BLOOMINGTON — Team USA will turn back into Indiana basketball when the Hoosiers’ plane touches down later this week. Darian DeVries and his program now get to rest and reset following summer exertions that culminated with a gold-medal performance across the last several days at the FISU America Games, in Lima, Peru.
Including not just those games but valuable added practice time leading up to them, DeVries emerges from his second summer in Bloomington with a firmer idea of what his remade roster is capable of, and where it still needs to grow. He can take his assessments into an extended planning period with his staff, while his players enjoy three weeks off before the start of the fall semester.
What did we learn from the Hoosiers’ unusual summer? Here are three big takeaways from DeVries’ post-Peru Zoom session with reporters Tuesday.
IU’s roster might not be finished yet
DeVries told reporters when asked that he and his staff intentionally left Indiana’s 13th and final scholarship spot open. While not guaranteed, it’s possible the Hoosiers still do something with it.
That question might have been prompted at least in part by former Hoosier Sam Alexis’ presence in Peru.
Alexis, who transferred from Florida to IU last season in DeVries’ first year in Bloomington, exhausted his fourth and final year of eligibility in 2026. Alexis played with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Summer League earlier this year, before joining Indiana (in the form of Team USA) to give the Hoosiers post depth at the America Games.
Other recent graduates attempting to secure one more year of college basketball have met mixed success arguing the NCAA’s forthcoming five-years-to-play-five rule change should grandfather them in as well. There’s been no suggestion Alexis intends to mount such a challenge, but more broadly, if graduated seniors are given a path back into college, programs with an open scholarship this late in the calendar could seek to add one of those veterans before the coming semester.
DeVries did not specify what profile of player he and his staff might be targeting with that final scholarship. But he did leave the door open to the possibility of filling that last spot on his roster.
“We’ll see how that plays out here these last few weeks. We were pretty intentional about leaving that thing open,” he said. “(IU has) flexibility if we do decide to add another piece.”
Vaughn Karvala impresses in Peru
The freshman from Wisconsin led Indiana in scoring in the America Games, finishing with 65 points over four contests.
That included 32 points in a win over the Virgin Islands that saw Karvala hit seven of the 11 3-pointers he made during the Hoosiers trip through Lima.
The highest-ranked (out of high school) of three freshmen currently with the program, Karvala’s athleticism and length made him a candidate for meaningful minutes before IU’s trip south. His performances in Peru did little to dampen such optimism.
“Vaughn had a great week,” DeVries said. “Like all of our freshmen, they’re developing their bodies and things, so time will tell in terms of getting on the floor and in Big Ten basketball, but I love what those guys are doing, and Vaughn, I thought, had a great week, just with his versatility, his length, his athleticism, and his ability to shoot the 3.”
What’s next for the Hoosiers
Three weeks off.
Well, three weeks away from campus at least. DeVries saw that as the final positive to participating in the America Games this summer. After an intensive June and July spent using extra practice time and film study, he said he feels good about where his team stands in terms of installation and scheme. The Hoosiers will target more individual development in September and October, as well as “cleaning up some of the details” like late-game situations.
But after a more demanding summer schedule, DeVries wants to make sure his team gets some valuable time to rest and recharge, to avoid burnout in the season to come.
“That’s why we really were intrigued by this trip,” DeVries said, “because typically when you take these type of tours, a lot of times you go into mid-August, and then you just get a week, and then you start school and you’re back at it again. That’s why this trip, we felt, was just going to be a really good chance for us to get all the advantages of a tour, but then also get the break, too. Our guys get to go home here for three weeks, refresh.
“It gives us definitely a reset, so they’re not just worn out.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Three takeaways from Indiana basketball’s gold-medal Peru trip: Open scholarship, Karvala, rest
Reporting by Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
