Indiana's men's and women's basketball programs are focusing on acquiring centers through the transfer portal after both teams missed the NCAA Tournament. Head Coach Darian DeVries aims to address frontcourt size issues that hindered performance last season.
Indiana Head Coach Darian DeVries talks with Sam Alexis during the Indiana versus Lindenwood men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. | RIch Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Itâs transfer portal season for college basketball and both of Indianaâs basketball programs, menâs and womenâs, will be making moves in the coming weeks to rebuild their rosters.
Neither program received a bid to play in the NCAA Tournament this past March and both will be entering the offseason looking to flip that in 2027. Darian DeVries finished his first season leading the menâs program while Teri Moren completed her 12th season leading the women.
One of the biggest weaknesses of DeVriesâ first roster was a lack of size in the frontcourt. Indiana played a rotation of former Florida transfer Sam Alexis and former Davidson transfer Reed Bailey at center in 2025-26 while Tucker DeVries started at power forward. It became more of an issue in Big Ten play with the conferenceâs size and physicality, with the Hoosiers being favored to make the tournament by FanDuel Sportsbook entering the final stretch before a late season collapse in which they lost six of their last seven games.
Morenâs team struggled with injuries at center in 2024-25, with Edessa Noyan starting several games in relief of an injured Zania Socka-Nguemen, a former McDonaldâs All-American who transferred to Indiana from UCLA last offseason. Socka-Nguemen elected to stay with the program in 2026-27 and is in line to start at center, but depth became a question when Noyan entered the portal.
Indiana fans want both teams to prioritize centers while recruiting the portal, per the results of our latest fan survey.
The results for the menâs program, understandably, were overwhelmingly in favor of prioritizing a center this offseason:
The results for the womenâs program were a bit different, with fans being a bit more split between center and point guard, a position that looms large with the departure of Nevaeh Caffey:
Both Indiana basketball programs failed to secure a bid for the NCAA Tournament due to a late-season collapse, losing six of their last seven games.
Indiana's basketball programs are prioritizing centers to strengthen their frontcourt, addressing a significant weakness from the previous season.
Darian DeVries is the head coach of the men's basketball team, while Teri Moren leads the women's basketball team.
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