6-Banner: IU basketball lands six transfer portal commitments in three days
- Staff
- 1h ago
Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, where we highlight the five most essential IU sports stories of the past week. 6-Banner Sunday is written by Ari Shifron.
The roster for next season, which was in its early stages of taking shape last week, is nearing completion. Also, a non-conference opponent for next season was revealed.
Additionally, the women added an important player from the portal and spring football continues. As usual, we will conclude with a look at the weekly shows and the rest of Hoosier sports in action, led by softball continuing to win.
Here is what is in this week’s edition:
• Hoosiers land six transfer portal commitments
• Bowling Green revealed as non-conference opponent
• IU women add portal commitment from Nebraska
• Spring practice continues for IU football
• Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup
Banner #1 – Hoosiers land six transfer portal commitments
The Hoosiers seemingly had a strong week in the transfer portal. IU had four transfer portal prospects visit campus: Georgia Tech’s Jaeden Mustaf, Duke’s Darren Harris, Notre Dame’s Markus Burton, and Alabama’s Aiden Sherrell.
Not only did Indiana coach Darien DeVries get all four of these players to commit to play in Bloomington next year, but he also managed to reel in SMU’s Samet Yigitoglu and Villanova’s Bryce Lindsay before they made it to campus for a visit.
While IU has gotten top players in the portal in previous years, this time it appears to be well constructed, where the needs fit the profile. The biggest of these is Burton, who is a former Indiana Mr. Basketball and gives the Hoosiers a dynamic point guard who is an elite scorer and can run the offense at a high level. This is something the team has not had since Yogi Ferrell’s time in Bloomington.
In Lindsay, IU gets a 3-point shooter for its backcourt, which is critical in Devries’ system. Meanwhile, Yigitoglu is one of the tallest players in program history and Sherrell complements him as another big man. However, unlike past renditions of Indiana teams using double post players, Sherrell is a stretch four who can step out and shoot threes and should prevent the lane from getting overly clogged.
Whether Mustaf or Harris gets the final starting spot remains to be seen, but both can drive to the basket and knock down shots from deep. Either way, Indiana now has six players from high-level programs and all but Harris averaged double figures at their previous stops. They will join the returning Trent Sisley (Andrej Acimovic has now entered the portal as well) and the three new freshmen in what is the presumed core of the 2026-2027 roster.
This infusion of talent moved Indiana into the top-15 of offseason projections. How it plays out on the court remains to be seen, but this offseason has both football and basketball with the top transfer classes in the country, per On3.
Banner #2 – Bowling Green revealed as non-conference opponent
As IU filled in its roster this week, another non-conference matchup was revealed. The Hoosiers will host Bowling Green on either November 27 or 28.
The Falcons finished last season 18-14 overall and ranked No. 144 in KenPom. Indiana has won all three previous meetings, but the teams have not met since 1998.
Also, this game becomes the fourth piece of the puzzle for the pre-Big Ten portion of the schedule. It joins previously announced contests against Bellarmine, Kentucky and Syracuse.
Banner #3 – IU women add portal commitment from Nebraska
The IU men were not alone in making a splash in the portal this week. The Indiana women also made a significant addition.
It was not the multi-player overhaul, but this is because the women return three starters and bring in the sixth-ranked high school class in the country.
As a result, the portal is more about filling in around the edges for them. After adding Iowa State’s Alisa Williams the day the portal opened, the squad made a more noteworthy addition this week. This commitment is from Nebraska’s Jess Petrie. She averaged double figures for the Cornhuskers last year.
Banner #4 – Spring practice continues for IU football
Spring football continues for IU. The Hoosiers are back on the field practicing now and looking to defend their national championship.
Several players and coach Curt Cignetti spoke with the media after practice this week.
Banner #5 – Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
Inside the Hall’s Podcast on the Brink returned this week. On it, Alex Bozich is joined by IU Film Room creator and Greenwood Christian Academy head coach Tony Adragna to discuss Indiana’s transfer portal additions.
The Back Home Network has many shows and was on air many times this week with programming.
Banner #6 – Hoosier Roundup
• Softball continued to dominate, completing a sweep of arch-rival Purdue and rolling past Notre Dame. They also have taken a series from Iowa this weekend, but fell to elite Louisville in a nail-biter during the midweek.
• Baseball had mixed results this week, defeating Indiana State as well as Evansville but falling to Maryland. They have also split their first two with Abilene Christian in this weekend’s series.
• Men’s tennis defeated Nebraska but fell to Michigan State.
• Women’s tennis fell to UCLA as well as USC.
• Water Polo lost to Arizona State to close their season,
• Women’s golf finished sixth in the Buckeye Invitational.
• Men’s golf finished 13th at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate.
• Track and field competed in multiple different invitationals this weekend.
• Wrestling signed a recruit.
• Finally, the Big Ten is adding a conference tournament for volleyball for the first time next fall.
Now go enjoy yourself a 6-Banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor
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