With men’s basketball teams all across the NCAA reloading in the transfer portal, how is Indiana University utilizing this tool of roster construction going into Darian DeVries’ second year at the helm? Here is a breakdown of all the incoming players who will be wearing the Cream and Crimson next year.
Aiden Sherrel
DeVries went out and got someone with “the sheer tools to be one of the best big men in college basketball” this portal cycle in Sherrel. The 4-star transfer is ranked as the 8th-best forward and 12th overall in the portal according to 247sports.com. Looking at the scouting report once he entered the portal, Sherrel is an athletic big who can hit consistently from beyond the arc, as seen by his 34% shooting on 3-point attempts last year. He averaged 11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game in 34 contests with Alabama. Indiana has shown they know what they’re doing with bigs the past few years (Kel’el Ware, Trayce Jackson-Davis), and one can assume they are projecting Sherrel to be the next in line.
Markus Burton
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The 2023-24 ACC Rookie of the Year and two-time All-ACC honoree will find himself just a few hours from his old school at IU, as he departs Notre Dame. Ranked as a 4-star transfer, the 6th-best point guard and 24th overall in this year’s portal, Burton had his season cut short last season due to injury, but in the 10 games he played, he averaged 18.5 points. In the season before that he put up 21.3 points per contest over 26 games, which is the version DeVries and the rest of the coaching staff are almost certainly hoping to coax out again.
Samet Yigitoglu
A center transfer from SMU, the 7-foot-2 Turkish ballplayer is ranked as a 4-star transfer, the seventh-best center, and the 36th-best player overall in the portal according to 247sports.com. He averaged 10.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 28.9 minutes per game as a sophomore. The rebounds will be a big asset to the new-look Hoosiers next year, as DeVries’ first squad ranked 294th in total rebounds last season.