On Monday morning, IU basketball’s roster was at four players for next season – Trent Sisley, Prince-Alexander Moody, Vaughn Karvala and Trevor Manhertz.
As of late Wednesday night, the 2026-27 roster has 10 players.
The Hoosier coaching staff, led by Darian DeVries, added three portal commitments on Monday, one on Tuesday and two on Wednesday. The roster overhaul in Bloomington is moving at warp speed.
Here are five takeaways from a busy three days for the IU program in the portal:
Indiana is putting together a frontline built for Big Ten play
Darian DeVries admitted in his first season that the Hoosiers would need more size in the frontcourt in future seasons to compete in a rugged Big Ten.
With a pair of commitments that both have high-major experience with production, Indiana is building a more formidable frontcourt for year two of the DeVries era.
On Tuesday, Indiana added SMU transfer Samet Yigitoglu, a 7-foot-2, 270-pounder who averaged nearly eight rebounds per game last season.
And on Wednesday, the Hoosiers secured a commitment from Alabama transfer Aiden Sherrell, a 6-foot-11 forward who was a 2024 McDonald’s All-American and had two games last season with eight blocked shots.
Rim protection and rebounding were consistent issues last season for Indiana. Adding Yigitoglu and Sherrell should help address both deficiencies.
Yigitoglu was the best offensive rebounder in the ACC last season and ranked ninth in block percentage. Sherrell ranked seventh in the SEC in block percentage.
The Hoosiers have landed players with multiple seasons of eligibility remaining
Indiana went all-in on experience for the 2025-26 season with six seniors who comprised six of the team’s seven leading scorers.
It would have been a fine strategy had the Hoosiers reached the NCAA tournament, but that did not occur. The lack of contributing players to bring back for the 2026-27 season necessitated a full roster reset, except for one returnee in Sisley.
The six portal additions so far this week for Indiana all have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
That doesn’t mean that all six players will be in Bloomington for two seasons – that shouldn’t be the expectation in the current landscape – but it isn’t sustainable to completely flip the roster every offseason.
By bringing in guys who can be in the program for multiple seasons, it allows DeVries and the coaching staff to build some continuity and culture.
All six additions thus far have high-major experience
After signing a portal class last offseason that consisted of all players who began their careers at the mid-major level, it’s worth pointing out that all six of the additions began their careers at the high-major level.
Jaeden Mustaf played two seasons at Georgia Tech. Darren Harris played two seasons at Duke. Markus Burton played three seasons at Notre Dame. Samet Yigitoglu played two seasons at SMU. Aiden Sherrell played two seasons at Alabama. And Bryce Lindsay played one season at Texas A&M, one at James Madison and was at Villanova this past season.
Is it just a coincidence that things have worked out this way so far? Perhaps.
It’s still possible that IU adds someone from a lower level in the coming days or weeks. And as we saw with Lamar Wilkerson last season, you can find an All-Big Ten player from a lower level of college basketball. Wilkerson, however, is the exception and not the rule. Building solely from the mid-major level in the Big Ten is a large hill to climb.
Upgrading the overall talent level has been a priority for the staff via the portal this spring. Adding players who have already proven they can produce at the high-major level marks a change in approach from a year ago.
Indiana appears to have a significant upgrade at point guard with Markus Burton
The Hoosiers believe they have secured a clear upgrade at point guard in Notre Dame transfer Markus Burton.
While Burton, a 6-foot native of Mishawaka, has dealt with injuries in his career, he’s been extremely productive throughout his three seasons in South Bend.
The 2023 Indiana Mr. Basketball, Burton has averaged 19.1 points over 69 career games and also has 259 career assists and 123 steals.
Having a point guard who can score in bunches while also distributing will be a significant boost to an IU offense that had too many long scoring droughts when Wilkerson went cold last winter.
In Burton, Indiana now has a point guard who can play 30-plus minutes, has three years of high-major experience and plays with no fear.
Hoosiers add three intriguing wing/guard pieces
Mustaf, Harris and Lindsay all bring a little something different to the table and should bring a balance of shooting and scoring to a new-look wing and guard rotation next winter.
A former top 60 recruit, Mustaf has size at 6-foot-6 and can attack the rim and draw fouls. He ranked 10th in the ACC last season in free-throw rate (FTA/FGA) at 49 percent.
The IU staff is betting on a breakout from Harris, a former top 40 recruit who played two seasons in Durham but was never fully in the rotation. At 6-foot-5, Harris was billed as one of the top shooters in high school basketball as a senior, but never consistently found his stroke. Indiana believes there is untapped potential there and is hopeful that more consistent minutes lead to production.
And Lindsay, who wasn’t highly touted out of high school, started his career at Texas A&M, where he played only eight games due to injury, before a breakout redshirt freshman season at James Madison.
The 6-foot-3 Lindsay moved up to the high-major level this past season at Villanova and made 78 3-pointers and shot 35.6 percent from deep. He was the leading scorer for the Wildcats in their NCAA tournament loss to Utah State with 25 points, including a 6-for-11 mark on 3-pointers.
This trio, on paper, appears to be a solid core guard and wing rotation to play alongside Burton and potentially Prince-Alexander Moody, who will try to earn minutes as a freshman.
(Photo credit: Alabama Athletics)
See More: Five Takeaways, Aiden Sherrell, Bryce Lindsay, Darren Harris, Jaeden Mustaf, Markus Burton, Samet Yigitoglu