Football
Iowa Western running back Daniel Swinney ran for 153 yards on 21 carries, and scored a touchdown, during the Reivers 28-10 victory over Hutchinson on Dec. 17, 2025. With the win, IWCC claimed the program’s fourth national championship and third in the last four seasons. (Photos courtesy of Travis Jacobson/IWCC athletics)
Iowa Western defensive lineman Andy Burburija (56) records one of his two sacks during the NJCAA Division I national championship game. The Reivers finished the 2025 season with a 12-1 overall record.
Basketball
The right man for the job
WHEN DARIAN DeVries patrols the sideline for the Indiana men’s basketball team this 2025-2026 season, he will have been well-groomed for the challenge. Having never experienced a losing season in seven years as a head coach at the collegiate level (six at Drake and one at West Virginia), DeVries seems poised to make a run at placement on the Mount Rushmore of Hoosier hoops coaching legends.
”I believe we can do some special things here,” DeVries said. “I’m excited about what that can look like and the people that are committed to making that happen. We’re going to do everything that we can from our time and efforts to make it a reality.”
Two men are generally acknowledged to be the greatest IU men’s basketball coaches ever: Bob Knight and Branch McCracken.
Knight won 11 Big 10 titles and three National Championships during his 29 seasons as the head Hoosier (662-239). Knight, who became known as “The General,” was a complicated man. He was a master motivator and a proven winner, but also mercurial, unpredictable, capable of mind games and savage verbal assaults.
McCracken won four Big 10 titles and two National Championships during his 24 years at the helm of the “Hurryin’ Hoosiers” (364-174). An early proponent of playing the game with tempo, McCracken was instrumental in bringing fast-break basketball to Bloomington in the 1940s and 1950s.
It’s been over a decade since Indiana has been in National title contention, so DeVries understands the challenge he faces in returning the Hoosiers to past glory.
“We’re going to focus every day on the process of what it takes to win games,” DeVries said. “Wins and losses will work themselves out, because if you can do all those little things the way you need to do them-and the way I believe we can do that-then the wins are going to come.”
Prior to his head coaching stints at Drake and West Virginia, where he accumulated a 169-68 win-loss record, DeVries was an assistant coach at Creighton for 17 years (under Greg McDermott and Dana Altman).
DeVries said it was beneficial for him to watch Altman and McDermott build a winning culture at Creighton, which then helped the Bluejays become a statewide and national brand.
“I think it starts all the way down from the grassroots to the top,” DeVries said. “You look at the fan bases and what’s going on in the state and how passionate everybody is about basketball. And the youth now, when you’re seeing those teams have that type of success and following those players, they want to be like them. I think it just grows every year, that kids have been able to see that and witness that. That’s pretty neat to see throughout the state.”
The importance of relationship building, that DeVries said he witnessed while working with McDermott at Creighton, helped him build strong programs at both Drake and West Virginia.
But wait, there’s more: DeVries said there’s even more he learned from McDermott during his time spent at Creighton.
“Just what a consistent, positive guy he is,” DeVries said of McDermott. “The unbelievable success he’s had and how the players play for him. The coaches that he’s had that have moved on and how he stays so connected to all of us players and coaches. He is one of those guys that I feel very fortunate to have been able to work for and really happy for him and all of the success that he’s had there.”
Now it’s time to start winning games at Indiana and DeVries believes he’s developed a formula to do so.
“You don’t have to be special,” DeVries said. “You just have to be who we are and stay true to those things. That gives you the best chance to win. If you try to venture outside of that, you probably are not going to be successful. I think the biggest thing is just make sure it’s about competing for 40 minutes and everything else is just more on the side.”
If that’s true, and all goes well for DeVries at Indiana, then he might just join Knight and McCracken on the Mount Rushmore of Hoosier hoops.
“My job is what the future looks like,” DeVries said. “We want to be a positive part of that history. We want to embrace our former players and alumni. This is their program. They built it. We want to be a big part of that as we move forward.” Story by Jack Denker/Sports Plus
Kansas State guard Abdi Bashir Jr., who’s from Omaha, scored 18 points to lead his Wildcats to an 83-76 road win at Creighton on Saturday night. (Photo by Jack Denker/Sports Plus)
The Bellevue University men’s basketball team recorded a pair of wins last week at home, beating Montana State-Northern 93-88 and Providence 74-64. The Bruins will next play at Augustana on Nov. 30th. (Photo courtesy of the BU sports information department)
Metro Sports Plus 