Here we are again. Another March without Indiana men's basketball in the NCAA tournament, watching teams like Purdue, Illinois and Michigan State make the Sweet 16 like it’s nothing.
Some fans shrug it off. “We’re a football school now.”
That’s not good enough. Not here. Not with this program’s history.
Plenty of issues have plagued Indiana basketball, but at the center of it all is one thing: identity. For nearly a decade, Indiana’s identity has been impossible to define. In the past nine years, Indiana has cycled through four different head coaches — four different voices, four different systems and four different visions of what this program should be.
We’ve tried the mid-major darling route with Archie Miller, the connection to the past with Mike Woodson and now we’re in another experiment with Darian DeVries.
This coaching carousel Indiana can’t seem to get off has drained excitement from each new season before it even begins. Meanwhile, the best programs are built on continuity. Their coaches stay. Their systems stick. Their relationships with recruits, transfers and fans grow stronger over time.
Many people have compared this year’s Nebraska men's basketball team to the turnaround Indiana Hoosiers football had. And while it’s not the same, Nebraska had never won an NCAA Tournament game before this year. Now, they’ve won two because of continuity and buy-in to head coach Fred Hoiberg’s system.
Roster construction hasn’t helped either. In the transfer portal era, building a complete team matters more than ever, and Indiana hasn’t done it well enough. A program with seemingly endless resources shouldn’t struggle this much to assemble a roster capable of competing in March.
This past season, Darian DeVries leaned into a mid-major-style approach, attempting nearly 30 3-pointers a game. He brought in shooters like Lamar Wilkerson, Tucker DeVries and Nick Dorn through the portal; players who on any given night can shoot the lights out.
And when the shots were falling, Indiana won.
But that’s the problem with relying on “any given night.” There's going to be a lot of nights that don't go your way.
This approach may work the Mountain West Conference and Atlantic 10 Conference, but in the Big Ten it’s a different type of game.
In many games, the Hoosiers found themselves facing bigger, more physical teams that can defend the perimeter and punish players on the glass. A team can't rely on hot shooting in a conference as competitive as the Big Ten.
And outside of streaky shooting, Indiana didn’t have much else to fall back on. The Hoosiers were undersized in a conference where facing a 7-footer like Aday Mara or Oscar Cluff every other game is the norm. Their tallest regular contributor, Reed Bailey, is listed at 6-foot-10 but averaged just 3.4 rebounds per game. Indiana was consistently beaten on the boards by both the best and worst teams in the conference, leading to far too many second-chance points.
That’s how you end up losing games you shouldn’t, like a matchup against the Minnesota Golden Gophers and getting swept by the Northwestern Wildcats. If even one of those games went in a different direction, Indiana probably finds itself in the tournament this year.
The consensus No. 1 team in the tournament is the Arizona Wildcats, and it’s worth watching a few of their highlights and comparing it to what you saw from Indiana this season. The Wildcats routinely dominate their competition. Their record is currently 34-2 in the Big 12, one of the toughest conferences in the country.
Trayce Jackson-Davis isn’t here to carry average Indiana teams into the tournament anymore. And building a team capable of competing for March success — or a championship — off a single player, as we saw with Wilkerson this year, is near impossible.
Darian DeVries must build a program that delivers consistent effort, has a clear identity and depth across the roster. Indiana can’t rely on inconsistent shooters or a single star to carry it through the grueling Big Ten schedule and into March.
When you watch the Sweet Sixteen, you’ll see programs like Illinois, Purdue and Michigan State, teams that are disciplined, physical and built to win even when all the shots aren’t falling. That’s the standard Indiana hasn’t met in more than a decade.
Until the Hoosiers develop a clear identity, match effort with talent and build a roster that can compete night after night, the only Indiana men’s basketball-related headline you’ll see in March is how it once again declines invitations to the National Invitation Tournament and The Crown.
It starts with Darian DeVries and his staff building a smarter and more balanced roster. And it’ll fall on both returning and any incoming players to match the toughness required to compete in the Big Ten.
This program and its fans deserve better than watching March basketball from the outside.
Jack Davis (he/him) is a junior majoring in media with a sports concentration and pursuing a minor in folklore and ethnomusicology and a certificate in journalism.
