BLOOMINGTON – Jalen Hood-Schifino left the board at No. 17 in Thursday night’s NBA draft, when the Los Angeles Lakers made him Indiana’s highest-drafted player since Romeo Langford went No. 14 in 2019. He becomes just the second pick from IU since 2017.

"It’s honestly really crazy and kind of hard to say how I feel because growing up I was a big Kobe fan," Hood-Schifino told reporters after being drafted by L.A. "I was always watching his videos, watching the Lakers. For me to get drafted by the Lakers is kind of surreal and kind of crazy."

A fast-rising prospect who outperformed expectations last winter on the way to winning Big Ten freshman of the year, Hood-Schifino helped guide the Hoosiers to the NCAA tournament round of 32 in his lone season in college. Assuming a larger role after Xavier Johnson broke his foot, Hood-Schifino averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

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His work in ball-screen actions, his advanced midrange offensive game and his ability to score in bunches all made Hood-Schifino a difficult cover in his lone college season. They also catapulted him up NBA draft boards, prompting his late-March decision to forgo the remainder of his eligibility and declare for the draft.

Hood-Schifino’s journey makes him a rarity in his program’s history — he is just the fourth Indiana player to be drafted following his freshman season in the one-and-done era. He joins Eric Gordon (2008), Noah Vonleh (2014) and Romeo Langford (2019) in that class.

"For me to get drafted (to L.A.), I’m going to bring it every day, like I said, try to impact as much as I can and learn from the guys that are there, especially for one of the all-time greats, LeBron James, and (Anthony Davis) and the rest of the guys. It’s going to be great."

Trayce Jackson-Davis had to wait much longer to hear his name called Thursday night, eventually going No. 57 to Golden State. His selection marked the first draft since 2017 in which multiple Hoosiers were selected. It would also mark just the fourth time since 1994 more than one IU player was picked in the same draft.

The individual development and collective success of those two players has lent Indiana greater recruiting agency in recent months. Mike Woodson’s pursuit of highly-ranked talents in both 2023 and 2024 has been influenced by the body of work IU’s third-year coach can point to in leaning on his vast NBA coaching experience to develop players through Bloomington to the professional level.

“My freshman season was nothing short of amazing,” Hood-Schifino told ESPN when he declared for the draft. “My coaches kept their word by having the ultimate trust in me as a freshman.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: NBA draft 2023: IU's Jalen Hood-Schifino goes No. 17 to L.A. Lakers