Why Indiana Basketball Believes in Darian DeVries: 'Right Guy for the Job'

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — As the final seconds of his college career ticked away, Tucker DeVries, seated near the end of Indiana basketball’s bench, raised his right hand and ran his fingers through his hair. For nearly 10 seconds, DeVries’ eyes gazed at the United Center’s floor.

The emotions, at last, appeared to sink in.

The weight of a derailing month-long stretch in which Indiana lost six of its final seven games finally collapsed on the team captain’s shoulders. DeVries’ college career, and his team’s season, long appeared destined to end in the NCAA Tournament, where the pain of defeat is at least marginally subdued by the chance to wear dancing shoes.

But there’s no joy, no celebration of accomplishment, for prematurely bowing out of the Big Ten Tournament with March Madness hopes on the line.

Indiana’s 74-61 loss to Northwestern on March 11 in Chicago cemented the Hoosiers’ postseason fate — they were ultimately the fourth team excluded from the NCAA Tournament field and declined invitations elsewhere.

Season over. Careers, too. Yet perhaps hardest for DeVries to grapple with in the immediate aftermath was the remorse of a year meant to create a foundation for his father’s rebuild gone by the wayside.

“With the amount of seniors we had, we all came here wanting to lay the groundwork for this program and the culture and really set the tone,” DeVries said after losing to Northwestern. “But just down the stretch of the season, we weren't able to capitalize on some of the opportunities we had.

“It really sucks that none of us are really going to put this uniform on again for a regular season or this tournament. It is what it is, but it's really frustrating.”

Indiana coach Darian DeVries’ first season at the helm finished with an 18-14 record and, counting the Big Ten Tournament, a 9-12 mark in conference play. The Hoosiers were widely projected to be in the 68-team field in mid-February before a late-season collapse marked by five double-digit defeats brought their aspirations crashing down.

DeVries often lauded his team’s character, work ethic, preparation and practice habits. After the Hoosiers’ loss to Northwestern, DeVries told his players they were a “great group to coach,” no matter the outcome.

Indiana’s roster featured 13 new scholarship players, and only Tucker DeVries and guard Conor Enright had experience within Darian DeVries’ system. Nearly everybody came from different places, junior guard Jasai Miles said, and the Hoosiers collectively improved at understanding how to play with each other.

And perhaps most importantly, Indiana’s locker room never splintered during its rocky, up-and-down season, which Darian DeVries feels is the biggest cultural impact his first roster made on the program.

“They've represented themselves, our program, in a first-class manner,” DeVries said. “When you're putting that many new guys together and their ability to maintain a really good locker room throughout the season, I thought it was pretty impressive by them and what they did, the way they carried themselves, even during tough times.

“These guys continue to stick together even during a couple of these losing streaks and stuff and continue to maintain positive and work and do things the right way. I'm certainly appreciative of that group and especially that group of seniors.”

Indiana had a big — and impactful — senior class. The Hoosiers will lose Tucker DeVries, Enright, guards Lamar Wilkerson and Tayton Conerway and forwards Sam Alexis and Reed Bailey to graduation.

Collectively, the group played 5,050 minutes this past season, which covers 78% of the total minutes played. Indiana’s six seniors totaled 2,076 points, equaling 83% of the team’s scoring output.

In essence, the Hoosiers won’t return many minutes — or scorers — from Darian DeVries’ first team.

Junior guard Nick Dorn is the lone player with eligibility remaining who finished in the top seven of points and minutes played. Miles and freshman forward Trent Sisley are the only additional players who saw more than 30 minutes of on-court action this season.

Whether or not Dorn, Miles and Sisley — to go along with freshmen Aleksa Ristic and Andrej Acimovic and injury-ridden players Josh Harris and Jason Drake — opt to return to Bloomington for next season, Indiana must once again retool and reload with leaders and impact players.

So, why believe in the program’s direction after Year 1 under DeVries? Indiana’s players point to the coaching staff.

"We’re heading in the right direction."

DeVries foreshadowed this. At his introductory press conference March 19, 2025, DeVries said he’d ideally build his program from high school onward, but he acknowledged that’s not possible in Year 1, when there are more urgent roster holes to fill.

Still, DeVries said his hope is each year, he’d only lose one or two players to the portal because everybody else loved the program too much to leave. He wanted to use the portal as a supplementary option to round out his roster while building through high school commitments, player retention and long-term development.

The goal, DeVries said, was to build consistency within his roster.

“The last thing you want to do is, every year come in and have to sign 10, 11 new guys,” DeVries said last March. “That's just hard to make it function. The first year, you've got to do what you've got to do to get a roster put together, and then we build from there.

“Hopefully that retention is as close to 100% as we can because, like we said, they just love it here, they enjoy it, we've got the resources for them to stay here. Now you can build consistency, and that's ultimately what you want to get to.”

While the retention and quality of potential returners is to be determined, DeVries’ first full recruiting class has potential to fit the vision he outlined. Indiana has three recruits ranked in the top 80 of the 2026 signing class, according to 247Sports, and the 20th-best class overall.

On the Inside IU Basketball radio show March 9, Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson touted DeVries’ ability to piece together a roster to get through his first season. The Hoosiers were delayed in assembling a coaching staff and, subsequently, behind many programs in transfer recruiting races.

Perhaps now, after a year based more on survival than sending a message of arrival, Indiana’s path forward under DeVries officially begins. The Hoosiers are expected to have plenty of NIL resources at their disposal, to go along with executive director of basketball Ryan Carr in a general manager-esque role.

A disappointing closing stretch created external doubt about whether DeVries is the right coach to restore Indiana to great heights. His players feel strongly he’ll get the job done.

“I think we got the right people leading the group,” Enright told Indiana Hoosiers On SI after losing to Northwestern. “We had a good culture in the locker room. We’re heading in the right direction. Coach DeVries, I think he’s going to get better every single year. Just trust what they’re building.”

Bailey, like Enright, started his pitch to generate fanbase belief with DeVries.

“He's the right guy for the job,” Bailey told Indiana Hoosiers On SI. “He brought in all of us, and I think he, his staff, all the managers, all the support staff, and then the guys in the locker room, I think he's really just creating the culture here that we want to be a part of.”

Miles followed suit, pointing to DeVries’ energy and intensity. He won’t let players walk through practice in a calm and casual manner. He wants them to play hard defensively and get after opposing offenses. And while the results didn’t show on gamedays, multiple players felt Indiana had its most consistent practices over the final month of the season.

That, Miles believes, is a positive indicator toward the process behind the Hoosiers’ coaching staff.

“They really worked us hard,” Miles told Indiana Hoosiers On SI. “Like, we grind. So, I mean, they're bound to be successful here at some point, you know?”

Now, Indiana has to redefine success in the modern era. The five banners hanging in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall’s north rafters long predate the players — and multiple assistant coaches — occupying the floor beneath them.

The Hoosiers have missed the NCAA Tournament eight of the past 10 years, and they haven’t advanced past the first weekend since 2016. Indiana, by and large, is mired in mediocrity.

Alexis, who won the national championship last year with Florida, knows the gap between a title-winning program and wherever the Hoosiers currently stand. He joked he’s not Todd Golden, the Gators’ coach, and thus doesn’t know exactly what Indiana needs to reach the next step as a program.

But Alexis acknowledged Indiana needs “more.” More of what? He’s unsure of all the specifics, but if nothing else, more time.

“I feel like it's pretty close,” Alexis told Indiana Hoosiers On SI. “I feel like they’re close, but it's going to take time. You're not going to win a national championship in two years. It's going to take time.

“I feel like they're doing the best they can. Trying to recruit every day. I've seen them on the phone every day trying to recruit. I feel like they've got a chance.”

One year ago, DeVries walked into Indiana’s media room and said he wanted to build something sustainable for a long period of time. His first roster didn’t make the NCAA Tournament, and with minimal minutes and production slated to return, may not have set the foundation he’d hoped.

The next chapter begins now.

While 64 teams start dancing, DeVries and his staff are forced to wrestle with the reality of a first season gone far from ideal — and, once again, set their sights on filling out a roster, building a culture and trying to get the Hoosiers back to March Madness.