Darian DeVries, Aiden Sherrell and Markus Burton addressed the media for more than 50 minutes on Thursday at Big Ten media day in Rosemont, Illinois.
Here are three notes that stood out from their comments:
Indiana is excited to have Sam Alexis back
The Hoosiers’ frontcourt rotation got a boost with Sam Alexis’s return for a fifth year.
In 32 games last season, Alexis averaged 8.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists while shooting 68.7 percent from the field.
While Alexis’s eligibility could always change as the NCAA battles in court to keep players from the class of 2022 from playing next season, Darian DeVries said the program is operating as though he will be available.
“He’s there every day and we anticipate having him until something says otherwise,” DeVries said Tuesday. “Right now we approach it like he’s going to be with us for the entire year.”
Now in his fifth season of college basketball, Alexis provides depth behind Sherrell and Samet Yigitoglu in an IU frontcourt that should be much improved over last season.
He also has a year of experience playing under DeVries, which is valuable since the Hoosiers have only one other returning scholarship player in Trent Sisley.
“Obviously having Sam back is good for our team due to the fact that he’s been here before with coach DeVries,” Burton said. “He’s been in the Big Ten, he’s older. So just having him back is just a better piece for us.
“He helps us a lot, he’s a great guy, great guy to be around, great teammate. Extremely energetic, got a lot of energy, he’s talking a lot constantly. It’s a blessing to have someone like that on your team, especially with the experience he has in the Big Ten, so it’s really good.”
DeVries is confident in the shooting ability of Darren Harris
Darren Harris was one of the top shooters in the country in the class of 2024.
However, his two-season stint with the Blue Devils saw him hit just 30.8 percent of his 3-point attempts, albeit in limited playing time.
Indiana hopes that with more regular playing time, Harris will return to the form he showed during his prep career at Paul VI Catholic and Team Takeover.
“Summertime and fall, he shot it at an incredibly high rate,” DeVries said of Harris. “He just didn’t the other night in her scrimmage, but he’s been kind of our top two, three leading scorers really most of the summer and fall. So, very similar to Lamar (Wilkerson) last year, when he hits one or two, there’s three, four or five coming very quickly.”
DeVries said he saw enough of Harris’s elite shooting over the summer to give him the green light when the season begins next month.
“His confidence over the course of summer and fall has really grown,” DeVries added. “There’s not a shot that he’s afraid to take. So he’s, he’s very confident in that way. That’s a good thing.
“Like I’ve told him, I’ve told in front of the team, like he has the ultimate green light. So don’t even, like, look over if he shoots a 30-footer because I’ve told him he can.”
Aiden Sherrell’s fit in the frontcourt with Samet Yigitoglu
IU’s new-look frontcourt is one of the biggest reasons for optimism heading into the 2026-27 season.
The Hoosiers added Alabama forward Aiden Sherrell and SMU center Samet Yigitoglu, giving the program a pair of Power Four starters from programs that made the 2026 NCAA tournament.
Sherrell, who will play the four, is listed at 7-foot and 250 pounds, and Yigitoglu is listed at 7-foot-2 and 270 pounds on the official IU roster.
It’s a significant departure from last season, when IU started Tucker DeVries alongside Reed Bailey at the start of the season and later in the year, Alexis.
Sherrell, who can play on the perimeter, said Thursday that he sees a solid fit alongside Yigitoglu, who will play in the post.
“I’ve been seeing us complement each other very well,” Sherrell explained. “He plays down low, he’s very physical. And just me and him being able to piggyback off of each other. I’m able to play inside and outside.”
When asked Thursday whether Michigan’s success last season affected how he built the roster for the upcoming season, DeVries said the game “ebbs and flows” in terms of what is emphasized. And right now, there’s an emphasis on size and rebounding.
“What I like about it for us and how we like to play offense is we were able to get big, especially at the four and five,” DeVries said. “And with Aiden, he still has the skill to still give us the spacing that we love, too.
“So for us, it was, it was a perfect fit to grab that type of size, be able to be really big at those two positions, but not give up the spacing and skill that we wanted, too.”
