Every recruiting target Indiana is after right now is different.
They all have different upbringings, different personalities, different skillsets, and different projections at the next level.
But when you are recruiting top-100 high school prospects like IU is almost exclusively is right now, they all seemingly share one thing in common.
They want to get to the NBA.
And so of course, when it comes to their recruitment, those young players want to believe they are picking a program that can help them achieve their dream.
On Thursday evening at the NBA Draft, it is widely expected one-and-done Indiana guard Jalen Hood-Schifino will be chosen in the first round.
Also expecting to hear his name called at some point in the late first or early to middle part of the second round is four-year big man Trayce Jackson-Davis.
They are two players with very different paths to the draft, but they share at least one thing in common beyond being known by their initials.
Hood-Schifino and Jackson-Davis developed under Mike Woodson.
They will be the first two players to be selected in the NBA Draft from IU during the Woodson era, and he knows the moment can be another turning point for the program he holds near and dear, and seems to have back on solid footing.
“That would be huge for our program,” Woodson said of the duo being chosen on Thursday.
The 2022-23 seasons Hood-Schifino and Jackson-Davis had under Woodson are already paying massive dividends on the recruiting trail.
More than a half dozen 2024 and 2025 prospects have told The Daily Hoosier unprompted this spring that they took notice of what Hood-Schifino accomplished at IU. Some specifically pointed to how he arrived in Bloomington a year ago not thought of as a clear one-and-done.
Woodson deflects all the praise to Hood-Schifino.
“He put himself in that position (to be a first round pick),” Woodson said.
An early season injury to starting point guard Xavier Johnson placed Hood-Schifino at the center of attention as the primary ball handler in IU’s offense.
And he delivered.
“You’ve got to give that kid a lot of credit,” Woodson said. “That was a freshman kid that was thrown to the wolves. I thought he answered the bell extremely well, and he’s put himself in a nice position to be drafted.”
Recruiting prospects have also mentioned the development of Jackson-Davis under Woodson, and how the IU head coach was willing to divert from his preferred approach and play through a big man because he was the most productive player on the team.
Jackson-Davis was in the conversation to leave IU early after each of his first three seasons at IU. But the truth was, he hadn’t done enough to convince the NBA he could be an impact player at the next level.
But over the last year he’s changed that narrative. Although he never made a 3-pointer at IU, Jackson-Davis will be drafted because he’s now thought of as a player with a strong motor, a good passer, an effective rim protector, someone with a face-up game, the ability to score off the bounce, and even lead the break.
No one thought any of that before Woodson arrived, and everything came together last season despite Jackson-Davis playing through a bad back most of the way. He averaged 1.8 more rebounds per game in 2022-23 than any prior season at IU, .6 more blocks, and 2.1 more assists.
Woodson famously pushed Jackson-Davis to play harder at the 2022 Big Ten Tournament, and his play there made the difference in IU reaching their first NCAA Tournament in six years. He also allowed Jackson-Davis to utilize his elite quickness as a jumper to protect the rim rather than remain on the weak-side as he did under Archie Miller. Those factors led to Jackson-Davis becoming IU’s all-time leading rebounder and shot blocker.
And Woodson also made adjustments to how he utilized Jackson-Davis on the offensive end during the 2022-23 campaign. And his big man delivered.
“We started letting him handle the basketball a little bit more, and doing some things outside of the box that he wasn’t used to doing — and he became great at it,” Woodson said.
To be sure, a successful night at the draft is not a guarantee of anything. The last time IU had two players chosen in the draft was 2017, and that came just months after Tom Crean had been fired after losing 14 or more games in three of his last four seasons at IU. And the Hoosiers wouldn’t get back to the NCAA Tournament until 2022.
But getting two players drafted on Thursday can be a building block. It’s a necessary step along the path towards IU becoming an elite program again. And having Woodson on the green room floor, live at the NBA Draft in front of a national television audience won’t be a bad thing either.
Woodson acknowledged what Hood-Schifino and Jackson-Davis have accomplished under his direction has already “done a lot” for the program’s recruiting efforts. It will play a role in the upcoming season, after elite talents Kel’el Ware and Mackenzie Mgbako decided to come to IU in the immediate aftermath.
And if in five years IU basketball is consistently contending for Big Ten titles and Final Four appearances, Thursday night’s NBA Draft, and everything that led to it, will be a major part of the reason why.
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