The Mike Woodson era of Indiana basketball has officially come to a close and we have ushered in the Darian DeVries (pronounced Daren Devrees) tenure as the 31st men’s basketball coach for the Hoosiers.

The 49-year-old DeVries has 24 years of coaching experience, most recently with one year at West Virginia and the six years prior at Drake. DeVries had a combined 169-68 (71.3%) winning percentage at the two stops prior and won 67.4% of his conference games. Indiana paid a reported $6.15M buyout to West Virginia to poach him after just one season with the Mountaineers. He signed a six-year deal with the Hoosiers and will reportedly make just under $5M per season.

So, what will the DeVries era look like at Indiana? Let’s take a look.

A year ago, after John Calipari shocked the college basketball world by leaving Kentucky for the same head coaching position at in-conference foe Arkansas, he famously started his introductory press conference by saying, “I met with the team; there is no team.” It was, in my opinion, a hilarious line; but it also signified the college game today. With the current state of the transfer portal, each offseason is essentially signing one-year contracts with free agents. Even schools with staffing consistency and a history of on-court success often see their roster flipped over entirely year-by-year. So for Indiana, with an entirely new coaching staff and a few years in a row of on-court play that fans would rather not replicate, it is no shock that the roster as of March 30th is down to zero scholarship players that were on the team last year.

There are, however, a couple expected additions for the Hoosiers. The first is the son of the new head coach, Tucker DeVries. Tucker is coming off a season-ending shoulder injury, but would theoretically follow his father from WVU, just like he had from Drake the season prior. He is a former MVC Player of the Year and at 6’7” can spread the floor with a career 36.7% 3PT percentage. He would immediately become one of the best stretch forwards in all of college basketball.

The team is also likely to consist of Trent Sisley, a name that should be familiar with Hoosier fans as he was committed originally to Indiana and Mike Woodson. Sisley has reaffirmed his commitment and is expected to still join the Hoosiers despite the coaching change. Sisley committed to Indiana in September of 2024 and is a Rivals 4-star commit from Montverde Academy in Florida.

Finally, there is a chance that three-point specialist Luke Goode from last year’s roster could join the team again. Goode at this point has exhausted eligibility and did go through senior day festivities this past season, but he has submitted a waiver to the NCAA to attempt to gain one more season of eligibility. That is still being processed at this time, but he would be a welcome addition to the team and help stretch the floor greatly.

Other than that? Well, the Indiana roster largely looks like it will be entirely new next season. In terms of players that still had eligibility, Bryson Tucker, Malik Reneau, Jakai Newton, Myles Rice, Gabe Cupps (already committed to Ohio State), Kanaan Carlyle, and Mackenzie Mgbako have all entered the transfer portal. So as Calipari said, he met with the team; there is no team. For now!

So, who will be tasked with bringing in the new roster? Well, at the time of writing, that is in a similar position as the roster - a bit of a mystery. Darian DeVries told the IndyStar that he will be waiting to announce his staff until the entire crew is in place. It is assumed that DeVries does have some hires in place at this moment, but the official announcements will come all at once.

A safe place to look when placing bets on the new staff is often the former staff. Hoosier fans will see a few familiar names in that staff, including Tom Ostrom (former Indiana assistant coach under Archie Miller), Kory Barnett (former Indiana player under Tom Crean), and Chester Frazier (former/current? Indiana hater that played for Illinois and infamously bumped Eric Gordon during player introductions). However, Ostrom is rumored to be linked to the Minnesota coaching staff, Barnett has accepted the head coaching position at Oral Robers, and Frazier is vying for head coaching jobs and may be inclined to stay on the east coast.

Nick Norton was also a member of the former staff and was seen with DeVries at the Indiana High School basketball state championship game this weekend, so it is assumed that he is to join DeVries at the next stop. There have also been rumors that Ryan Horn, DeVries strength and conditioning staff member, will follow him to Indiana under the same title, replacing Cliff Marshall. Horn’s name, along with DeVries’, have been removed from West Virginia’s official coaching staff page.

There are only rumors to work off of at this point, but Hoosier fans can rest assured that DeVries is working in the background to firm up the rest of his staff and that the current staff is already hard at work constructing next year’s roster.

The final piece of a new coach primer, what will make the new era better than the last? DeVries teams have consistently outperformed their preseason projections, a qualm of Hoosier teams of late, and are known for being strong on both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor.

Last year’s West Virginia team finished the season top-15 in KenPom’s defensive efficiency. DeVries took Drake from a school that had only made the tournament once since 1971 when he arrived, to a team that made the tournament in 2021, 2023, and 2024. In his first year with the Mountaineers, without his best offensive player, he became the tournament’s biggest snub and took WVU from #133 in Bart Torvik and 9 wins the year prior to #34 and 19 wins.

Offensively, Indiana fans should be able to rest a bit more peacefully knowing that the floor should look more similar to the screenshot below, rather than the clogged offensive schemes we have grown accustomed to the past couple of seasons. This should result in more offensive flow and a more modern style of basketball.

If this year’s NCAA Tournament is any indication to the future college basketball landscape, it seems as if you are able to play modern basketball and invest the necessary resources to field a competitive basketball team, then you can have success in March and beyond. The Hoosiers certainly have the NIL and fan support, and now it feels as if they have the modern coach to lead them. We’ve grown accustomed to winning offseasons as opposed to in-season games, so I remain cautious with my optimism; but I’d have to say this is some of the most excitement I’ve had for the future of Indiana basketball in the last decade.

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