Indiana recruiting target picks Houston, Kelvin Sampson over Hoosiers

3 hours ago7 min read

Well, Hoosier fans, buckle up because the recruiting trail just delivered a gut punch straight out of a late-game collapse. Arafan Diane, the dude who was basically the holy grail for Indiana's future frontcourt—the No.1-ranked center in the class of 2026—just dropped his decision, and it wasn't for the candy stripes. In a move that's gotta sting worse than a buzzer-beater loss, he picked Houston and Coach Kelvin Sampson, the same guy who used to walk the sidelines in Bloomington before his messy exit back in 2008.Talk about a plot twist nobody saw coming, right? This isn't just any recruitment loss; it's personal. Sampson, who has built an absolute juggernaut down in Texas, essentially just beat his old school for a franchise-changing big man, and the irony is thicker than a playoff atmosphere.Diane isn't just some random prospect; per On3’s rankings, he's the top dog at his position and the 16th overall prospect, the kind of player you build your entire recruiting class around. For new head coach Darian DeVries, this is his first real high-stakes miss, and it echoes the kind of setbacks that can define an early tenure.The Hoosiers were all-in here, especially with their current center situation looking like a ticking time bomb. Both Reed Bailey and Sam Alexis, the guys holding down the paint now, are out of eligibility after the 2025-26 season, which is basically tomorrow in college basketball years.They were also in on Ethan Taylor, but he bolted for Big Ten rival Michigan State, so the Diane whiff leaves a massive, gaping hole in the middle of the floor. It’s the kind of roster management nightmare that keeps coaches up at night, scrolling through transfer portal feeds at 3 AM.And let's be real, the competition was fierce—we're talking blue-bloods like Kentucky and Arkansas were in the mix, along with a always-pesky Virginia program. For Diane to choose Houston, it speaks volumes about the power of Sampson's program and the allure of playing in the Big 12, a conference that chews up and spits out teams that aren't physically tough.So, where do the Hoosiers go from here? Barring a miraculous decommitment from Diane or someone else, the transfer portal is now the only lifeline. That’s a risky game, my friends.The portal is like the wild west; you might find a diamond in the rough, or you might end up with a player who doesn't fit the system or is just a one-year rental. For a program with Indiana's pedigree, relying on the portal for a starting center feels a bit like building a house on sand—it might hold for a season, but it's not a long-term foundation.This single decision from a 17-year-old kid has massive ripple effects, potentially setting the program back a year or more in its quest to return to the top of the college basketball world. It’s a stark reminder that in the modern era of NIL and constant player movement, recruiting is a brutal, no-holds-barred battle, and sometimes, even your own history can come back to bite you.

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