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Darian DeVries on NCAA Tournament expansion: 'We just roll with what they tell us'

headshotby: Alec Lasley05/07/26allasley

It was reported on Thursday that the NCAA Tournament is set to expand to 76 teams this upcoming season, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports. The Board of Governors are set to meet on May 22 to make everything official — but for now, it’s about as official as it can get following Thursday’s news.

For Indiana — a team that has made the NCAA Tournament just two times in the last 10 years, and made it out of the first weekend just twice since 2002 — the drought should now be over and should remain that way for quite some time. After failing to make the tournament in year one of the Darian DeVries era, Thursday’s news just widens the net for ‘bubble teams’ to land in the field.

“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,” DeVries said on Thursday. “We just roll with what they tell us the rules are.”

Indiana, which finished last year 18-14 and in the ‘First Four Out’, will enter year two under DeVries with much different expectations than in year one. The first year brought hope to make the tournament. Year two brings expectations to win games in March.

So while the minimum standard is now absolutely a tournament-berth, it’s also a part of the game that has become incredibly difficult to comprehend; why? While we all know why, the expanded field now likely puts a damper on the conference tournaments and what was considered one of the best weeks of the season.

Just like it was when the field expanded from 64 to 68, opinions on both sides will emerge — with no real end in sight.

“It went from 64 to 68. Now we’re going from 68 to 76 and people will be on both sides of whether they like it, don’t like it,” said DeVries. “But I think the — I think for all of us, like we love the opportunity to get in there and we’ll see how it plays out and what that looks like when, if they indeed do officially put it in play.”

As the transfer portal window closed a few weeks ago, Indiana took with it the No. 1 overall portal class. As the final few commitments take place around the country, Indiana holds the No. 3 class and is in a vastly different spot than last season.

“Ryan (Carr) was certainly helpful, but, it was a complete staff effort,” DeVries said. “Ryan came on a couple of weeks right before the portal started and overall, I think just our entire staff did a really good job of having relationships through recruiting — maybe they had recruited somebody the first time around or whatever. Having relationships with certain individuals or agents or whatever it may be that when the portal opened we were in a good space to be aggressive there.”

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