While college basketball season has just wrapped up, many teams basketball have already started their recruiting, including our very own Indiana University team. IU mens coach Mike Woodson stepped down from the program in February of 2025. Woodson coached the Hoosiers for four straight seasons and had some good seasons and memorable moments throughout his time there.
As a player Woodson had some good seasons, his best being 1979-80, when he led the Hoosiers to a Big Ten title and an NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen appearance. He was named the 1980 Big Ten Player of the Year and an NABC All-American. His best season as a coach at Indiana was the 2021-2022 season, where the Hoosiers went 21-12 overall, won the Big Ten Conference regular season championship, and reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. This marked the culmination of a turnaround effort after Woodson took over a struggling program. As his turnaround effort has ended, Indiana is now moving into a new era of college basketball with their newest hire.
Coach Darien Devries was named head coach for the 2025-2026 season. DeVries was the coach of West Virginia last year and previously led Drake University to three NCAA Tournament appearances and a conference championship during his six seasons there. Before Drake, DeVries spent 17 seasons as an assistant coach at Creighton, under coaches like Dana Altman and Greg McDermott. As a player He played for Northern Iowa from 1994 to 1998, where he was a starting guard. He earned 1,084 career points and was a two-time Academic All-MVC selection.
In an interview on March 19 Devries said, “There’s expectations, there’s a lot of accountability to bring it every day and his expectations, my expectations, the outside’s expectations are all higher. You are going to get judged a little bit differently than everyone else.”
Devries has a positive mindset to taking the coaching job at Indiana and is ready to take the program in the right direction.
While a new hire at the coaching position is new for Indiana, there is also lots of other news coming to the university. The transfer portal has revolutionized college basketball in which players can leave a college and serve no penalty for joining another one. With this innovation college teams have started to move and act more like professional teams in which each player is seen as on a one year contract. Very rarely will you see a college team nowadays that keeps almost all of the same players. This is not only because of the transfer portal, but also NIL money has changed college basketball and Indiana’s athletic programs including basketball. The average amount that an Indiana basketball player makes is about $43,000, with the star players like Omar Ballo with a contract of around $2 million. With all of this new innovations in college basketball you can expect teams to start moving just like professional teams.
With new players coming in this season, Indiana has had some great transfers and incoming freshmen to join the team next year. The first impact player that will be joining in the fall is 6 foot 9, 4 star top recruit Trent Sisley. Sisley has been a standout starter for Montverde Academy in Florida where many other great players have played at such as Cooper Flagg, RJ Barrett, Cade Cunningham, and lots of other NBA talent.
Another star player that will be joining Indiana is transfer from West Virginia, Tucker Devries who averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. He also boasts a strong 3-point shooting percentage of 47.3% in those eight games. DeVries’ career includes averaging 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists during his time at Drake. He also has a significant number of 3-point field goals made in his career, reaching 250. Several Indiana basketball players have transferred to different programs. Among those who have departed through the transfer portal are Gabe Cupps, Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako, Jakai Newton, Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle, and Bryson Tucker.
Other players that have transferred include Tayton Conerway (April 16): Conerway had a historic season for Troy as the program’s first-ever Sun Belt Player of the Year. He led the team in scoring (13.7 points per game). Jasai Miles (April 16): Miles averaged 15.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists for North Florida while averaging 31.7 minutes over 32 starts. Reed Bailey (April 6): Indiana landed a commitment from the Atlantic 10 Conference’s top scorer (18.8 points per game). The Davidson forward earned First Team All-Conference honors and was named the league’s most improved player.Lamar Wilkerson (April 15): Wilkerson is IU’s second-highest rated transfer commit (No. 42 overall) behind Tucker DeVries. The two-time, first-team All-Conference USA guard averaged 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game last season at Sam Houston.
With all of these new transfers and new coach Indiana is looking for a fresh start and a great 2025-2026 season.
