Going into his second season as the Indiana Hoosier’s Head Coach, Darian DeVries will be hoping he can guide his side into March Madness for the first time since 2023.
In DeVries’ first year as head coach, the Hoosiers finished with an 18-14 overall record, 9-11 in Big Ten play, and lost six of their final seven games of the season.
Speaking on the expansion that could potentially favour teams like Indiana in power conferences, DeVries said: “The expansion, if it does indeed happen, which it looks like it’s heading that way, it’s kind of like the portal, everything that we have right now.
“We just roll with what they tell us the rules are, the expansion is what it is”.
The 51 year-old has made the NCAA Tournament on three occasions previously but has never won a March Madness game, all during his spell in charge of the Drake Bulldogs between 2018 and 2024.
Head coach Darian DeVries of the Drake Bulldogs calls out to players during the First Four game prior to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Mackey Arena on March 18, 2021 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Following one season leading the West Virginia Mountaineers, DeVries made the surprising jump to the Hoosiers stating that “the opportunity came along to possibly be the head coach at Indiana, a dream job for anyone – but especially for someone that grew up in the Midwest. The chance to lead one of the biggest brands in college basketball was something I could not pass up.”
As a result of the men’s and women’s selection committee’s vote, 2027’s March Madness tournament will be the first to feature 76 teams.
The NCAA themselves have announced the controversial expansion from 68 to 76 teams for both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
Does the Expansion change DeVries’s mindset?
“I think for all of us, we love the opportunity to get in there,” DeVries continued. “We’ll see how it plays out and what that looks like when they, indeed, do officially put it in play.”