Indiana men’s basketball will enter the 2026 offseason in need of… quite a bit in the transfer portal. The Hoosiers will be replacing every starter from their final matchup, with Reed Bailey having supplanted Nick Dorn as head coach Darian DeVries’ short term answer for more size in the frontcourt.
Now DeVries’ attention turns to the long term answer for that question, alongside starters in the backcourt, at small forward and almost certainly some depth all around. That’s before you consider the things
the things Indiana would want, a luxury afforded to programs with teams to build around rather than needing to build said thing.
With all of this in mind, here’s Indiana’s absolute needs and wants in the transfer portal.
Needs
Indiana literally cannot afford to go without these because if it doesn’t there won’t be a functional basketball team (in a literal sense rather than exaggerated) next season.
Point guard
In looking back at some of DeVries’ best Drake teams and his lone West Virginia roster, one commonality is point guard play. Roman Penn boasted one of the highest assist rates nationally during his time with the Bulldogs under DeVries and Javon Small was the offensive engine for a defensive minded Mountaineers squad.
DeVries’ offense, 3s or not (more on this at some point later), thrives with a strong passer guiding it. Conor Enright did this well at Drake and to the best of his ability at Indiana when Big Ten-level athletes changed how defenses respond to it. Indiana needs a point guard of equal level to succeed.
This is why I think point guard is by some distance the most important spot for the Hoosiers heading into the offseason.
Frontcourt, particularly center
Indiana did not field a Big Ten-level frontcourt this past season. The Hoosiers lacked the proper size and physicality to contend with Big Ten opponents in the paint on either end of the floor, leaving opposing defenses free to stick to the 3-point shooters.
The Hoosiers had the shooting, but lacked the inside scoring threat to open up looks for those shooters. Think Mackenzie Holmes on Indiana women’s basketball a few years ago, Teri Moren built a perfectly balanced offense that could beat opponents in the paint or along the perimeter. Does DeVries need a strong back-to-the-basket big at center for his offense to work? No, but a real scorer there would do wonders.
Then there’s power forward. DeVries rolled with Tucker DeVries at that spot, like he was at Drake and West Virginia, which was… interesting. I think having a floor spacer there can really help an offense, but DeVries lacked the size or defensive ability to have success there in Big Ten play. I think he would’ve made a great wing, but hindsight is 20/20.
With the power forward spot you have to pick and choose more, I think. Sure, you can have a floor spacer, but you may have to give up some defense or other attributes because if you want an elite floor spacer and defender your pool of guys shrinks dramatically because they’re usually already on NBA Draft boards.
Ultimately, I think Indiana really needs to get bigger at power forward to boost its defense. There’s ways of getting offense from that spot that aren’t 3-point shooting.
Wants
These would be great to great to have if Indiana wants to go from debating whether or not it belongs in the tournament at all to debating which seedline it belongs in.
Depth
Depth is a need, yet here it is as a want. Why’s this? Because it’s a lot easier to convince someone to come in and compete for starting minutes than it is to convince someone to be a depth piece and wait it out. Indiana has three incoming freshmen and could get some returners in Dorn, Trent Sisley and Jasai Miles, but would have to do the same sort of convincing with said returners.
Having a scorer off the bench would be neat and great, but having defense off the bench gives Indiana much more of a floor. If Indiana can find some younger talent looking to carve out a role in the portal, it’d be huge for the Hoosiers’ depth going into year two under DeVries.
Athleticism
Another thing DeVries’ first Indiana roster was lacking in was athleticism. There were spurts of it in the frontcourt from Alexis, Bailey and Sisley, but the backcourt really only had Jasai Miles, who earned minutes by playing defense and playing hard.
This lack of athleticism and size caused Indiana to struggle quite a bit on defense. You can built a successful defense on one or the other, both is tremendously hard, but the Hoosiers had neither. Size is basically paramount in the Big Ten, being listed as a need above in the frontcourt, but some athleticism on the perimeter would go a long way in boosting the Hoosiers’ defense in year two.
Vaughn Karvala and Prince-Alexander Moody will bring some necessary athleticism as freshmen, but it remains to be seen how much either will play. Tough perimeter defense can earn some minutes. Indiana will likely have the space for depth signings through the portal and will need to seek out similar young talent.
