Indiana may be one of the most decorated programs in college basketball history, but a brand name no longer has the recruiting pull it used to. In the past, the Hoosiers had a foolproof sell: it’s Indiana. Nowadays, in the NIL era, the playing field has been leveled. 

To win in the transfer portal and recruiting as a whole, a program like Indiana needs a premier recruiter – and it has one in Darian DeVries.

Heading into his second season as the Hoosiers head man, DeVries is on an absolute heater, as he just landed his sixth transfer (Villanova guard Bryce Lindsay) on Wednesday night. 

With the addition of Lindsay, the Hoosiers have arguably the No. 1 transfer class in the nation and certainly one of the top three. Here are three takeaways from Indiana’s offseason thus far:

Indiana won’t have a talent problem in 2026-27

On one hand, the expectations are high in Bloomington – especially after the turnaround Curt Cignetti engineered in just two quick years on the gridiron. And an NCAA Tournament appearance isn’t exactly the Herculean task a College Football Playoff berth, let alone a national title, is. 

Then again, DeVries didn’t have much time to craft his 2025-26 roster, and the end result wound up being less-than ideal from a talent perspective. All things considered, DeVries didn’t do a poor job given the roster he had. But it was also his roster. 

Coaching is a balance of roster-building, X’s and O’s and culture. It’s up to DeVries to tailor a roster fit to his coaching strengths. Here in the 2026 offseason, he’s sent a message: recruiting will not be a problem. As a result, talent won’t be a weakness – it’ll be a strength. 

The question now: can DeVries take advantage of an uber-skilled crew? Can he mesh the pieces and, ideally, create a product better than the sum of its parts? If the 2025-26 season was any sign, the answer is yes – which means a Big Dance appearance should be the bare minimum next year. 

How will the backcourt depth chart shake out?

The Hoosiers are going to have a loaded guard rotation, and DeVries has a variety of options in terms of a starting backcourt.

Markus Burton is a surefire starter at lead guard, but then DeVries can choose between Bryce Lindsay and Jaeden Mustaf at the two, or, potentially, he could run both together at shooting guard and small forward.

What about Duke transfer Darren Harris, though? He’s more of a wing, but it’s not exactly clear how he’ll fit in the fold. And incoming combo guard Prince-Alexander Moody can also compete for minutes. 

Fortunately, DeVries can’t exactly go wrong. A Burton-Lindsay starting backcourt would be undersized but loaded, chock-full of shooting and playmaking, while a Burton-Mustaf combo would be a slashing nightmare for opponents, strong defensively and tough on the boards. 

And if Moody shocks the college hoops world and manages to sneak in over both Lindsay and Mustaf, that means the Hoosiers have a bona fide star on their hands. 

With the addition of Lindsay, the Hoosiers have arguably the No. 1 transfer class in the nation and certainly one of the top three. Here are three takeaways from Indiana’s offseason thus far.

The Hoosiers should be much better on the glass

Indiana could have been a lot better on the boards a year ago. The Hoosiers were No. 296 in offensive rebounding rate and No. 122 in defensive rebounding rate, per Bart Torvik. As a squad, Indiana was often undersized – and sometimes by a huge margin. Naturally, the glass suffered, affecting both sides of the floor. 

In 2026-27, the Hoosiers should flip the script in that department. With incoming big men Aiden Sherrell (Alabama) and Samet Yigitoglu (SMU) combining for 14.1 total rebounds per outing despite neither playing more than 30 minutes per game in this past campaign, Indiana should have a dominant glass-cleaning unit in the frontcourt in 2026-27.

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INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Businesses could face fines for knowingly hiring workers living in the country without legal permission under an Indiana law taking effect soon.

That was the message from Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita at a Thursday news conference.

Enforcement of Senate Enrolled Act 76, called the Fairness Act by Republicans, is set to begin July 1. The law will mark the first time in the state’s history that businesses will be financially penalized for employing workers in the country without legal permission.

Rokita said, “We do expect whatever operation you run to have it run fairly, and that means you hire Hoosiers and you at least hire U.S. citizens, and you do not try to exploit cheap labor from people who shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

The Republican attorney general said the goal of the law was to crack down on what he calls “underground economies” and “labor trafficking” in the construction industry.

A Central Midwest Carpenters’ Union representative said both union and nonunion companies are being undercut by competitors who take advantage of low-wage workers living in the country without legal permission. Kyle Gresham said, “There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. This is not a union and nonunion issue. This is about workers. This is about doing what’s right. This is about paying their fair share.”

“I’ve seen workers hanging drywall for as little as 15 cents a square foot, and if you do the math, that’s not a lot. There’s no overtime, no insurance, no workers’ comp insurance. These workers are in a completely exploitive business model.”

Construction workers that News 8 spoke to said they fear losing more coworkers and taking on additional responsibilities.

Senate Enrolled Act 76 goes beyond construction sites. It also requires schools, government agencies, and law enforcement to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Critics say the law could lead to racial profiling, but Rokita said, “I’m not going to worry a thing about that. We’re going where the facts lead. If there’s a certain demographic that’s being trafficked more than others, do you think they care? That we’re profiling them? We wouldn’t be doing that. We wouldn’t be profiling anything, because it’s labor trafficking.”

The attorney general said his office will rely on tips and referrals from the public to begin any investigations.