We are less than six weeks away from year two of the Darian DeVries era.
Practice has officially started this week in Bloomington, as a promising Hoosier squad formally begins preparation on the hardwood.
It’s fair to say this is one of the better rosters assembled at IU in a decade, but there are still questions as a new season approaches.
Here are some of the more significant variables we’ll be watching for in the final weeks leading up to the 2026-27 campaign.
Can Aiden Sherrell make the jump?
As a former McDonald’s All-American and consensus top-30 recruit, Aiden Sherrell has long had the resume of an eventual college basketball star.
He wasn’t an instant impact freshman, posting 3.4 points and 2.8 rebounds in 8.8 minutes per game for Alabama. But he progressed nicely in year two, starting all 34 games played for the Crimson Tide in 2025-26 while averaging 11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks in 23.9 minutes per game.
But Indiana signed Sherrell to be a centerpiece player, someone who performs at an All-Big Ten level. It was clear during international games this summer, DeVries wants to run much of the offense through his 6-foot-11 big man. Sherrell appears to have the inside and out ability to make that approach work.
Can he make the leap as a junior into a reliable star, primarily at power forward?
⏳ Season loading… pic.twitter.com/GkietiPtmw
— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) September 23, 2026
Will there be consistent wing shooting?
Indiana appears to have a formidable one-two punch in point guard Markus Burton and Sherrell.
But will they have the wing threats to play off that duo and make defenses pay when Burton and Sherrell are given excessive attention?
There are a lot of options, but most come with questions. Indiana needs steady shooting from the group.
Villanova transfer Bryce Lindsay can make threes, but the move to high major last year saw more than five percentage points shaved off his accuracy from long range. He can be erratic. Lindsay had a four-game stretch in the Big East where he shot just 3-of-22 from deep, but he was 9-of-18 for the Wildcats in their postseason games.
Duke transfer Darren Harris arrives at IU with a reputation for being a perimeter sniper, but he’s yet to prove it on a consistent basis in college.
Georgia Tech transfer Jaeden Mustaf isn’t a high volume shooter, but he’s probably IU’s best option when it comes to attacking close-outs and getting tough baskets in the paint off the dribble.
And then there’s sophomore Trent Sisley, who showed promise last season shooting threes, and looked even better this summer.
Freshmen Vaughn Karvala and Trevor Manhertz both have serious potential as college wing shooters, it just remains to be seen whether they’ll be ready for the rigors of high major basketball in year one.
Can Prince-Alexander Moody prove reliable as a freshman?
Don’t forget about true freshman guard Prince-Alexander Moody, who is also an option as a shooter, but worthy of his own section after he opened eyes this summer at practice and his performance on IU’s summer trip to Peru.
He looked the part of a freshman ready to step in and give Indiana minutes, and the Hoosiers could use the additional depth in the backcourt, especially at point guard. He really fills a need there.
Moody is skilled, athletic, and confident. He’s not going to play 30 minutes a game, but he can be a very valuable piece of the puzzle.
Can they crash the offensive glass?
The trend in college basketball last season was overwhelming size.
It’s no coincidence the top three Big Ten teams (Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan) in offensive rebounding last year were the top three teams in the league standings, including two Final Four squads. An undersized Indiana team had no chance.
DeVries is on the record saying he wants this team to become an offensive rebounding force. But that has never been a major emphasis during his eight-year tenure as a head coach. Only two of his eight teams finished better the 297th nationally in offensive rebounding rate, and none since 2021-22.
Indiana has the size, with 6-foot-11 Sherrell, 7-foot-2 Samet Yigitoglu, 7-foot Clemens Sokolov and 6-foot-9 Sam Alexis. But they’ll have to deliver results on the glass, while not giving too much away on transition going the other way.
Brought the energy into day one. 💪 pic.twitter.com/U8UU5Rqfoq
— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) September 24, 2026
But is Sam playing?
The eligibility of fifth-year Sam Alexis feels like a major factor in how this season turns out. He’s currently eligible after obtaining a preliminary injunction against the NCAA, but requests for stays and appeals are expected. There are still no guarantees Alexis will be eligible when the season starts, or that he’ll stay eligible throughout the 2026-27 campaign.
No, he’s not going to average 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Hoosiers, but he’s a critical depth piece in an otherwise relatively thin frontcourt.
Alexis knows DeVries system, he was wanted back by the staff, and he improved over the course of the 2025-26 season.
Part of being an effective offensive rebounding team is effort, and Alexis’ presence and ability to give breaks to Sherrell and Yigitoglu should allow everyone to give max effort when on the court.
Moreover, injuries happen. Foul trouble happens. Matchups happen. Alexis can be an invaluable addition to IU’s frontcourt rotation.
Can they compete against the best?
Indiana lost most of its games in 2025-26 against elite competition by wide margins. They lost to Louisville by 9 and it wasn’t that close, Kentucky by 12, Michigan State by 21 and 13, Michigan by 14, Illinois by 20, and at Purdue by 29.
And as you probably know, that’s a trend that extends beyond last season before DeVries arrived.
It obviously has to change if Indiana is going to become a serious program again.
Three November neutral court games over the course of 12 days should tell us all we need to know. The Hoosiers face Syracuse in Indianapolis (Nov. 9), Arkansas in New York (Nov. 17) and Kentucky in Indianapolis (Nov. 20). After those three games, we should have a very good read on this team. Indiana doesn’t need to go 3-0 to generate optimism. But they do need to be competitive and have the look of a team that will be difficult to handle night-in and night-out.
With October exhibitions against North Carolina and Butler, we should have some sense of this before the season begins, but IU fans will remember an exhibition win at Tennessee in 2024 that proved to be an unreliable measuring stick.
For complete coverage of IU basketball, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- You can follow us on X: @daily_hoosier and find us on Facebook and Instagram
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
