Four of Indiana’s five starters are on Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame position award preseason watchlists for the 2024-25 season.
Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo were named to the watchlists for the Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar awards, respectively. They join Myles Rice and Mackenzie Mgbako as Hoosiers who received preseason positional recognition.
Ballo has also been named to multiple national player of the year watchlists.
The 6-9, 232-pound Reneau averaged career bests in scoring (15.4 per game), rebounds (6.0), assists (2.7), blocks (0.6), and minutes played (28.8) as a sophomore. He was one of two Hoosiers (Mackenzie Mgbako) to start in all 33 games. The Miami, Fla., native scored at least 15 points in 17 games and produced seven games over 20 points.
Reneau, a 2024 All-Big Ten Honorable Mention selection, shot 55.8% (198-of-355) from the floor, 33.3% (15-of-45) from the 3-point line, and 68.3% (97-of-142) from the free throw line.
The 7-0, 260-pound Ballo averaged 11.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game in three seasons at Arizona. He shot 64.6% (466-of-721) from the floor and posted 34 double-doubles, third most in Arizona basketball history. He was one of 10 players in program history to accumulate at least 1,000 career points and 800 career rebounds.
Ballo was twice named to the All-Pac-12 First Team, selected to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team two times, and voted to a pair of Pac-12 All-Tournament Teams. He was named the 2022-23 Pac-12 Most Improved Player, the 2022 Maui Invitational Most Outstanding Player, and the 2021-22 Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year.
Ballo began his career at Gonzaga with a redshirt season in 2019-20 before earning a spot in the rotation for a Bulldog program that finished 31-1, won both the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles, and advanced to the NCAA Championship game. Overall, Ballo has won 84.8% (112-of-132) of the games he has appeared in throughout his career.
The Indiana Hoosiers will open the home slate of the 2024-25 season with an exhibition against Marian at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 1. The regular season will start at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 6 against SIUE at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
