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Indiana freshman forward Malik Reneau was the final piece to the class of 2022 for Mike Woodson after he re-opened his recruitment and decommitted from Florida.
His skillset was always something that was intriguing for Woodson and adding him to the front court that already included All-Big Ten player Trayce Jackson-Davis, one of the most improved players in the country Race Thompson and uber athletic Jordan Geronimo, Indiana now was one of the most talented front courts in the conference and country.
Reneau brings a winning track record from his contributions to back-to-back National Championships at Montverde Academy. He also brings a skillset that Indiana didn't quite have in the front court -- a finesse style of play.
"Malik has enjoyed success at the highest level in high school and brings a competitive and winning presence to our program," Mike Woodson said following the signing of Reneau. "He's an outstanding offensive player who continues to expand his game."
When Mike Woodson took over the Indiana basketball program, he wanted to modernize the forward position by bringing in a more perimeter-oriented skillset to the Indiana front court. While Indiana's bigs didn't showcase the ability to knock down a ton of outside shots, or make a ton of plays off of the dribble, there were times that it did work. The spacing allowed Jackson-Davis to work alone in the paint and open things up for the rest of the floor.
Defensively, there were more times than not, however, that the '4' wasn't able to play the way Woodson wanted. Reneau's skillset already fits that desire of Woodson, especially on the defensive end.
"I've been playing outside," Reneau said on a zoom call on Thursday. "The way Coach Woodson's plan style is, the four is outside on the perimeter a lot of times. I've been working on my perimeter game trying to guard the one through the five, and just being able to -- be able to switch on defense and to help expand my game might help expand my range for offensive end and to be able to knock down threes when I'm wide open."
"Defensively, he is well suited to today's game," Woodson added. "He keeps his man in front of him and can step out in pick and roll situations and hold his own."
Offensively, Reneau has a good ability to finish around the rim and on the block. But, he's also a good scorer in the mid-range and has shown the ability to take defenders off of the dribble.
"He has great touch and tremendous footwork and he uses his quickness to his advantage," Woodson said. "He has a great Basketball IQ and is an unselfish teammate who has benefitted from working with and against some very talented players on a daily basis."
Because of his versatile skillset, Woodson has Reneau playing a few different positions this summer to get his feet wet.
"I've been playing the four and the five," Reneau said. "I mean, going between four and five but I've been playing the four most of the time, going up against Race (Thompson) a lot."
The one aspect of Reneau's game that he's working on is his ability to shoot consistently from three.
"Just being able to improve my shooting from pass to arc, and improve my three-point shot, and just being confident with my jump shot and working on attacking close-outs, and staying where I'm comfortable at in the post, too," Reneau said. "Just trying to touch on everything. But mostly my jump shot."
Reneau has high expectations for this Indiana team and is ready to play any role asked of him next season.
To be a spark player for my teammates, whether it's coming off the bench or starting the game off or whatever it is, just really being that spark player for the team," Reneau said. "... You know, doing whatever it takes to help my team win, not only you know trying to score the basketball but help on the defensive end, set good screens to the point guards and stuff like that and just try to do all the little stuff and that's what's going to help my game expand.
"Ultimately trying to get the Big Ten title and stuff like that."
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