Darian DeVries was hired at Indiana on March 18, 2025, and recently completed his first season on the job in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers finished the 2025-26 season 18-14 overall, 9-11 in the Big Ten and missed the 2026 NCAA tournament.
Here are five takeaways from the first year of the DeVries era at Indiana:
Indiana’s offensive style of play changed drastically
With a roster that was assembled to take and make 3-pointers at a high volume, Indiana’s style of play changed drastically in year one under the leadership of DeVries.
According to KenPom.com, the Hoosiers took 50.5 percent of their field goal attempts from beyond the 3-point line, the 14th highest in the country.
Indiana scored 37.7 percent of its points off 3-pointers, the 36th-highest nationally.
It was a drastic change from the previous eight seasons under Archie Miller and Mike Woodson, who never ranked in the top 250 nationally in the percentage of field goals attempted from 3-point range or the percentage of points scored from 3-pointers, according to Pomeroy.
For the season, Indiana finished 140th in the country in 3-point shooting percentage (34.7), a mark that it should aim to improve upon in future seasons if the 3-point volume is to remain at its current levels.
The Hoosiers went heavy on experience, making another roster reset inevitable
Six of Indiana’s top seven scorers on the 2025-26 roster were seniors and the Hoosiers had the nation’s most experienced roster, according to Pomeroy.
DeVries bet heavily on experience in year one of his tenure in hopes of reaching the NCAA tournament.
Despite having a veteran roster, Indiana missed March Madness and now faces another roster reset ahead this spring.
A lack of returning production and expected roster attrition will require the coaching staff and the new executive director of basketball, Ryan Carr, to be extremely active in the transfer portal.
Of the seven Hoosiers from last season with remaining eligibility, only four saw the court in the 2025-26 season and only three – Nick Dorn, Trent Sisley and Jasai Miles – played meaningful minutes.
With 84 percent of its scoring graduating, Indiana has significant holes to fill via the portal and might need starters at every position.
High school recruiting became a priority again
In an era of college basketball defined by player movement through the transfer portal, Indiana had failed in recent seasons to build a foundation through high school recruiting.
DeVries and the coaching staff are attempting to address that deficiency by focusing on recruiting prep talent.
Despite having a relatively short runway to recruit the 2026 class, Indiana has three top 100 players who will join the 2026-27 roster as freshmen.
The Hoosiers landed guard Prince-Alexander Moody and wings Trevor Manhertz and Vaughn Karvala, who will arrive on campus this summer.
Additionally, Indiana also has an early commitment from class of 2027 guard Chase Branham, the No. 38 player in the class of 2027 from Rogersville, Missouri.
Moving forward, it will be important for DeVries and the staff to continue prioritizing the high school ranks so the program can establish some continuity and avoid the need for such large portal recruiting hauls.
The defense wasn’t close to being good enough in Big Ten play
Defense looked like Indiana’s strong suit early in the season.
Through the first month of the season, the Hoosiers ranked 11th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to Bart Torvik’s metrics.
But the first month – played against interior competition – would be the high point for IU’s defense this season.
Indiana’s defense ranked 31st in December games, 80th in January games, 126th in February games and 144th in March.
In Big Ten play, Indiana ranked 14th in the league in defense, allowing 1.154 points per possession.
The Hoosiers lacked rim protection, couldn’t defend without fouling, were poor on the defensive glass against the league’s best teams and never created easy scoring opportunities off of their defense.
The program still needs to establish an identity
The most consistent programs or organizations in any sport have non-negotiables and core principles that are essential to success.
For IU basketball, since the end of the Bob Knight era – aside from portions of the Tom Crean era – the program hasn’t been known for anything more than producing underwhelming results.
One of the biggest challenges in today’s college basketball is establishing an identity and culture amid all the player movement.
The best coaches and programs have figured out what to look for in the portal to sustain success year-over-year, or figured out how to recruit high school players, retain them, and then sprinkle in pieces from the portal when needed.
Indiana, as it prepares for year two of the DeVries era, will have to lean heavily into the portal once again to build a roster. That’s not a space any program wants to occupy in the long term, but it is IU’s current situation.
Roster building isn’t just about collecting pieces and then figuring out how they fit together later. DeVries must establish what he wants the program to be under his leadership and work tirelessly to acquire the pieces that will lead to improvement in year two of his tenure and beyond.
See More: Five Takeaways, Darian DeVries