Indiana basketball is back on the floor, and the first real test of the 2026-27 season won’t come in a box score. It will come in the questions.
With formal practices underway in Bloomington and year two of the Darian DeVries era less than six weeks away, the Hoosiers have the look of a roster that can be dangerous. They also have a handful of unresolved issues that will shape how far this group can go.
One of the biggest centers on Aiden Sherrell. Indiana signed the 6-foot-11 big man expecting a centerpiece, not just another rotation piece.
His path has already shown why that expectation exists. Sherrell came to college with the resume of a future star as a former McDonald’s All-American and consensus top-30 recruit, then spent his freshman season at Alabama averaging 3.4 points and 2.8 rebounds in 8.8 minutes per game.
He took a clear step forward in 2025-26, starting all 34 games and putting up 11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 23.9 minutes per game. DeVries has already signaled, including during international games this summer, that he wants to run much of the offense through him.
The talent is obvious. The question is whether Sherrell can make the jump into a reliable star at power forward.
The wing shooting around him is another major swing factor. Indiana appears to have a strong backbone with Markus Burton and Sherrell, but the spacing around them has to hold up.
Bryce Lindsay can hit threes, though his move to high major basketball last season came with a drop of more than five percentage points from long range. He had a rough four-game stretch in the Big East, going 3-of-22 from deep, even though he finished 9-of-18 in Villanova’s postseason games.
Darren Harris arrives from Duke with a reputation as a perimeter shooter, but he still has to prove that label in college. Jaeden Mustaf brings a different skill set as a transfer from Georgia Tech, offering Indiana its best chance to attack close-outs and score tough baskets off the dribble.
Trent Sisley, now a sophomore, flashed as a three-point shooter last season and looked even better this summer. And then there are freshmen Vaughn Karvala and Trevor Manhertz, both talented enough to project as college shooters, even if the real question is whether they can handle high-major demands right away.
Prince-Alexander Moody belongs in that conversation too, but he deserves his own spotlight after turning heads this summer in practice and on Indiana’s trip to Peru. The true freshman guard looked like someone ready to help, which matters for a backcourt that could use the depth, especially at point guard. He’s skilled, athletic and confident, and while nobody is expecting him to carry a huge load, he can absolutely be a useful piece.
Indiana’s ability to win on the offensive glass could also define the season. Last year’s college game belonged to size, and the Big Ten backed that up: Illinois, Michigan State and Michigan finished as the league’s top three teams in offensive rebounding, and they also finished as the top three teams in the standings, with two of them reaching the Final Four.
An undersized Indiana team had no answer. DeVries has said he wants this group to become an offensive rebounding force, but that has not been a hallmark of his coaching career.
Only two of his eight teams finished better than 297th nationally in offensive rebounding rate, and none have done so since 2021-22. This roster at least has the bodies for it, with Sherrell, 7-foot-2 Samet Yigitoglu, 7-foot Clemens Sokolov and 6-foot-9 Sam Alexis.
The challenge is turning size into production without giving too much back in transition.
Alexis might be one of the most important names in the whole mix. His eligibility remains unsettled.
He is currently eligible after securing a preliminary injunction against the NCAA, but requests for stays and appeals are expected, so there are no guarantees he will be available when the season starts or even stay eligible all year. He is not the kind of player who is going to post huge numbers, but Indiana wants him in the frontcourt rotation because he knows DeVries’ system, the staff wanted him back and he improved over the course of the 2025-26 season.
With the front line relatively thin, his value is obvious. He can help with depth, provide rest for Sherrell and Yigitoglu, and keep the effort level high on the offensive boards.
Injuries, foul trouble and matchup issues make that kind of piece even more important.
And then there is the biggest question of all: can Indiana hold up against top competition?
Last season, the Hoosiers were beaten badly by elite teams. Louisville won by 9 in a game that “it wasn’t that close,” Kentucky beat them by 12, Michigan State by 21 and 13, Michigan by 14, Illinois by 20 and Purdue by 29. That pattern stretches back beyond DeVries’ first year, and it has to stop if Indiana is going to look like a serious program again.
The early schedule should reveal a lot. Indiana plays three neutral-site games in 12 days in November: Syracuse in Indianapolis on Nov.
9, Arkansas in New York on Nov. 17 and Kentucky in Indianapolis on Nov. 20.
The Hoosiers do not have to go 3-0 to create optimism, but they do need to look competitive and sturdy enough to be a problem night after night. October exhibitions against North Carolina and Butler will offer another glimpse, though Indiana fans have already seen how misleading one exhibition can be after the win at Tennessee in 2024.
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