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With only one player signed from the Class of 2025 recruiting pool, it was imperative for new Indiana men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries to get it right in the transfer portal in April.

One national outlet believe DeVries got the job done – though he wasn’t the only one in the Big Ten given the same seal of approval.

Indiana’s transfer class was ranked seventh by ESPN’s Jeff Borzello. He noted the sheer volume of players added (10) and the fact that while all but Sam Alexis (Florida), Tucker DeVries (West Virginia) and Conor Enright (DePaul) came from Power Five conference schools, nearly all were double-digit scorers at their respective institutions.

“There are eight double-figure scorers in Indiana's group of incoming transfers, including a trio in the top 50: DeVries, (Lamar) Wilkerson and (Reed) Bailey. Indiana focused on perimeter shooting in the portal, a stark contrast to recent years in Bloomington, but the Hoosiers hope their new point guards, (Tayton) Conerway and Enright, will lead the way,” the article said.

Alexis, Bailey, Conorway, Enright, Wilkerson, Tucker DeVries, Nick Dorn, Jason Drake, Josh Harris, Jasai Miles are the players Darian DeVries successfully recruited out of the portal and there could be more to come.

Indiana’s new-look team began summer workouts last week.

Indiana was ranked third among Big Ten schools in terms of impact players gained out of the portal. Michigan was ranked third overall and best among Big Ten teams for securing the services of coveted forward Yaxel Lendeborg.

A surprisingly aggressive team in the portal has been Washington, which inched ahead of Indiana in sixth on ESPN’s list. Among others, the Huskies have former Indiana swingman Bryson Tucker, but what likely lifted Washington over Indiana was the weekend commitment from former USC guard Desmond Claude.

USC is itself in ninth after coach Eric Musselman re-tooled his roster with nine players out of the portal.

Like Indiana, Iowa made a coaching change and hired Ben McCollum in the offseason. McCollum also brought nine new players into the fold in Iowa City.

Best Indiana men's basketball players of the 2020s so far ...


No. 9 - Al Durham

No. 10 - Miller Kopp
No. 11 - Xavier Johnson
No. 12 - Justin Smith
No. 13 - Rob Phinisee
No. 14 - Luke Goode
No. 15 - Devonte Green
No. 16 - Anthony Leal


This article first appeared on Indiana Hoosiers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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