Darian DeVries Embracing International Recruiting At Indiana

Indiana's 71-51 loss at No. 8 Illinois on Sunday displayed a trend that's becoming more and more common in college basketball.

Coach Brad Underwood has built a top-10 roster with international recruits such as David Mirkovic (Montenegro), Tomislav Ivisic (Croatia), Zvonimir Ivisic (Croatia) and Mihailo Petrovic (Serbia). Andrej Stojakovic was born in California, but it's similar situation in that his father -– former NBA player Peja Stojakovic –– played professionally in Greece and Serbia before coming to the United States.

Only now, there's greater reason for European professional basketball players to go to college in the United States before declaring for the NBA Draft.

"I think the international recruiting has changed a lot with the addition of NIL," Indiana coach Darian DeVries said on Monday's radio show. "It used to be a lot harder for international players to come over because there wasn't quite the incentive to do so financially."

"So now that there's an NIL component to it, it makes a lot more sense for international players to come over here because of the money that's involved. That's why you're seeing so many more players being added to teams from everywhere across the world."

DeVries is only in his first year at Indiana, but he has already dipped into international recruiting.

Freshman guard Aleksa Ristic came to Bloomington after playing professionally for KK Dynamic, the top league in Serbia, where he averaged 13.6 points and shot 38.6% from 3-point range. Ristic, a 6-foot-3 guard, has only played 26 minutes for the Hoosiers this season, but he could move into a larger role next season with most of Indiana's rotation set to graduate.

Freshman forward Andrej Acimovic is a similar case, having played in the U19 ABA League the top league in the Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia region. In the second Bosnian division, the 6-foot-10 forward averaged 17.3 points and 7.7 rebounds while shooting 65.3% from the floor and 39% from 3-point range.

Acimovic hasn't appeared in any games for Indiana this season, and he could redshirt to preserve four years of eligibility going into next season if he does not play in 2025-26. Like Ristic, he'll have an opportunity to earn playing time at a position of need, with Reed Bailey and Sam Alexis graduating.

Ristic and Acimovic are the two Indiana examples now, but DeVries suggested that could change in future seasons, continuing a trend across college basketball.

"That's really how recruiting has changed over the years," DeVries said. "Everything that you do now, it's just at the touch of your fingertips of being able to see kids and watch them on film and getting enough data and video that you need to get those evaluations."

"So it's become a huge part of the college basketball game, and you saw that the other night as well. So it's something that we're certainly deeply involved with and excited about adding to what we already do within the United States."

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