Hoosiers Hoops Hits It Big in Transfer Portal

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

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.

Jaedan Mustaf

In a very diplomatic move, Indiana and Georgia Tech executed a swap of sorts, as quarterback Alberto Mendoza joined the Yellow Jackets, while the junior guard Mustaf heads to Bloomington. Mustaf is a product of Overtime Elite, the basketball prep league for 16–20 year olds. The 4-star transfer averaged 10.4 points on 38.9% shooting from 3-point range in 29 games last year. He is ranked as the 12th-best shooting guard and 88th overall player in the portal.

Bryce Lindsay

Lindsay is another get for DeVries from a program that’s seen success relatively recently, coming in from Villanova. Lindsay is a 6-foot-3 guard who came out of IMG Academy. The 3-star transfer was the 37th overall point guard in this portal cycle and the 189th player overall after averaging 12.3 points for the Wildcats last year. He is no stranger to the portal; he spent his freshman year at Texas A&M, transferred to James Madison where he was All-Sun Belt Conference, Sun Belt Rookie of the Year, and Sun Belt Sixth Man of the Year, and then Villanova.

Darren Harris

The 6-foot-6 forward will go from one college basketball blue blood to another next year, as he’s transferring from Duke University. Harris was a 3-star get for the Hoosiers, the 68th-best forward, and the 198th-best player in the portal. The rising junior played close to 10 minutes a game last year and averaged 3.3 points during his time on the floor.

Overall, DeVries and his staff did an excellent job in the transfer portal, with a consensus top-five transfer portal class ranking according to 247sports.com (3), On3 (1), and EvanMiya.com (5). The Hoosiers narrowly missed the NCAA tournament last season with an 18-14 record (9-11 in Big Ten), but with the tournament field expanding to 76 teams starting next year and a plethora of highly ranked transfers inbound, the Hoosiers will be poised to return to the Big Dance for the first time since 2023.