Indiana left Big Ten media day with a few clear themes, and one of the biggest was simple: the Hoosiers expect Sam Alexis to be part of the plan.
Darian DeVries, Aiden Sherrell and Markus Burton spoke for more than 50 minutes Thursday in Rosemont, Illinois, and Alexis came up quickly. Indiana’s frontcourt gets a needed lift with his return for a fifth year, and the program is moving forward as if he’ll be available.
Alexis averaged 8.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 32 games last season while shooting 68.7 percent from the field. His eligibility could still be affected by the NCAA’s court battle to keep players from the class of 2022 from playing next season, but DeVries said Indiana is not planning around uncertainty.
“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.”
That matters for a roster that needs experienced pieces. Alexis gives Indiana depth behind Sherrell and Samet Yigitoglu, and he brings a year of familiarity with DeVries. With the Hoosiers carrying only one other returning scholarship player in Trent Sisley, Burton said Alexis’s presence means a lot.
“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 also sounded upbeat about another important piece of the roster: Darren Harris. A highly regarded shooter in the class of 2024, Harris shot just 30.8 percent from 3-point range during two seasons with Duke, though his playing time was limited. Indiana believes the more consistent opportunity will let his shot play.
“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 Harris has earned trust with what he showed over the summer and fall, and that confidence has come with freedom.
“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.”
The other major talking point was Indiana’s revamped frontcourt, built around Sherrell and Yigitoglu. Sherrell, an Alabama transfer, and Yigitoglu, who came from SMU, both arrive after playing for teams that made the 2026 NCAA tournament. Sherrell is listed at 7-foot and 250 pounds, while Yigitoglu is listed at 7-foot-2 and 270 pounds on IU’s official roster.
That gives the Hoosiers a very different look from last season, when Tucker DeVries and Reed Bailey were in the starting frontcourt early before Alexis later joined the mix. Sherrell said he already sees how his game can work with Yigitoglu’s.
“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.”
DeVries said the roster construction reflects the current direction of the game, and for Indiana that means leaning into size without giving up skill. Asked whether Michigan’s success last season influenced that thinking, he said the sport “ebbs and flows” in what gets emphasized.
“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.”
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