Four weeks ago, I wrote a column titled Indiana men’s basketball is behind — here’s why, where I outlined the reasons Indiana men's basketball has struggled over the past decade. While four weeks isn’t nearly enough time to fix those long-term issues, the recent results in the transfer portal have been encouraging.
And even though I’ve been burned before, I’ll admit it — I’m starting to believe again.
One issue I identified with the team last year was the over reliance on mid-major transfers. Sometimes you hit the jackpot with players like Lamar Wilkerson and other times it goes in the opposite direction. This year it’s nothing but power four transfers for the Hoosiers. To this point, Indiana has picked up six transfers. Aiden Sherrell from The University of Alabama, Samet Yiğitoğlu from Southern Methodist University, Jaeden Mustaf from Georgia Institute of Technology, Markus Burton from the University of Notre Dame, Bryce Lindsay from Villanova University and Darren Harris from Duke University.
All but Harris received significant minutes at their previous school, and Harris was a top 40 recruit in the 2024 class and is an absolute sharpshooter. More importantly, these additions make sense together. Everyone Indiana has recruited in the transfer portal so far seems to have a clear role on the team.
For years, Indiana fans have been asking for a true center over seven feet. It felt like every season, Purdue rolled out another giant who could dominate the paint, exposing Indiana’s lack of size inside. Instead of working around that weakness, Indiana is finally addressing it.
Yiğitoğlu, at 7-foot-2, is now the tallest player in program history — and a clear sign that Indiana is serious about changing its identity in the paint. And they’ve paired him alongside Sherrell, who is 6-foot-11 in his own right and will be able to play his natural power forward position.
With real size in the frontcourt and proven guards around them, Indiana finally has the flexibility to play through the post or stretch the floor, something it’s lacked in recent years. We’ve been forced to rely on one or the other, and it hasn’t worked.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, we must realize Indiana has won the offseason before. In 2024 it had the second ranked transfer portal class just behind the University of Arkansas. On paper talent doesn’t always translate, and roster fit only matters if it shows up when the games start. Chemistry, coaching and consistency will ultimately decide how far this group goes.
We saw last year that Darian DeVries is a capable coach who could be great with the right talent around him. Whether we want to admit it or not, there were probably only two players on last year’s roster who would start for true Big Ten contenders.
That’s what makes this offseason feel different. It’s not just about adding talent, it’s about adding the right talent. There’s a level of intentionality in this roster construction that hasn’t always been there in the past. Indiana isn’t just chasing names anymore; it’s building a team that actually fits together, both stylistically and physically. For the first time in a while, there’s a clear vision of how this group is supposed to play.
Still, belief in April doesn’t win games in January or March. This team will have to prove it when the lights come on, against real competition, night after night. But if the pieces come together the way they’re designed to, Indiana won’t just be improved; it’ll be relevant again. And for a program that’s spent the better part of a decade finding its footing, that alone is a step in the right direction.
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.
