My Two Cents: Indiana's 'Competitive' Freshmen Ready to Go, And They'll Need to Be

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Mike Woodson has been around this game of basketball for a long time. He knows that games are won from November to March, and championships are won in the spring.

But he also knows that players get better — and develop better individual skills in the summer. So when he met with the media on Friday prior to Indiana's first exhibition game, the first thing I wanted to know was what has surprised him the most during these past few months of workouts.

Why? Because that's going to matter a lot these next five months if the Hoosiers want to accomplish all of their goals, many of which include cutting down nets.

"I just think the fact that the young guys are so competitive,'' Woodson said of his most pleasant surprise. He was referring to highly touted freshmen Jalen Hood-Schifino, Malik Reneau, Kaleb Banks and C.J. Gunn. "The quicker they can pick up things, the better off we're going to be as a team, because I'm going to need them to play some. I'm constantly on them about being a sponge and really trying to learn what we're trying to teach.

"But I like the fact that they're competitive. After those first couple of weeks that we had gotten together as a team, the first unit kind of had their way, and it's been back and forth ever since. From a coaching standpoint, that's kind of nice to see because I don't like it to be one way. If we've got a second unit, I want that second unit to have a chance and do what's expected of them to compete and win games against the first unit, and they've done that.''

Indiana's 2022 recruiting class ranked as high as No. 5 in the nation (247Sports), with Hood-Schifino and Reneau getting most of the attention after winning back-to-back national championships at Montverde Academy in Florida.

They are enormously talented, and Indiana's veterans have been raving about the entire group.

Woodson has too, but he also remembers that they are still freshmen getting ready to see their first college action.

"The freshmen, like I said, you never know what you get,'' said Woodson, who's in his second year as the head coach at his alma mater. " You draft freshmen, they come in based on how they performed in high school, but this is another level. High school and college basketball is a major jump, just like jumping from college to the pros. It's a major jump. You don't know what you've really got until you put them on the floor and you start competing.

"I just like the way these freshmen play; they really compete. I mean, that's been probably the most surprising thing, because they're competitive.''

Reneau, the last member of Indiana's recruiting class after de-committing from Florida and following his teammate Hood-Schifino to Indiana, is a 6-foot-9 left-handed power forward. Indiana has one of those already, too, senior Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Reneau has a lot of physical skill, but still needs to learn how to play hard all the time, Woodson said. That's not an uncommon point of emphasis for true freshmen.

"He's a little ahead of the game, but he's still young,'' Woodson said. "I've dealt with young players so much over the years that you've got to get them to understand how hard they have to play. Malik is at that point right now. He plays hard in spurts, and we've got to get him consistently playing hard on both ends of the floor.

"He is a talented kid in terms of being able to do a lot of things for a big guy. We do allow him to bring it up along with Race (Thompson) and Trayce (Jackson-Davis) because I think that's the way the game is expanding. I did that in Atlanta and I did it in New York as a coach. If guys had the skill set, you put them in that position. If they rebound the ball and can make smart plays with the basketball as they're bringing it up the floor, then you allow them to do it. He's shown he can do it. But he still has a long way to go.''

Q. Are there one or two things that stand out for you just in what you've seen and learned in the last month or so that maybe has surprised you or has made you feel better than maybe you thought you would have a month or so ago?

Hood-Schifino has been the best of the bunch and will probably be in the starting lineup when Indiana takes on Marian at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

"It's been pretty competitive. All the freshmen that have come in this season, I like 'em because they are competitive,'' Woodson said. "Jalen sits right at the top. I've kind of had him in the starting lineup, I've had him on the second team. I'm just trying to look at combinations just to see who's going to start, who's going to get the minutes.

"But he's been a great addition to our ballclub because he does a little bit of everything for our team, which is kind of nice.''

Indiana made its first NCAA Tournament in six years last season, but they were just 21-14 and often struggled when the second unit was on the floor. This team, thanks to the four freshmen, is much deeper.

How deep? We're going to find that right away.

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