Darian DeVries is having a “Year One” type season. Years of forgiveness are all but extinct due to being able to recruit above average teams in one portal window. But after Indiana basketball went two years without an identity after the departure of Trayce Jackson-Davis, with the right players, DeVries can be the guy to bring Indiana back to dominance. You see the vision, he just needs the right guys and it starts in the front court.
In this conference, the threat of having a physical down-low big (or in recent years even a stretch five) is how you win. Indiana just doesn’t have that this year but if they commit to getting one, things can get a lot easier.
Think of every good team in the Big Ten right now. What do they all have in common? Dominant bigs.
Michigan has two with Aday Mara and Morez Johnson, Rienk Mast is taking the conference by storm this season at Nebraska, in West Lafayette Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff draw defensive eyes plus Matt Painter has Daniel Jacobsen in the waiting.
In its last game against Michigan State, Indiana took 31 3s and made 10 of them. On layups and dunks Indiana was 9-for-12. Two of those were Sam Alexis pick and rolls (which State patched up after the ensuing media timeout) and another was a Lamar Wilkerson fast break dunk. The Hoosiers can have their 3-point shooting identity all they want, but there needs to be some balance, or an attempt to balance its offense with an inside presence. The Spartans defeated Indiana 81-60 on Tuesday at the Breslin Center.
Winning in the Big Ten is hard, but it could be a lot more doable if Indiana had two forms of offensive attack instead of one.
Michigan State’s offense is a perfect example of how this could work for Indiana. You have either one of Carson Cooper or Jaxon Kohler, one can get any shot 10-feet and in and another can space the floor and hit 3s with assists from its play-making point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (Kohler also is good enough to take games over down low as well). If Indiana had one of those types of bigs, things would be easier.
Every team will have a point guard to drive inside, but where Michigan State is different from Indiana is that it has two options once that guard is ready to pass, kick to a 3-point shooter, or feed a bounce pass to a big at the block. Again, Indiana doesn’t have that.
There have been so many dominant bigs who have led their squads to Big Ten championships and beyond. Zach Edey, Kofi Cockburn, Hunter Dickinson, Luka Garza and Frank Kaminsky, to name a few. Those guys being the focal point of their teams provide so much for so many teammates they play alongside.
DeVries will be able to recruit shooting, just roll tape of Wilkerson and the improvements from long-distance from Conor Enright and Tayton Conerway.
Now, with all that said, the 2026 season is not over. Indiana can still find its way to The Big Dance. It is possible, but seemingly for every game, everything has to go right and with its lack of dominant size, each road game is going to feel the same.
Indiana will have another Quad 1 chance against Iowa Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
