The flow of information about Indiana University basketball coming from Simon-Skjodt Assembly Hall has changed from a tsunami in the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s to a trickle in the current Darian DeVries era. The Tom Crean, Archie Miller, and Mike Woodson eras all had their big moments and kept our hopes alive. Crean’s teams had some good times but couldn’t sustain them. Overall, impatience with the persistent lack of success caused the average fan, like me, to lose enthusiasm for the program. We began each of those new eras with incredible optimism (except for the Woodson era), but even recruiting players who were Mr. Basketball’s and/or McDonald’s All Americans in high school, or ended up playing in the NBA after college, did not return the program to prominence. (Did you know Crean recruited and coached OG Anunoby, Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller, Thomas Bryant, Noah Vonleh, Juwan Morgan, and Yogi Ferrell, all of whom have played big roles on NBA teams).
Well, another new era starts this November when Darian DeVries leads the Hoosiers into another season of BiG basketball. This will be a season of unknowns and surprises. And believe me, unknowns is not an understatement. So little news has come out of Bloomington that anything that happens with IU basketball will be a surprise. Just like I was surprised to learn IU recently played three games in Puerto Rico against two international teams. More later.
What I know is this season’s Hoosier team will not have any players left over from last season. The entire roster from the 2024-2025 season entered the infamous transfer portal so every player on the team is a new face and an unknown. Who these new guys are is a mystery. I have read nothing profiling any of these players, and until I read about the games played in Puerto Rico, the only name I had heard was Tucker DeVries, the coach’s son. The article about the games mentioned a few players who were standouts, but none were referred to by any accolade they have received, eg. no McDonald’s All Americans, Mr. Basketballs.
Names who have received some mention are red-shirt senior guard Lamar Wilkerson, senior Sam Alexis, guards Conor Enright and Tayton Connerway, and freshman Trent Sisley. Alexis is a transfer from the NCAA champion Florida Gators, but he played only 24 games and did not play in the championship game. Enright is a transfer from DePaul and played 23 of their games, but was not a starter. Connerway, a senior transfer from Troy, started all 34 games and averaged 14.2 points per game. Trent Sisley, a 6’7” forward from Santa Claus, IN was not on the Indiana High School All-Star roster because he went to high school at Montverde Academy in Florida. Montverde is a quality program yielding Malik Reneau and Jalen Hood-Schifino so we can hope Sisley has talent.
Other players are Jasai Miles, Reed Bailey, Jason Drake, Nick Dorn, Josh Harris, Jordan Rayford, Aleksa Ristic, and Ian Stephens none of whom I’ve heard about.
To their credit, IU won all three games in Puerto Rico. They beat Central University of Bayamon 98-47, and beat Mega Superbet, a Serbian team, twice, 93-71 and 81-80.
Bottom Line: IU’s 2025-2026 men’s basketball team has a collection of back-up players most of whom did not start on their previous team, and by transferring to Indiana, hope to play more than in the past and contribute to the once-great tradition that was IU basketball. To have a team, Coach DeVries had to find players and took what he could get. I’m glad he found enough interested players to make up a team. Today’s players aren’t impressed with the legacy of Indiana basketball. That was 40 years ago. Players today think of IU as an average to mediocre program, and aren’t clamoring to be recruited so they can have the chance to wear candy-striped pants.
It’s very early—school hasn’t started and basketball season is still three months away—so we may be hearing more good news from Bloomington. But I’m doubtful. The Indianapolis Star’s account of the games in Puerto Rico said IU looked short and got overwhelmed early on in two games, but Coach DeVries juggled lineups and found one that worked well enough to win all three games.
“Hope springs eternal” and with Indiana basketball all we have is hope. The lack of hype so far leads me to think we’re in for a long season…again. There have been a lot of dismal seasons since IU played Maryland for the national championship April 1, 2002. Since then, only Tom Crean’s teams made deep runs in the NCAA tournament, but never got past the “sweet 16.” This season WILL NOT be a comeback season. It will likely rival the season Crean had after he inherited the disaster left by Kelvin Sampson. He started from scratch, too, and finished 6-25. Maybe DeVries is a better X’s and O’s guy than Crean. Crean could recruit, but during close games often looked bewildered. I hope we don’t have that again.
Is IU digging its own grave? Will the fan base be patient for success? Will all these unknowns pan out and make the athletic department look like savants? Well, in late November and December we’ll find out, and by February we should know if those were wise choices. DeVries has a big task ahead, and I hope he’s up to the challenge.
