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The second year of the Mike Woodson era has just barely gotten started and in that short amount of time, the Indiana head coach has overall done a good job in the recruiting department landing current roster guys like five star forward Malik Reneau and four-star guard Tamar Bates including future players like 2023 four-star guard Gabe Cupps, among others.

However, when you look at the list of players that Mike Woodson has been able to get to commit to Indiana, that list starts at the top with five-star guard Jalen Hood-Schifino. A product out of the prestigious high school program Montverde Academy (FL), Hood-Schifino was the type of true, play-making guard that could come in right away and make an immediate impact in Indiana's backcourt.

It has been an awful long time since Indiana has been able to have a freshman come in and have enough confidence in them and expect them to produce instantly, possibly since Trayce Jackson-Davis' freshman year.

If Saturday's exhibition performance versus Marian was any indication, the amount of work Mike Woodson and the Indiana staff put in to land Hood-Schifino looks to be on the right track to be paying off.

Indiana head coach Mike Woodson spoke with Don Fischer this past Monday in this season's first Inside Indiana Basketball with Mike Woodson coaches show and went into detail about the recurtment of Jalen Hood-Schifino.

“Well, when I first got the name and we started watching film on him, I mean everything about what he did stood out," said Mike Woodson. "Then I made the trip to Montverde (Academy) where he played high school ball, I got it up close you know in terms of his talent...I was hot on him (Jalen Hood-Schifino)”

Hood-Schifino was originally committed to Pitt before decommiting in December of 2020. When Woodson took over the helm at Indiana, he almost instantly got right into recruiting circle and started to look at some of the top players in the country with 2022 five-star guard Hood-Schifino being one of them.

After watching film on Hood-Schifino and traveling down to Montverde Academy to watch the elite guard, going on the road to watch some of his AAU was the obvious next step as Woodson and the Indiana staff continued to build that relationship.

When speaking to Don Fischer on Monday, Woodson told a funny story about a time that he was watching Hood-Schifino in a AAU game while being alongside legendary head coach Larry Brown, who now is an assistant at Memphis under head coach Penny Hardaway.

“Larry Brown, who is like my mentor man… he and I were sitting at an AAU tournament and he says ‘well who are you watching?’ and I said oh I’m watching #8’ and Schifino had #4 on," said Woodson. "I didn't want to tell my mentor that I was really watching Schifino cause I knew he was watching Schifino.

"So when Schifino made the commitment to come, Larry called me and was like ‘You lied to me, man.’ and I said ‘yeah I was.’

While laughing and telling this story to Fischer, Woodson said that his assistant coaches Kenya Hunter and Yasir Rosemond told him that "you have to lie on recruiting trips."

Hood-Schifino would commit to Indiana in August of 2021. The recruiting trick that Hunter and Rosemond taught Woodson paid off.

Fast forward to this past summer, Hood Schifino and the other three freshman came in ready to compete. Woodson instantly threw them into the fire and had them go up against the older players.

“The older guys just basically took advantage of them, to the point where the young guys were down,” said Woodson.

“After two weeks I had enough and I say 'hey guys there is going to come a time where you are going to beat these guys’ and boy has it been back and forth ever since. They’ve beaten them on some days and the veterans go home very upset, which they should be upset.”

With that competitiveness he displayed along with the ready-made talent that Hood-Schifino possess, the five-star guard earned the right to be a part of the starting lineup.

“He’s competing," Woodson said after the Marian game. "He competed when we first started five months ago, he's put himself in that position… Jalen earned the right to start. He’s put in the work.”

From the start since Woodson saw him play, he knew that Hood-Schifino was speacial and the type of player that was going to help Indiana get back to that top tier of college programs. Hood-Schifino is a major reason why Indiana seems to be poised for a successful 2022-23 season.

“But I know he was special," said Woodson to Don Fischer. "Hood-Schifino is special because me being in the NBA and that level of players from all the years that I was there, he kind of fit the rim of the kind of players that I’ve coached and seen running the floor in the NBA so it was big time for us, this program, to get him.

“I just cant help but think man if he just continues to grow and do all the right things, which he’s done, he’s really going to help us in a major way.”

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