Despite a coaching change in Bloomington this spring, Trent Sisley will be a Hoosier next season.
A 6-foot-7 forward from Lincoln City, Indiana, Sisley grew up following the IU basketball program in southern Indiana and began his prep career at Heritage Hills High School.
The former Hoosier staff began its pursuit of Sisley during his freshman season as a Patriot, when he averaged 19.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.3 blocked shots and 1.1 steals.
He earned scholarship offers from IU and Purdue in December 2021 and continued to receive high-major offers throughout his high school career.
Although he would eventually choose from a final four of Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, and Michigan State, Sisley also received scholarship offers from Iowa, Louisville, Northwestern, Ohio State, UCF, and West Virginia.
While high school recruiting became less prominent as Sisley’s high school career progressed due to the transfer portal, his recruitment was closely followed by IU fans throughout his prep career.
Sisley was part of a strong crop of in-state recruits in the 2025 class that Indiana hoped would solidify its rotation long-term. Along with Sisley, the Hoosier staff recruited point guard Jalen Haralason dating back to his freshman season and Braylon Mullins, who emerged a bit later than Sisley and Haralson, for several years.
Ultimately, Indiana was only able to land Sisley, who committed to the program in September, just a few months after transferring to Montverde Academy near Orlando, Florida.
“I just wanted to see what fit the best and where I had a good opportunity and where I can go and hopefully produce and have a great career,” Sisley said after announcing his commitment. “At the end of the day, it’s cool that I grew up an IU fan and now I’m getting a chance to play for them.”
Indiana announced the signing of Sisley in November and it appeared his future playing for Mike Woodson was set. The Hoosiers were coming off a strong offseason in the transfer portal and began the season with an exhibition victory at Tennessee and a spot in the preseason Associated Press top 25.
However, as losses mounted at the Battle 4 Atlantis and the program underperformed in Big Ten play, Woodson’s future came into question. In February, the program announced that the fourth-year coach would step down at the conclusion of the season.
When a coaching change happens, it is usually followed by a flurry of requests to be released from Letters of Intent or de-commitment announcements.
That wasn’t the case for Sisley, who remained focused on his season at Montverde and kept his commitment to the Hoosiers while a search to identify a new coach took shape.
As a senior at Montverde, Sisley averaged 10.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting 63 percent from the field, 44 percent on 3s and 67 percent from the free-throw line.
Just days after Indiana hired Darian DeVries, Sisley’s father, Matt, told Inside the Hall that he would remain with the IU program. And it was a full university effort to keep Sisley in the fold after the coaching change.
“This recruiting scenario was different from any other school,” Matt Sisley said. “Scott Dolson was involved in our recruitment two or three years ago. And Pam Whitten even was involved. Every time we would come to campus, we would always run into them or they would go out of their way to say hello or sit down with us, like at Hoosier Hysteria.
“So we had a relationship with the AD and the school president. Scott was a huge bridge during this process of keeping us in the loop, calling us every other week and making sure that Trent stayed.”
With DeVries in place, a roster of 11 scholarship players assembled and the offseason program in Bloomington nearing, Sisley has graduated from Montverde and is nearing his arrival date on the IU campus.
As a freshman, Sisley hopes the year at Montverde will help ease the transition to college life. He spent his final high school season traveling across the country playing elite competition and living away from home. He’s also worked countless hours on his game, taken extra shots every night when nobody was watching and will now get to live out his dream of being a Hoosier, even if the path wasn’t as smooth as he thought it might be last fall.
“I think it’s just, ever since I committed, and even a little bit before, I knew I wanted to be there,” he said. “I grew up close and I want to be a part of Indiana basketball. And they hired coach DeVries, a great coach. He has a great plan for me and for all of the kids he’s bringing in this year. I think we can be really good this year and in the years to follow.”
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