New Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries hit the ground running after landing in Bloomington in March. For the second consecutive season, DeVries was forced to rebuild an entire roster through the transfer portal.
He did so without issue, adding 10 players in the portal for the 2025 season.
With a roster full of transfers, Indiana will face the challenge of building chemistry quickly while DeVries also implements his culture.
“I think Indiana is actually gonna put together a pretty sizable class via high school,“ On3 analyst Joe Tipton said on ISB Radio with Jim Coyle.
As many coaches focus more on the transfer portal, Indiana is looking to build the foundation of the program through high school recruiting.
With Trent Sisley as the only 2025 high school recruit, DeVries needs more guys who can develop within the program, and the 2026 class will be representative of that.
“They want to take maybe four high school guys in this class,” Tipton said.
“When I talk to other programs, they are thinking maybe two high school guys, but they are wanting to put together a bigger class and build the culture and develop those guys within the program.“
Indiana will still utilize the transfer portal.
Ideally, Indiana will use the transfer portal to fill in holes on the roster and add to an established foundation.
Despite the resources Indiana basketball has, adding 10 players in the portal each year is not sustainable for the program.
Indiana may not take four high school players every year, but DeVries’ first recruiting class will set the tone for the future.
DeVries has already landed one player with four-star guard Prince-Alexander Moody committing to the program last week.
Moody is ranked as the No. 104 player in the On3 Industry Rankings and the No. 27 shooting guard in the 2026 class.
His commitment showcases how Indiana wants to build the roster moving forward, as he projects to be a depth piece in the early portion of his career.
“They want to recruit a lot of these high school guys for depth,” Tipton said.
“They might go after these top 25, these five-star level players, those will obviously be your starters. A guy like Prince-Alexander Moody probably may not play a whole lot his freshman year.”
Indiana could be a program that goes for one or two top-ranked guys who project as one-and-dones while filling out the rest of their class with players they plan to develop within the program.
While Moody is the only current commitment in the 2026 class, Indiana is also heavily involved in four-star forward Latrell Allmond’s recruitment.