BLOOMINGTON — Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries basically had to start from scratch when putting together his roster for the 2025-26 season.
The lone holdover from Mike Woodson’s final year as coach was a 2025 signee (Trent Sisley) who hadn’t even arrived on campus yet.
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DeVries had plenty of experience with the process, having navigated similar rebuilds at Drake and West Virginia. Still, there was a noticeable difference this time around thanks to the House v. NCAA case that was finalized on Friday night.
The settlement in the case will usher in a new era of revenue sharing, along with an NIL clearinghouse that will vet deals. There was a rush to sign players to front-loaded NIL deals that weren’t subject to review before a final approval hearing back in April and that created a much different market than the one DeVries face during those previous rebuilds.
More: How Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries handles having his son, Tucker, on his team
“I think the biggest thing, as everybody found out quickly, was the NIL piece jumped dramatically in terms of what rosters we’re going to take to kind of put together,” DeVries said at a recent booster event. “And thankfully, we’re at a place that was very supportive, and then have some great donors in place and people in place to help facilitate that.”
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Those resources helped DeVries lock down 10 transfers, including three players (Tucker DeVries, Lamar Wilkerson and Reed Bailey) ranked in the top 100, per 247 Sports.
“We were able to adjust on the fly as we were putting together a roster,” DeVries said. “And then anytime you’re in the portal, those things can get a little tricky, as you’re trying to put that many guys on a roster at one time.”
It’s nothing new for Indiana — Woodson had a lucrative warchest after the 2023-24 season that helped him land some of the highest-rated players in the country. The school is also expected to be near the top of the conference in how much money from its anticipated $20.5 revenue-sharing budget it dedicates to men’s hoops.
“Just like last year, we’ll be highly competitive,” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said back in March. “Not just in our league, but nationally.”
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That commitment came at a crucial time with IU facing stiff competition from teams across the country for top talent. Five other teams in the Big Ten (Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, USC, and Washington) signed eight or more transfers.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU basketball leans on vast NIL resources in rebuild amidst changed market
