The Transfer Portal Effect: Reinventing Indiana Basketball and Football

The Indiana Hoosiers are undergoing a dramatic transformation, driven almost entirely by the mechanisms of the transfer portal. Both the football and basketball programs are leaning heavily on experienced newcomers to rapidly redefine their identities and expectations. For anyone seeking a clear illustration of the portal’s power to rewrite a team’s destiny almost overnight, Indiana is the prime example.

The rebirth of the football program under coach Curt Cignetti serves as the blueprint. Historically, Indiana football had a scarcity of success, recording only 14 winning seasons in 76 years and just one Rose Bowl appearance in program history. Cignetti arrived and deployed the transfer portal like a torrent. After bringing in 30 transfers last season, the team stunned the sport with a 10-0 start and a playoff appearance. This season, with 23 more transfers, the Hoosiers are 10-0 again, and their Heisman-contending quarterback was playing 2,200 miles away just last season. Remarkably, four percent of the program’s all-time wins have come in the last year and a half.

Back across campus at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, the basketball team is attempting to follow that successful script. Coach Darian DeVries, who recently moved from West Virginia, has embraced the same philosophy: new coach, new roster, new ideas. The basketball team features ten transfers, meaning zero points returned from the previous season.

This entirely new squad has quickly found synergy, evidenced by their dominant start to the season. The Hoosiers moved to 3-0 after routing Milwaukee 101-70, beating Marquette 100-77, and cruising past Alabama A&M 98-51. Their average winning margin is 33.7 points. They have scored over 90 points in their first three games for the first time in 18 years and made at least 14 three-pointers in consecutive games for the first time in 20 seasons.

Crucially, the team is playing an entirely new style. DeVries’ predecessor treated the three-point shot with extreme moderation; Indiana’s ranking in three-pointers per game had been consistently low (314th, 341st, 324th, and 304th nationally in the past four seasons). This new team, however, is tied for 15th nationally, shooting 47.5% from beyond the arc. As DeVries noted, this confident group “knows that they have the green light.”

The reliance on experience is a key factor. Cignetti sought players in their final year of eligibility, filling his roster with 28 such players. DeVries’ ten transfers started a combined 554 college games before arriving in Bloomington.

Despite the program’s rich history that includes being routinely labeled a college basketball “blue blood,” Indiana has struggled recently, owning just one victory in the past eight NCAA tournaments and only one top-10 finish in the Associated Press poll in the past 32 years. If the glory days are to be restored, the process is clearly beginning with a calculated influx of talent from the transfer portal, mirroring the successful and rapid reinvention of the Indiana football program. The vibe across campus is one of shared positivity, signaling that this new portal world has brought synergy and success to Bloomington.