Is Indiana basketball done with its 2025-26 roster?: 'We’re still actively recruiting'

Darian DeVries entered his first season with Indiana basketball looking to replace an entire roster. Not one single player was returning from a season ago — and there was just one incoming player as well.

But, this wasn’t new to DeVries. He had done it a year before at West Virginia and again at Drake. While this was different, with increased levels of NIL and revenue sharing to take into account, DeVries was very active in finding the right guys and the right fit.

“Everyone you’re recruiting is bought into your vision in things,” DeVries said of building a new roster at Indiana’s NIL event at Huber’s Winery. “It’s not like you’re going to try to have to convince a guy that is returning, ‘oh your vision’. So that part, there is some benefit there. Obviously the down side is every guy on the roster is new … the biggest thing is getting them all together and on the same page.

“I like the way the roster came together. We have great depth shooting the basketball, which is a priority for us. We have great positional size at a lot of the spots. At the center we are a little smaller, but every other spots we have great size there. Overall we have great depth and like the way the pieces all connect together and complement each other well.

Trending (On3+): 8 key quotes from IU basketball coach Darian DeVries at Huber’s NIL event

Indiana brought in Tucker DeVries and Conor Enright as players who set the cultural foundation — both playing together at Drake and under Darian DeVries for multiple seasons.

Then the staff added all-conference players or conference Players of the Years from numerous mid major programs. The two things they had in common was; winning mindset and culture fit.

“We want guys that are about the right things, good team guys, got a good feel, IQ and skill level that we look for. Does it fit, how we want the roster to look like,” DeVries said. “We feel like we’re in a good place with a lot of the guys we’re recruiting and very excited about that.

“It’s (winning players) one of the factors, but not what they had to have. Over the years, we have taken guys that may be came from a team that wasn’t as successful the year before, but it is always an added benefit — like were they able to help their team win. That’s a great quality to have as well, but we don’t make it that it is the guys we look it … it’s always nice when you can collect as many guys who know how to win because those qualities shine through pretty quickly.”

Production over potential is the mantra that this Indiana basketball coaching staff prioritized. Players like Lamar Wilkerson, Reed Bailey, Tayton Conerway, and Jasai Miles and others continued to commit — one after another. And soon, the roster started to take shape and have a clear outline of what DeVries wanted this season.

As the transfer window winded down, the Indiana basketball roster sat at 11 players out of a potential 15 scholarship options, however anything over 13 starts to limit the rev sharing for the players.

So that left two potential options still out there for Indiana. Indiana is still awaiting the news of Luke Goode’s and Anthony Leal’s waivers. While there is no timeframe at this time, those potential options are still on the table.

Anyone else? Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries says Indiana is still recruiting.

“We’re still actively recruiting to see what fits and makes sense,” DeVries added. “We can kinda go a lot of different directions with that the way the roster stands today. We still have those two extra spots, so we will see how that plays out.”

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