Indiana men’s basketball’s incoming freshmen could have a big role to play

Much of the focus surrounding the Indiana men’s basketball program this year has been centered on the incoming transfer class, rightfully so. As of now, Indiana’s portal class is fourth nationally, per 247 Sports.

Darian DeVries also has a top 20 incoming class of high school players, though, and it’s made up of just three players, Vaughn Karvala, Prince-Alexander Moody, and Trevor Manhertz. As the roster stands today, at least one or two of these guys are going to have to contribute right away for Indiana to reach its potential this coming season.

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Like we wrote before, it’s possible that Indiana already has its starting lineup – and maybe first guy off the bench – from its portal commitments alone. At least four starting positions seem set, with Markus Burton, Samet Yigitoglu, Aiden Sherrell, and Bryce Lindsay probably penciled in as starters.

Jaeden Mustaf, Trent Sisley, and Darren Harris will all figure heavily in the rotation, though the latter two are unproven at the college level, while Mustaf was productive but not terribly efficient for a poor Georgia Tech team. The fact that all three of them are somewhat unknown commodities only underscores how important this year’s freshman class is, though.

Even if all of Mustaf, Sisley, and Harris can play somewhere close to their ceilings, that’s only seven players. Good college basketball teams have deeper rotations than that.

All four of last year’s Final Four teams had rotations at least eight deep, and Michigan’s would have been deeper had L.J. Carson stayed healthy. There were seasoned veterans like Yaxel Landeborg and Alex Karaban as well as talented freshmen like Keaton Wagler or Koa Peat.

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Indiana, on the other hand, effectively had a seven-man rotation, with Sisley being eighth in minutes on the team, but appearing less and less frequently down the stretch of the season. He saw more than 10 minutes just twice over Indiana’s final 10 games, never adding more than 3 points to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/indiana-men-basketball-incoming-freshmen-130000349.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-08 13:00:00

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