IU’s Hood-Schifino into NBA draft: ‘Time is now’
Indiana freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, a forecasted lottery pick, will forgo his remaining college eligibility and enter the 2023 NBA draft, he informed ESPN on Friday morning.
“For me, the time is now,” Hood-Schifino informed ESPN. “This has been a dream of mine considering that I was a little boy.”
Hood-Schifino, the No. 13 prospect in ESPN’s NBA draft projections, was voted the Huge Ten Conference Freshman of Year and second-team All-Big Ten after balancing 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists.
“My freshman season was absolutely nothing short of incredible,” said Hood-Schifino, who is 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan. “My coaches kept their word by having the supreme trust in me as a freshman. We didn’t win a championship game, however in general the season succeeded and experiencing March Madness was a surreal minute.”
He later on made the statement on Instagram.Editor’s Picks
1 Associated Although he wasn’t initially forecasted as a specific one-and-done player, Hood-Schifino became a potential top-10 draft pick based largely on his performance and impact on the Hoosiers’ winning.In mid-December
, Hood-Schifino was asked to step into an outsized function upon the team losing starting point player Xavier Johnson to a season-ending injury. After an unstable start, Hood-Schifino clinched the point guard position and assisted catapult Indiana to success in 11 of their last 15 regular-season games, protecting 3rd in the Big Ten and a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“NBA groups had the ability to see that I can take control of a game, create my own shot, run a group, that I have a high IQ, that I are difficult, which I have a special rate to my game,” Hood-Schifino said. “I’m anticipating revealing the NBA groups my body measurements matching what’s on paper, my athleticism, and my shooting capability.”
Hood-Schifino fits the NBA prototype as a huge, ballhandling lead guard with versatile shot-making prowess, live-dribble playmaking creativity and protective toughness.The NBA draft combine is set for May 15-21 in Chicago, and the draft will be June 22 in New York.Jonathan Givony is an NBA draft specialist and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a personal hunting and analytics service made use of by NBA, NCAA and International groups.