2025-2026 Men’s Basketball Preview: Indiana Hoosiers

Hey all, we’re back with another Big Ten Men’s Basketball preview! Up this time? The Hoosiers of Indiana. The Hoosiers went a modest 19-13 in the 2024-2025 season, finishing 9th in the Big Ten, with a 10-10 conference record. Their most notable win of the season was probably a mid-February upset in East Lansing over #11 Michigan State, where they snapped a 5-game skid, just four days after head coach Mike Woodson announced that he would retire at season’s end. Indiana would ultimately end up missing the NCAA tournament altogether.

On March 18th, 2025, the school announced that Darian DeVries would be taking over the program, marking his third job in three years, having spent 2018-2024 as the HC of Drake University, before spending a lone season as the HC of West Virginia. DeVries will have some work to do, as every single scholarship player on the roster (who still had eligibility remaining) entered the transfer portal.

Some names to keep an eye on for Indiana this season, as they rebuild the roster from literally nothing, are Reed Bailey, a 6’10” forward transferring in from Davidson, and Lamar Wilkerson, a 6’5” guard coming from Sam Houston State. Bailey is a lanky big man who averaged just under 19 points per game and has some nice touch around the rim. He can also step out and hit the longball, shooting a scorching 41.5% from beyond the arc last season, albeit on only 1.2 attempts per game. He kind of reminds me of if you compressed Nate Bittle down a couple inches and gave him a touch more speed.

Lamar Wilkerson is a shooter. That’s his number one way to put up points. He has a pure jumper, with very little extra movement, so it is very repeatable. He shot the lights out this past season, averaging 20.5 points a game while shooting 47.7% from the floor and a whopping 44.5% from three on 7.7(!!!) attempts per game. When this dude gets going, he can really fill it up with the best of the best in all of college basketball.

That being said, Indiana is a complete and total wildcard for me this season. They have a completely new roster, and a new head coach, so there really isn’t anything to go off. They could be near the top of the conference if everyone on the roster gels well, or they could be dead last if they don’t. There are too many variables, and not nearly enough constants to give any sort of accurate prediction for them this season. All I know for sure is that the Ducks will face them in Bloomington this season, but exactly when has not been announced quite yet. Hopefully Oregon will be able to handle them relatively easily.

As always, ‘Sco Ducks.