Indiana basketball: IU player considered top Big Ten incoming freshman

Mike Woodson and the Indiana basketball program have one of the best incoming recruiting classes, as evident from 247Sports, with the ninth best recruiting class in the nation. Mat Mlodzinski from College Basketball Review put together his Big Ten Top Incoming Freshman List and has included two players from Bloomington in his top three.

Indiana basketball has not had a freshman make an All-Big Ten Freshman team since Trayce Jackson-Davis did so in 2019-20, and since 2016-17, Jackson-Davis and Romeo Langford (2018-19) are the only two Hoosiers to make an All-Big Ten Freshman team.

From Mlodzinski’s rankings, the Hoosiers are one of three teams with multiple freshman to appear on his top 10 list, along with Ohio State and Michigan. Of the freshman included on this list that are not from Bloomington, Jett Howard from Michigan and Skyy Clark from Illinois are my two standouts that I believe will end up alongside Jalen Hood-Schifino and Malik Reneau, and potentially Kaleb Banks, on the All-Big Ten Freshman team by the end of the 2022-23 season.

The hype surrounding Montverde Academy guard, Jalen Hood-Schifino, and forward, Malik Reneau, seems to be every bit true as we inch closer and closer to the beginning of the season. From the Hoosier Fan Fest that happened on August 20 in Bloomington, Hood-Schifino ended up being one of the standouts from the three-point contest and the scrimmage as well.

Malik Reneau appears at the #3 spot in Mlodzinski’s ranking which from Hoosier Nation comes as no surprise as he, and Hood-Schifino, are two big freshman stars coming from Montverde Academy after Reneau decommitted from the University of Florida in March and was recruited by Hood-Schifino and the Indiana basketball coaching staff to join the guard in what’s brewing in Bloomington. As seen from the Hoosier Fan Fest video below, Reneau has a unique skillset and ability to handle and finish on the run as a forward:

Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 6-foot-6 guard with the ability to score from all three levels and be a playmaker for his teammates, made the headlines as the #1 ranked incoming Big Ten Freshman on the College Basketball Review list. Hood-Schifino, from studying film, will end up on the college basketball Freshman All-American team by seasons end and will be a game-changer for Trayce Jackson-Davis, Mike Woodson, and all of Hoosier Nation as he, hopefully, brings a successful season to Bloomington and sticks around after his freshman campaign.