Indiana Basketball to Host 4-Star Cole Kelly: Breaking Down His Game and Fit

It’s early in the recruitment cycle of 2028 prospects, but head coach Darian DeVries and his staff are already making headway in their pursuit of highly touted junior Cole Kelly, a 6-foot-6 wing from Naperville, Illinois. Per Dushawn London of 247 Sports, Kelly has scheduled an unofficial visit to Indiana.

Source: Cole Kelly, the No. 34 overall prospect in the class of 2028, has scheduled unofficial visits to Iowa, Ohio State, Nebraska, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Story. https://t.co/6DmdOsOOUE pic.twitter.com/qgtNLwpL13
— Dushawn London (@DushawnLondon1) September 3, 2026

Who is Cole Kelly?

Tabbed as the No. 67 prospect in the country (per 247 Sports’ composite rankings), Kelly is a four-star recruit and the No. 2 player in the state of Illinois. (Fellow Hoosiers target and five-star prospect Brady Pettigrew is No. 1.)

Kelly attends Neuqua Valley High School, and he plays alongside a Big Ten commit in 2027 wing Mason Martin (committed to Illinois). For his AAU hoops, Kelly suits up for Breakaway Basketball of the Adidas 3SSB Circuit. He played up on the 17u squad this past season.

Cole Kelly scouting report

A scorer through and through, Kelly can get buckets in a variety of ways, but it all comes back to his jumper. He is a deadeye in catch-and-shoot situations, where his quick release and high set point allow him to get off his shot essentially at will.

Kelly can shoot in movement – coming off pindowns, curling double staggers, flaring, etc. – and naturally is pure as a spot-up shooter. Off the bounce, he’s just as potent. Secondary transition pull-ups, isolation stepbacks, hang-dribble pulls – take your pick.

But Kelly isn’t one dimensional. Attacking the rim, he utilizes his surprisingly strong frame (clocks in at 215 pounds) and consistently seeks out contact with each dribble. He delivers blows and then uses his body to create an angle to finish at the basket – almost solely with his left hand.

He has a nasty spin move, which he often parlays into an off-balance baby hook/floater of sorts, along with a smooth fadeaway jumper over that same shoulder. Kelly is comfortable as a ball-handler and he’s a solid athlete – albeit not an otherworldly one.

The lone obvious area of improvement: his right hand. Everything with Kelly involves getting back to his dominant hand – even if it’s quite the laborious process. As a relatively polished post player for a wing, a stronger off hand would give Kelly a new punch around the cup.

How would Cole Kelly fit at Indiana?

Given Kelly won’t be in college until 2028, it’s not worth even attempting to predict the state of Indiana’s roster at that juncture. But we do know two things: 1). The style of play DeVries prefers to deploy. 2). Kelly’s game.

In Indiana’s offense, Kelly would have the green light to fire up triples and even get to his midrange on occasion. Attacking the basket, Kelly may be less of a perimeter slasher but he’ll still be able to post up smaller wings.

He has the length, agility and fiery motor to also develop into a plus defender. And he shouldn’t have any trouble picking up the defensive scheme or limiting mental mistakes off the ball as many freshmen do on that end.

Expect Kelly, if he wound up in Bloomington, to find himself in the rotation in his first season, with an opportunity to blossom into a high-scoring star as his career progresses.

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