries brought in 12 scholarship players, including his son, Tucker, and retained IU’s lone high school signee, Trent Sisley, a Southern Indiana native who signed with Mike Woodson in the fall of 2024.
As the roster was constructed, it was, on paper, a decent balance between experience and underclassmen who could, in theory, contribute for multiple seasons.
Most of the projected starters – Sun Belt player of the year Tayton Conerway, All-CUSA selection Lamar Wilkerson, Two-time MVC player of the year Tucker DeVries and All-A10 selection Reed Bailey were viewed in that light when signed – were seniors entering their final season of eligibility. Conor Enright, who played for DeVries previously at Drake, and Sam Alexis, who brought experience from stops at Chattanooga and Florida, were also expected to be significant contributors.
But there were also players with multiple seasons of eligibility – Nick Dorn, Jasai Miles, Jason Drake and Josh Harris, to name a few – who were brought in to play roles for this season and potentially beyond.
As the season tipped off, however, it quickly became clear that the minutes would be dominated by the most experienced guys on the roster.
It was an understandable strategy given the pressure to show progress and make the postseason in year one, a goal that is achievable and a realistic expectation given the access to players in the portal and the resources allocated to acquiring players.
Several programs are set to appear in this year’s March Madness, including first-year coaches Iowa, Virginia, North Carolina State, Miami (FL), Villanova, Texas A&M, and Texas. Bubble teams VCU and Auburn also have first-year coaches.
But less than 48 hours removed from IU’s 14th loss of the season – and second loss to Northwestern – the program is on the brink of another roster reset.
The senior-dominated roster likely won’t hear its name called for the NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday in three days. And six of the team’s top seven scorers have exhausted their eligibility.
This, on its own, wouldn’t be a cause for concern had IU’s underclassmen shown promise and gained valuable experience ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.
But that didn’t happen, as only Nick Dorn and Sisley averaged in double-figure minutes. In total, IU’s seniors averaged 65.8 of its 78.2 points per game or 84.1 percent of its scoring.
Even if IU brings back a few contributors next season, which is no certainty, it’s looking at another roster flip with little to carry forward production-wise.
The Hoosiers had some solid wins, beating Purdue and Wisconsin at Assembly Hall and also knocking off UCLA in Los Angeles, but 15 of their 18 wins came against teams ranked outside of the KenPom top 50.
DeVries has acknowledged the roster deficiencies this season and has hired an executive director of basketball – effectively a program GM – in Ryan Carr, to assist with roster-building efforts moving forward.
IU must do a better job of developing young players – it currently has three freshmen for next season’s roster – and make better decisions on the players it brings in from the transfer portal.
Next season’s roster needs multiple post players who can, at the least, rebound and defend at a Big Ten level.
The Hoosiers also need a point guard who can break down defenses and be a consistent scoring threat.
And IU needs to land multiple underclassmen in the portal who can be counted on to play more than one season to prevent the roster from becoming a continuous revolving door.
Better execution in the portal this spring and development of a freshman class currently ranked in the top 20 nationally is a necessity if Indiana is to take a step forward next winter.
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